Twenty Eight Articles for Sales: 28 – Whatever else you do, keep the initiative.

Conclusion

This, then, is the tribal wisdom, the folklore which those who went before you have learned. Like any folklore it needs interpretation, and contains seemingly contradictory advice. Over time, as you apply unremitting intellectual effort to study your territory, you will learn to apply these ideas in your own way, and will add to this store of wisdom from your own observations and experience. So only one article remains: and if you remember nothing else, remember this:

Whatever else you do, keep the initiative. In sales, the initiative is everything. If your competitor is reacting to you, you control the environment. Provided you mobilize the population, you will win. If you are reacting to your competitors, then they are controlling the environment and you will eventually lose. Do not be drawn into purely reactive operations: focus on the population of contacts within your prospect and client companies, build your own solution, further your game plan and fight the competitor only when he gets in your way. This gains and keeps the initiative.

Related posts:

1. Twenty Eight Articles for Sales: 26 – Build your own solution. Only attack the enemy when he gets in the way Build your own solution-only attack the enemy when he gets in your way. Try not to be distracted, or forced into a series of reactive...
2. Twenty Eight Articles for Sales: 25 – Fight the enemy’s strategy, not his forces. Fight the enemies strategy, not his forces. At this stage, if things are proceeding well, your competitors will go over to the offensive. Yes, the...
3. Twenty-Eight Articles for Sales: 1 – Know Your Turf If you have not studied counterinsurgency theory, here it is in a nutshell: this is a competition with the insurgent for the right and the...
4. Twenty-Eight Articles for Sales: 2 – Diagnose the Problem Diagnose the problem. Once you know the area and its prospects and contacts, you can begin to diagnose the problem. Who are your competitors? What...
5. Twenty Eight Articles for Sales: 23 – Practice armed civil affairs Practice armed civil affairs. You must restructure the prospect or client’s environment to displace your competitor from it. You must focus first on meeting basic...