The Lucky Guess: Sales Lessons from Wheel of Fortune

Have you seen the amazing video of a Wheel of Fortune contestant making an extremely lucky guess….and winning $45,000 in the process? It’s really worth the watch – take a look.

I’ve watched that video a couple of times to determine how much was luck and how much was skill. I’m going with 99.5% luck. I mean, really…

Now consider your own sales presentation. How often do you guess at a customer’s needs, hoping you get it right? Happens every day in the world of sales. In fact, every time you share a feature that is not specifically tied to something you already know about your prospect, you run the risk of employing a luck-based strategy.

Let me ask you this: Do you really want to bank your sales success on a series of lucky guesses? Surely your luck will run out sooner or later.

Okay…so what’s a better strategy? Get curious and dig deep. Ask questions (and follow-up questions) that other salespeople are not asking. Boldly dive deeper into your customer’s mission than anyone else. Every new inquiry gives you another letter on the board, and gets you closer to “solving” your customer.

Luck is not a strategy. Curiosity is.