Sales and a Run Chase

They say that sales gives you stories to tell people if nothing else - as does cricket but that not where the similarities end.

For one Sales and a difficult run chase are pretty much very similar. By difficult run chase i do not neccessarily mean that 434 run chase - as in not always a high figure but also tricky lower run chases on tough pitches like say this one.

In both sales and a run chase you have a target to achieve and both seem really really tough to begin with. As with sales, in run chases if the team believes that the target is unachievable then chances are that it will not be met no matter what. So the captain needs to bring the team together in the mid inning break or a meeting and convince them all that they can in fact do it

In a run chase - you will want one of your best players to play a huge knock and have the others supporting him through the innings - ideally we would want a couple of partnerships to take us along like this maybe?. In sales too - one would want schemes on the top selling packs and everyone would ensure that those key packs sell as per plan - while all the others chip in to ensure a final victorious result

Sometimes runchases are like these (we did not win this - but it was more than a win for most of us - technicalities be damned) where one member of the team fires big time and the rest cup badly - but this player has ensured that his match winning knock covers up for the shortfall created by the failure of others resulting in eventual victory. However some run chases have every player of the team firing and playing their part in the win - "Teamwork" as they call it.

Sales then cant be too different can it? Sometimes some territories fall short of their targets - but someone else over achieves to ensure that the overall team target is met and hence the celebrations can begin. On some other occassions everyone does their targets leading to a 100% plus over all achievement - the celebrations start either ways.

Often in a run chase - the team falls short of the target inspite of someone putting in an awesome performance. So he gets the man of the match award inspite of his team losing. Just like in sales where the high performers walk off with their incentive even if the team has failed.

Many a great players have been asked about great run chases - Most concur that if they wickets in hand for the final 10 overs then they can go out and blast out the runs needed to win. So they would say that we can make 90 in the last 10 - so basically by 40 overs we need to be at N-90 to be comfortable for the win. In sales too the last day sales account for a lot - a common blitzkreig at the end.

But then again "well begun is half done". Here similar but differences crop up. While in Cricket you need an assault at the top in the first 15 - in Sales you just need to ensure that you dont have to play a huge catchup at the end - here its more about keeping the wickets in hand rather than pinch hitting. Ofcourse if you happen to indulge in some clean hitting - it is always welcomed :)

And as in cricket in sales - Success breeds Success.

So there - finally i have linked my job and my passion together !


Credits: Thanks to Sid (aka 123 Kid) for searching the links of matches i asked for