29 Jul IT ALWAYS HAPPENS AFTER TWO OUTS
I am a big fan of Major League Baseball and specifically of the Chicago Cubs. Have you ever noticed that many offensive rallies happen after one team has two outs on its opponent? My wife has repeatedly pointed this out to me, and it’s true.
An analyst examined data on baseball games for 2019 and found that an astonishing 37.5 percent of all baseball runs are scored after two outs, compared to 24.9 percent with no outs and 37.6 percent with one out.1 Why is that? Do pitchers relax more when there are two outs? Or do the batters improve their hitting when there are two outs? The reasons for this pattern are not entirely clear; possible factors include changes in pitcher or batter performance with two outs, due to defensive shifts aimed at getting the batter out, or it may reflect random variation.
Here are some notable comebacks that illustrate this pattern:
2011 World Series Game 6: The Cardinals rallied twice with two outs to defeat the Rangers.
1970 NLCS Game 1: The Reds scored five runs after two outs to dominate the Pirates.
Super Bowl LI (2017): The Patriots mounted a historic comeback against the Falcons with time running out.
These moments highlight the importance of perseverance, echoed by Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over until it’s over.”2 Life and work rarely go as planned. Each day, urgent issues can disrupt priorities, requiring adaptability.
One could say that not giving up and achieving your goal applies to life or sales. Very few things in life go as planned or predicted. The only certainty in life is uncertainty. How often do we ponder what we want to accomplish this month, this week, or today, only to find that we need to adjust our plans to accommodate the changing circumstances?
I would often think of the high-priority tasks that I needed to accomplish that day while dressing in the morning. While driving to the office, I planned how I would approach each task. Often, as soon as I arrived at the office, one of the sales pros who reported to me would be in my office with an urgent matter that needed immediate attention. Then the telephone would ring, and I would be diverted again to a pressing concern. I would then review the emails I had received since my last check, and often there was one or more customer or prospect emails that required an immediate response. It is now more than one hour since I arrived at the office, and I have yet to attack the critical tasks that I had in mind when I left for the office. This was a regular routine, not an unusual one, at the beginning of the workday. I know I am not unique in this regard. We must be adaptable to changes in circumstances, which often do not go as planned.
In sales, plans frequently change due to new information or unexpected events. No opportunity ever matched my initial strategy; adjustments were always needed. I would estimate that the plan changes ranged from 25 to 80 percent from the original.
Success in sales, like in sports, relies on recognizing changes and adapting quickly. Sales professionals must recognize and adapt to changes in circumstances, then develop a new plan after encountering “two outs.” As with baseball, the adaptive sales pro will often be successful.
My meetings with the executive sponsor or key decision maker may have revealed new information that altered my approach. Or, perhaps when I discussed the opportunity with my coach, I found new information from her. Also, this may have occurred during a call, a meeting, or simply when I questioned one of the contacts, whether a user or a technical contact.
Those who do not perceive the changes in circumstances or are not adaptive will not be cashing commission checks.
Ultimately, whether in baseball, business, or life, those who adjust to shifting circumstances are most likely to succeed.
2 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34324865