Don't Let Mistakes Get in the Way of Your Success

For those of you non Bass Fisherman reading this I should tell you that the Bassmaster Classic started today. This is the "Super Bowl of Bass Fishing." Check it out on ESPN/ESPN2 if you are interested.

Since it is such a big week in the sport of bass fishing I have been jonesing for as much BASS information as possible, so you can imagine my delight when my crisp copy of Bassmaster Magazine arrived in today's mail:) On the cover it read 10 Mistakes You Are Making Now.

I immediately turned to page 44 to learn exactly why I'm not catching any fish! Not all 10 related to our success as Salesmen, but a couple definitely popped out at me.

#8 They Don't Fish Their Strengths on New Water. The article goes on to quote BASS Pro Greg Hackney, and he advises that we not listen too much to "dock talk" (i.e. the stuff all of the locals are yapping about... lake trends... what they're biting, etc.). Instead he encourages us to focus on fishing to our strengths.

I couldn't agree more! I remember a few years ago, before I really got into artificial baits and competitive bass fishing, I was desperate to find some really big craw dads. So I walked into this bait shop, and I asked the guy behind the counter for some craw dads. Well he hands me the tiniest craw dads I have ever seen, and then goes on to tell me that they're not biting on craw dads, try minnows... and you got to go deep for them. I could have bought those horrible craw dads and some minnows and then fished at 40 feet all day, but that's not what I was feeling. I loved throwing a huge craw dad in shallow water- without even using a sinker. So I went to another bait shop, where they let me hand pick the fattest craw dads they had, and guess what I did? I found some shallow water (maybe 5 feet), and I plopped those big craw dads on my line and I started annihilating the smallies! It was awesome! Maybe he was right... maybe I could have caught some bass deep with minnows, but that wasn't my strength at the time.

The same thing happens in sales. Everybody has their own personality, and their own strengths. Occasionally I will hear a colleague talking about how they closed a sale, or what their tactics are for finding new business. Sometimes it sounds great, and other times it doesn't play into my strengths. If you're great at setting appointments over the phone- and it's working for you- don't listen to the guy in the next cube who dismisses telemarketing for face-to-face cold calling. If you prefer giving a presentation with PowerPoint, don't worry about the guys who are doing something different. If your strengths are working for you, ignore the dock talk!


#10 They Overlook the Obvious. This was great too. Hackney describes how oftentimes some Pros might catch bass in really obvious places, like an obvious-looking area near the boat launch, and then others will pass that spot by assuming that it's been over fished because it's so obvious!

Guilty! Especially when it comes to sales. I will constantly assume that particular prospects have been bombarded by everyone in the industry, so I won't call them. Or if they are with a competitor of mine I will assume they have all of the services they need. Or maybe I talked to them last year and nothing happened. I get so focused on finding less obvious prospects that I won't bother making the obvious calls, and as a result could potentially be losing money!

Don't outsmart yourselves. If your passing by an obvious spot, take a few seconds to throw your line in. It may just be that easy!


I could elaborate more on the eight additional mistakes, but I need to go catch up on the Classic and WBT coverage! My personal #1 Mistake is watching ESPN BASS all day when I should be out selling something! Cut me some slack... this is the Super Bowl of bass fishing!