The cheetah is not just an ordinary member of the cat family. It’s a large-sized feline which can chase down prey at speeds of up to a max speed of 120km/h, in controlled short bursts of course. With the ability to go from 0 to a 100km/h in just three seconds, you really don’t want to be the target of this big bad kitty. When it comes to pursuing prey though, the cheetah can be admired. And in a way, a sales rep should be the same way when dealing with business to business leads.
When we were kids, we believed that cats only ever ate fish, birds and mice. But as we grew up, we learned of other members of the cat family aside from the orange and black-striped fat cat we saw on TV or in comic strips. The cheetah, unlike the cats we used to know as children, prey on animals that are closer to its size such as gazelles. Once again, in a way, a good sales rep can learn from the hunting behavior that the cheetah exhibits.
So what exactly can a salesperson learn from this majestic cat? Well get your hunting gear on because those points are coming next.
The cheetah seeks to end the chase in just a few seconds.
The cheetah can only run in short bursts and exceeding the few seconds in which it is allowed to be faster that its prey causes much unwanted strain and can thus cause damage to its body. As such, using its amazing speed, the cheetah seeks to end chasing down its prey in just seconds.
From the moment you decided to do lead generation for business to business leads, you should already have a game plan in place. The cheetah does not just chase prey, it stalks them before deciding when to pounce and start the chase. In the same way, when a sales rep gets a lead to work with, they should already know what to do and close the deal within just a short amount of time. Although not in the same way that a cheetah ends the ordeal in just a few seconds, closing a deal takes much longer time but nonetheless should still be completed in the shortest amount of time possible. The longer it takes you to close a deal, the higher the chances that a competitor can steal away your potential client, or cost you too much in just pursuing them.
The cheetah hunts prey that is nearer to its size.
Unlike cats we keep in the safety of our own home whom we feed and take care of, cheetahs are wild animals that are self-reliant. When it comes to their diet, one animal which is often hunted by them is the gazelle. As a sales representative, you can learn from this hunting habit by knowing which leads to pursue. Are you capable of closing bigger companies? Is your product/service better sold to smaller companies? Do you fare better at making sales to similar sized companies as yours?
Gazelles are part of the cheetahs main diet because it is prey which cannot outrun it and has enough body mass to satiate its hunter. You, when pursuing business to business leads for your company, should know which “prey” you should pursue. Rather than taking just approaching your business to business leads at random, you should know which company you are to “hunt”.
Both these points, however, are also dependent on what form of lead generation you employ. For instance, leads generated through different marketing approaches such as email marketing, content marketing and telemarketing may be in different stages of the buying cycle and thus need different approaches from sales reps. It is best to know how your business to business leads are acquired before you start trying to close them.
The cheetah is a powerful animal which has evolved over time to become the hunter it is today. A sales representative is, in the same way, a hunter and can learn from creatures such as the cheetah in how they hunt prey.
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