Are You Playing Chess in Business?

BY CHRISTINE BECKWITH

In the game of inches & highly competitive selling, I have been at the helm of many sales forces steering toward success & ultimately winning the race to the goal line and, in many cases, survival. In this excerpt from my book, High – Selling is a Drug, due out in November 2024, I offer strategy, competitive narrative & tactics we hope will connect.

Going in circles: So many people are competing by racing around the tracks in circles that they cannot max out their throttle when there is a moment to take the lead. Their gut will not push them through, their mind has no plan for competition, they are not operating from a plan.

Strategy is a real killer when it is not an intricate part of your operation. I equate this to trying to find something without a map or GPS. How much faster do you go once you know your way by memory? Fastest. But what do you do until then? You use a guide & that guide must be read, so you can find your way. Yes, it’s slower, but it’s a map to your destination!

But what about those who are not using any sort of business navigation, who are just winging it? Some will win on sheer might & determination but that is not a sustainable plan, and that fuel will burn out. You must figure out the way to win because that is where the fuel is refilled. You cannot burn an endless amount of fuel & not refuel, and you cannot race without fuel.

Moral of story: You need direction, a map or GPS and you need to learn every inch of the road. Are you willing to do it?

I am talking about strategy right now. I am talking about playing the game of chess in business. I never thought in a million years as a young girl that strategy would end up playing such a significant role in my life, my profession & my progress. But when I reminisce about the oldest intersections of success, I was playing business chess at many di erent tables & winning. Some things are obviously… obvious.

Failure to strategize: Still, other things allude to the cleverest of business chess players. Some people do not come equipped to sustain success or reach victory by strategizing, methodically slowing down or even making moves that may not reveal the endgame, with a willingness to walk the long line to that victory if it doesn’t give immediate restitution.

That is why so many impatient salespeople who surround us fail. They want immediate results. They want it now. They want it their way. They want it cheap. They want it easy. They just want it, and they often feel that is enough appetite to win in the chess game of sales.

But speed is not a factor for success. Strategy is.

There are major components to strategy and, while they seem obvious, they are by far the most overlooked area of sales market share pick-up.

Before I unpack all of it, let me ask you, do you feel like people around you are doing better than you are? Does it seem like your peers or even your competition is having an easier time picking up sales? If the answer is yes, then you need to read the following Strategy Fitness Focus Guide to begin the journey to greater business athleticism.

Here is an incomplete list, extracted from the book:

1. Assessing your competition: To figure out how you are going to get out in front or even make a viable quest towards competing, you must first understand who is winning. You already know who, and how, they’re winning. Studying their winningness is a key part of strategy.

2. Planning for sales strategy: What is your strategy? How are you going to win against your competition? This will require you to define what edge you have, what is going to help you outlast, outplay & outsmart your competition. There is no better way to say this.

3. Collaboration and buy-in: Nothing can be done alone. Nothing can be done on an island. Even if you suspect everyone will get behind you, that’s not good enough. This is 101 stu right here, no brain surgery or rocket science needed. Rolling all plans requires sit-downs & discussions with all vital key players & stakeholders. NC

Christine Beckwith is a 35-plus year veteran of the mortgage industry, with positions from originations to Senior VP of sales. To learn more about Christine’s Strategic Fitness & Focus Guide, stay tuned for the release of her new book High – Selling is a Drug, coming this fall. Visit her website, visionyoursuccess.net, the largest consulting firm in the American banking & brokering industry, for more.