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THE LIONESS - A STUDY IN SURVIVAL ...

3 of the most important keys to transforming your business are Focus, Agility, and Adaptability. These are crucial to your success in today's competitive and ever changing environment.

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By understanding your clients and knowing what motivates them throughout their buying cycle, YOU can, as an organization be focused, agile, and adaptable - being able to quickly and instantly respond to shifts in their buying behaviour, as and when they happen in your sales process.

As a seller, YOU just need to look to nature to understand these 3 keys to transformation in action. A good example of this is that of the lioness, and if you have ever been fortunate to see a lion in its natural environment, you will know that they are all about PURPOSE and SURVIVAL!

Female lions are the pride's primary hunters and leaders. Often they will work together to hunt for antelopes, zebras, and other large animals. Since many of these animals are faster than lions, they need to rely on teamwork to be effective hunters.

To survive, and indeed thrive in the harsh African bush, lions live for the hunt, to provide for the pride. To be effective hunters, they need to have a singular FOCUS on the prize. This means spending hours being attentive and observant ... watching, waiting, surveilling, understanding the behavior and movements of their prey.

The hunting party is very patient, only shifting into STEALTH mode when the moment is right. This requires tremendous AGILITY ... to remain silent, hidden, moving low and slow, their muscles tensed, ready to launch their attack at a moment's notice.

The decision to ACT happens in silence and with minimal warning. As if choreographed, the hunting party responds as one, all their moves and actions synchronized. The lead lioness will charge straight toward the target, isolating the prey wherever possible. Following her lead, the rest of the hunting party will fan out to support her efforts to bring down the prey. Besides being very agile, the lioness has to read the situation evolving in front of her, in real-time, and in full predator mode. She relies on her situational ability to instantly ADAPT, not only to the reaction and response of her prey (who is trying to escape at all costs!), but also to the reaction of the other lions in the hunting party as they all work together to bring down their prey ...

Lions live for the moment ... they are not concerned about what happened yesterday, or about any missed opportunities. For them there is only TODAY, this moment - that is all that matters.

And while the pride can be very systematic in the way that they approach the hunt, they can also be very OPPORTUNISTIC if an opportunity does present itself. Above all, their over-arching need to survive drives their decision process. 

For the lion, every day is a new day, and a new opportunity to hunt, to provide for the pride, and to survive! As a seller in a world which is undergoing constant change, how prepared are you?
  • Like the lion, are you hungry enough to succeed?
  • How about your team, your peers, your manager, your sales leadership? Are they working with you, or subconsciously against you as you pursue your opportunities?
  • Is your company setting you up to succeed, and are they supporting you through your sales process?

From a sales perspective, here are some key takeaways ...

1

Focus

"To be effective hunters, they need to have a singular FOCUS on the prize. This means spending hours being attentive and observant ... watching, waiting, surveilling, understanding the behavior and movements of their prey."

In sales, to be effective and successful, you need to really understand and know who your client is. This is nothing new, but like the lion, your discovery process should focus on getting an in-depth understanding of their current situation, the challenges they are experiencing (both internal and external), the strategies they are looking to implement in the short- to medium term, as well as any other factors or insights that may be relevant to them being successful, or not.

2

Agility

"This requires tremendous AGILITY ... to remain silent, hidden, moving low and slow, their muscles tensed, ready to launch their attack at a moment's notice."

Being fully prepared with the ability to move quickly and easily, is what makes the lion an accomplished hunter. This is also true in sales where knowing and understanding exactly who your client is, and what they are looking for, gives you as seller the ability to think and understand quickly. You can only be agile if you are fully prepared before any sales conversation occurs.

3

Adaptability

"She relies on her situational ability to instantly ADAPT, not only to the reaction and response of her prey (who is trying to escape at all costs!), but also to the reaction of the other lions in the hunting party as they all work together to bring down their prey."

While chasing down her prey, a lioness has to read the situation evolving in front of her, and adapt her movements and reaction to the prey, in real-time. and in full flight! This is no easy feat and not very different for any successful seller - the skill of anticipating where the conversation might go, but then also being prepared to explore and adapt to what the buyer or client wants to know. Adaptability is that quality of being able to adjust to new conditions, but still be confident, knowledgeable, and credible.

To learn more about putting this into practice, click on the button below. Alternatively, you can setup an introductory call if you want to discuss this in a bit more detail.

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About the Author
Clive is Owner and Consulting Principal at 1507 Enablement Consulting. Prior to starting the company, he worked on numerous sales enablement programs and initiatives at both IBM (7 years) and SAP (15 years). He is experienced in Sales Process & Methodology, Sales Playbooks, Provocative Prospecting, Value Selling, Program Management, Sales Coaching, Strategic Planning, and Competitive Strategy. Besides this, he is also regarded as an expert in creating content to support sales people throughout the sales process. 

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