A mentor of mine used to say;
“A month’s worth of sales is like a sack of potatoes. You have some large potatoes, medium potatoes, and small potatoes. At the end of the month you boil them up, and mash them together, and what do you have?”
“A big pot of mashed potatoes!”
–Doug Axtell
That saying has been around for many years. But it is prevalent today, just as it was fifteen years ago when I first heard it.
DON’T JUST GO FOR THE BIG POTATO:
I understood what he meant. You have to take all the deals you can get. Despite the size of the gross—they all add up. It is about taking as many deals as you can get (big, medium, or small) because in the end, the more customers you make, the more customers you will be able to retain, and nurture for repeat business.
Many times the people you make the most money on don’t refer you any customers. Often times they don’t come back because they find out you knocked them out the first time so they go somewhere else.
KEEP IN MIND:
(Substitute potato with customer or deal.)
If all you do is spend your efforts on one big potato you may end up with an empty pot.
The one with the most potatoes wins . . . not the biggest potato.
Small potatoes lead to big potatoes.
Big potatoes have brown spots too.
A potato is just a potato.
Go get your sack of potatoes and take all the sizes you can get!
–Tim Northburg
LifeWork Elements
