How Is Drone Flying Like Sales?
I am a tech enthusiast and fly a drone (a DJI Phantom 2+ specifically.) You may have seen the videos and pictures taken from the drone on my personal blog, adamhonig.com.
The thing about flying a drone is that it is unique, not everyone does it. As a result, I am asked about flying drones just as much as I am asked for sales advice. I decided I would combine the two together as there are some major parallels.
How flying a drone and sales are the same:
In Sales and Drone Flying The Results Are Hard To Predict
Every time I take my drone out, the conditions are different. Sometimes I take beautiful photos or video of amazing sights. Other times it may wind up in the San Francisco Bay!
Back in October, I was flying my drone over the San Francisco Bay when it got caught up by some sort of interference. It may have been wi-fi signals, or some other unknown variable but my drone entered “come home” mode… but didn’t quite make it all the way back. I wrote the word “Fuck” on Facebook, as I watched my drone crash and burn into the bay.
Sometimes the same thing happens with sales. Everything seems to be going well and then some unknown variable interferes and you watch the whole deal crash and burn. While it’s never fun it’s part of the experience of selling. You have to take risks and burn every now and then so that you can land the good deals when things work out.
In Sales (And Drone Flying) You Need A Plan!
The battery life on my drone is only 20 minutes long. This means I need to be very efficient with my flying time. I look at maps, plot out my course and then make it happen.
When I took my drone to Italy and flew over Rome, I had to build specific flight plans to fly over the Colosseum, Teatro Marcello and many of Italy’s other destinations. With limited battery life and a short trip to Italy, I had to make the most out of each day to capture the beautiful photos that I did. Without a proper plan, I surely wouldn’t have been able to capture all of the sights that I did.
It’s the same with selling. You only have a limited window of time with each sale. You need to scope the territory, build a sales plan and then execute.
It’s Hard Work
Flying a drone is not easy. I often have to wake up before dawn just to catch the sunrise over a location. Other times I am flying my drone in cold weather. I can’t wear gloves because that would interfere with operating the controls. And after the footage is captured, there are countless hours spent editing the footage together.
Sales is the same. It’s hard work. Sometimes you have to bend your schedule to ridiculous ends to meet a client’s demands. Other times you may have to go through conditions you don’t enjoy just to make a sale happen. There is a ton of work that goes into selling, so you have to be prepared for hard parts.
It’s Worth It
If done well, both selling and flying a drone is an incredible experience and extremely rewarding.
For flying a drone, the rewards come in the joy and the beautiful photos and videos that I capture. For sales, the rewards come in satisfied customers and an increased income from closing new sales (which you can do more of by using a sales automation CRM like Spiro).
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Don McCullough.
