Success By Elimination

When we have a goal, the default way we go about achieving it is by laying out a detailed plan and then executing the plan. That is called success by planning. In fact, in school and while growing up, we were encouraged to use only this method: we were constantly told "He who fails to plan, plans to fail". And for most of us that's the only way we know to achieving success. But I plan to change that. By the time you read to the end of this post you will now know one more way that is just as or even more effective than success by planning. And it is called success by elimination.

I'm sure you've heard of Thomas Edison and how he failed 1000 times before finally succeeding at inventing the first commercial light bulb. He explained it as him finding 1000 ways you couldn't make the light bulb. And that is success by elimination. It involves trying everything and striking out whatever doesn't work. To whoever sees you at the beginning you are just beating about the bush. You look unserious, delusional. You've got no detailed plan of how you'll achieve your goal. You are constantly trying one way or the other, unfocused. It's becoming hard to keep count of your failed attempts. To most people, you have planned to failed.

700 or 1000 times? This must be the work of a sales guy

Yeah, as you keep eliminating ways that won't work you get closer to ways that will work. And in the end you'll find that one way that works. It's a little like brute force. 

And that's the way I'm now trying to go about my sales/marketing predicament. I'm trying out everything I've read, whether they make sense to me or not. Then I'll eliminate the ones that obviously aren't working. This is the only option I have got as the books I was hoping to help me find a blueprint have been very confusing; every author has his own theories which often contradict that of other authors, and as this is not Mathematics where I could resort to using first principles to figure out who is right, I have to just try out everything and find out by elimination what really works.

Based on recommendations, offline and online, I bought Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy and Spin Selling by Neil Rackham. Reading them has been like reading the Communist Manifesto and Declaration of Independence. But I liked the Spin Selling better, it's got more compelling arguments and is a more enjoyable read. Unlike the Psychology of Selling which was written like a motivational book: full of unnecessary repetitions, using emotive arguments and better listened to than read.

So like Thomas Edison, the only way I'm going to figure out the right sales strategy is to try all the sales strategies and then eliminate the ones that aren't working. Success by elimination.