Beyond the Acronyms: Why Principles Score When Methods Fumble

Stability AI

"As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The power of principles is that they’re universal, timeless truths. If we understand and live our lives based on principles, we can quickly adapt; we can apply them anywhere.” - Stephen R. Covey

Principles are essential for creating structural foundations to build upon. In the hierarchy of importance, they trump methodologies, yet we tend to learn and teach largely in terms of methodologies. Principles are timeless and fundamental elements in designing systems, whereas methodologies are procedural concepts that focus mostly on how something is to be done to achieve a result. Both are useful in day-to-day life to accomplish tasks and objectives. However, an overreliance on methodologies hinders adaptability and success in changing environments and technologies.

Selling Principles

My sales principles are as follows: 1) believe in yourself, 2) believe in your product or service, 3) give value, 4) make it easy to say yes, and 5) embrace a learning loop. But how do principles work? Are they things you repeat to yourself? Are they considerations before making decisions? The development and use of principles require some unpacking. First, principles should guide behavior. Let's take the first principle—believe in yourself—as an example. For this principle to guide behavior, it must be built, strengthened, and nurtured. I can't just tell someone to believe in themselves; it must be developed. But how?

Building belief systems is possible through experience, learning, and mental modeling. A belief in something exists if you have references (experience—vicariously or otherwise) that something is possible. If you don't have this, you need to go get it and develop it. To ensure its ongoing strength, it requires nurturing. My favorite approach is reading. Others prefer personal experience, but that has some obvious limitations.

Again, principles are things that are built. Let's take a look at the third principle—give value. How do you build this principle? Well, to give value, it supposes that you have it, and that it is valuable to others. If you don't have it, you need to go get it. For a seller, it would require acquiring uncommon knowledge that could be shared with a customer. I want to emphasize that principles don't just exist as statements; they are embodied in action that makes them strong—they need to be nurtured once built.

Methods & Procedures

How are methodologies different, and how do we effectively use them? Let's take the current resurrection of a favorite tech-sector sales methodology—MEDDPICC. Frankly, to call it a methodology is a bit of a misnomer; I would call it a checklist or procedure. I don't mean this in a pejorative way. Lists are incredibly valuable and useful (see The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande). With the MEDDPICC system, you cover the bases according to the acronym to successfully advance the sales cycle. The acronym stands for (M) metrics, (E) economic buyer, (D) decision process, (D) decision criteria, (P) paper process, (I) identify pain, (C) champion, (C) competition. The idea is that if you have all of the letters covered, you have a high probability of closing the deal. Useful, yes; a methodology, not really. A methodology is a way of doing things that deliver a result. For example, the Challenger Sales Methodology is a method. It is a distinct approach that boils down to three elements that are to be done serially to win a deal: teach, tailor, and take control.

How does all of this fit into developing sales acumen, a sales team, and ultimately a sales organization? Consider the model of the sales pyramid, as I see it, with principles at the foundation, methodologies in the middle, and procedures at the top:

I'll use a sports analogy that might help depict the importance of this structure and the order of importance from most important (principles) to least (procedures). Football players spend the majority of their time working on principles—blocking and tackling. Specifically, they work on building and nurturing these principles (sound familiar?). To block better, they spend an inordinate amount of time getting stronger and practicing techniques to use leverage, for example. Next, they spend the second most time practicing plays—methodologies—which are designed based on the coach's schemes and player capabilities. Lastly, they spend the least amount of time with the procedural aspects—such as rules, timeouts, penalties, equipment, etc. The procedures need to be known and abided by, but they are not the biggest factors in determining success. If a player cannot block and cover his assignment, then it doesn't matter if he follows all the procedures.

Now, back to sales. If you don't believe in yourself, your product, add value, make it easy for a customer to buy, and keep learning, it's highly unlikely that following the procedures will matter in creating a successful sales organization. In fact, if you execute the principles exclusively, the procedures will naturally take care of themselves. This reminds me of the title of a book, The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh, a favorite of Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey. Bill, a legendary NFL coach, obsessively focused on principles and preached that the score would come if the little things (principles) were executed right. He won three Super Bowls in the '80s.

Talking About Practice

"What are we talking about, man? Practice?" — Allen Iverson

Sellers need to focus on principles. There are many ways to do this when building and nurturing principles; however, this is not something you can do with procedures. How would you practice metrics, identifying the decision criteria, or economic buyer? Would it ever make sense to say, "That salesperson is incredible at identifying the buying criteria"? On the other hand, you could say of a salesperson, "He's confident and knowledgeable in front of executives," which means the seller is displaying belief in herself and delivering value. These are things that can always be nurtured, developed, and practiced.

If principles are the blocking and tackling of football, then methodologies are the plays. These can also be practiced. For example, using the Challenger selling methodology, sales teams can work on crafting teachable presentations that lead with insight. The practice element can help refine the messaging, word tracks, visuals, delivery, etc., to continually raise the bar. Following the framework, you would then work on tailoring the content and ultimately taking control of the sales process.

Methods can change, however. Things like technology, social & business norms, and cultural trends change, and with that so should your approach and methodologies. There seem to be arbitrage-like opportunities that occur with sales methodologies, which over time tend to make these approaches less effective—similar to the way traders discover market opportunities that become traded away over time by overuse. This is not the case with principles. Principles, by definition, will always be relevant and important. Jeff Bezos seems relevant here:

“I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ and that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one.  I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two…” - Jeff Bezos

Building a business and a sales organization around principles that don't change is the way to ensure that you will continually be relevant from a skill set and business product/solution standpoint. As in football, there will never exist a world where blocking and tackling will not be valuable. Practicing principles is the key, prioritize this; methods and procedures follow and provide domain context to codify a sales framework that can lead to ongoing success.