The Duke of Wellington was Britain’s most celebrated commander of the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1814 he reconnoitred the countryside south of Brussels and wrote a memorandum on possible defensive positions.
One of them lay at the entrance to the Forêt de Soignes, on the heights where Mont-Saint-Jean would become a battlefield.
A year later, Napoleon came.
Wellington was waiting right there.
The infantry behind the crest, sheltered from the French artillery. The French had to attack uphill against the position.
Napoleon had more victories to his name.
That day, he fought on Wellington’s terms.
Skilled, but on the wrong ground.
Sales organisations rarely see that distinction in themselves.
Skill in the room is craft.
The questions. The objections. The negotiation.
The craft matters, but it is practised on ground that has already been chosen.
By the time the RFP arrives, the requirements are written and the criteria set.
However well you respond, it does not change what you are judged on.
Traditional sales training raises execution, but it does not move your position.
So the question is not primarily how well you sell when you get the chance.
It is:
Where were you when the ground was chosen?
On the high ground.
Or below it?
Question one in the Upstream Selling analysis is exactly this: where did you come in when the need was being defined.
Twelve questions about a live deal, five minutes, nothing is stored.
