In 1931 Harry Beck drew a new map of the London Underground.
He ignored real distances. Instead: straight lines, even angles, stations spread out so that everything became easy to read.
In 2011 researcher Zhan Guo studied how passengers choose their route. Distance on the map carried roughly twice the weight of actual travel time. Even for those who travelled almost every day.
Passengers don’t choose by reality. They choose by the map.
B2B customers often do the same with their problems. They have a picture of the problem, what causes it and which solutions sit close by.
That picture decides which suppliers look like the right way forward.
Someone drew that map. A competitor, an analyst, a colleague, these days often an AI.
Whoever draws the map directs the traffic.
That is why an Upstream Sprint starts with the map, not with the solution.
You pick a deal you want to win. We analyse the customer. In a four-hour workshop your sales team challenges the customer’s requirements and finds what the customer risks missing.
One week later the salesperson has a pitch that redraws the map. It shows something the competitors don’t.
Who is drawing the map your customer uses?
Click here if you want to read more on how to develop your sales.
