The Tennis Score Clock Face And Your Pipeline

Yesterday’s blog (where a boxing clock-face metaphor can help your selling) subsequently reminded me of the original tennis scoring system.

I liked the idea of viewing prospects and deals by where they sit on a clock face. If the five minutes either side of the hour of my previous post is maybe a little cramped for your purposes, then you could also plot at 15, 30, 45 minutes past, as well as the hour mark itself.

When tennis began on the lawns of ye olde middle England, legend has it that games were scored by pointers on a circle. One for each player, think dial being moved around an old clock face. Each rally won saw a move one-quarter distance around. Four points and that game was yours. 15-30-45-60. If three-all was reached, then two-clear points were needed for victory.

Over time, that forty-five morphed to simply forty. Smoother to say. And the 3-pt tie at 45-each is now deuce.

There is a simple five-step scale here to utilise. How likely or near to buying, the level of pain or otherwise felt, or even the strength of fit are just three of many options that could apply to use this for insight and process refinement.

Whether you run a team, or required to present to management, this could well be a particular winner for a different look at forecasts when your favourite major tennis event comes ’round each year….