--- title: You Need Enough Matches to Create Enough Fire | The Sales Blog description: Let’s say you are a scout, a Girl Scout or a Boy Scout. You are going on a camping trip that will last for four nights. You are going to need a fire each image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_551804437.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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You are going on a camping trip that will last for four nights. You are going to need a campfire each morning, and you are going to need a campfire each evening. In total, that is eight campfires. Let’s assume you don’t want to start a fire with flint, you need eight matches to start these fires. - What if one match gets wet while you are doing scout stuff, like canoeing or hiking? - What if a second match is a dud? It just doesn’t produce the flame it is expected to produce. - What if one of of your fires requires more than a couple matches to get started? You would never bring eight matches in order to start eight fires. You would bring far more matches than you need, because you are a scout, right? You would be prepared, and you would have a contingency plan that ensures you have heat and the ability to prepare food. Why then would you expect to yield the exact number you need to make your sales goal out of the exact number of deals that would produce that exact amount of revenue? Why would you not expect that [one of your deals is going to fall out](http://thesalesblog.com/2013/03/17/how-to-inoculate-yourself-against-errors/) of your pipeline due to some factor that is beyond your control? Why would you not expect that some deal is going to take longer than it should, and that the people inside the companies you are working with aren’t going to have competing priorities and emergencies that require their attention? In all cases, you should [work exceedingly hard to control the process](http://thesalesblog.com/2017/01/31/control-process-episode-30/). You win the deal faster, and your client gets better results, faster. Even when you are perfect in the execution of your process, gaining all the commitments you need, you are going to have deals fall out of the process. Look at this way, you would not try to yield 10M in deals out of 10M in opportunities, would you? You would have more coverage than that, more insurance. If you can’t afford to have any deals slip, commitment gaining may be part of your problem, but the bigger part of your problem may be not gaining the early commitments that result in new opportunities. ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2017](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2017) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on June 9, 2017 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. 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What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2021-09-17T2:40:26 PM", "datePublished" : "2017-06-09 21:14:13", "description" : "Let’s say you are a scout, a Girl Scout or a Boy Scout. You are going on a camping trip that will last for four nights. 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