Deal tracking - its about finding positive outcomes!

Firstly, what on earth is 'deal tracking'? Deal tracking is the process of taking a deal back through all of its stages to ascertain which people/events were influential in the outcome. In fact, it can be applied to all life events (so should, perhaps be life tracking, but we are here to talk about business).

Many people instinctively do one or 2 stages of deal tracking (eg: I got that deal because Mr X referred me; and I know Mr X through the golf club), however for various reasons (time, fear of losing credit or just disinterest) we seldom go further. It is the going further that reveals the most interesting results.

If I track my path to this business the latter events would be:

• I started mentoring as a logical extension to teaching. (pat on the back the those who made the suggestion).
• I went teaching alone because I felt the college weren't marketing it very well (pat on the back to me).
• I  applied to Strodes because my sister urged (nay nagged!) me to do so. (Pat on the back to my sister).
• My sister suggested it because I had come back from the States & was looking for a different direction (no pats).
• I was in the States to renew a relationship with the proverbial 'old flame'. (And I would have sworn that no good came out of that - so a grudging pat on the back to Her).
• It was easy for me to decamp to the States because my house was rented out and I was temporarily living in my friends' pub (pat on the back to my friends).

This could go on for a long time, but will delve into my personal life - as will many of your transactions - so needs to be a private thing.

There will also be many tangents - for example people on my course at Strode's picked up details in Tesco's, so you can pursue both - 'why were you in Tesco's?' and/or 'why were you interested in a business course?'

Isn't this a waste of time? Personally I think some selective tracking will be the best time you will ever spend - contacts and events you had written off as 'a waste of time' will re-emerge as influential in positive events - this is a message I would love to convey to anyone who makes blanket comments such as 'networking is a waste of time' or 'advertising doesn't work'. Do a bit of tracking and I guarantee you will be surprised by the positive outcomes.