If I may, I admit I’m a young buck. I have been in the technology sales industry 11 short years. I have had the rare opportunity to work with hundreds of companies and evaluate their business models. So why would I start with alluding to inexperience? I guess it is because I am struggling to figure something out. In all my experience I have noticed a common thread across the many companies I have worked with: the desire to start as soon as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand you have to get started if you want to sell anything. Even General Patton said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week.” Business needs to move quickly today to capitalize on every market advantage.

Patton also taught that while planning is a vital element, so is the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances in the field. If I had a nickel for every time … well, let’s just say I have seen countless plans supported by studies and surveys that did not go at all as designed once it came time to execute. The fact of the matter is things change once you reach your battlefield. The enemy is not where the textbook or the experts said they would be. So you have to adjust.

That brings me to my point. A significant business need emerged across all of these interactions. How can a business start early but retain a nimble posture to adjust for circumstances in the field? How can you gather real business results while learning what adjustments are necessary to scale the model?

Patton’s answer was to send in the elite. The concept is simple, executing it is the challenge. Before you fully invest in a new sales initiative, you need to field test your assumptions with a group of unquestionably consistent and top-performing sales professionals.

Simply delivering results, by far the easiest part, is not enough. Your sales elite also need to think like a consultant. If you can find both skill sets in the same resource, focused on proving or improving your model, the results are powerful.

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