Alphabet + Math = Sales Success?
No, really—stay with me on this one.
We all know the alphabet:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Now assign each letter a value:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Let’s do a little sales math:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8 + 1 + 18 + 4 + 23 + 15 + 18 + 11 = 98%
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11 + 14 + 15 + 23 + 12 + 5 + 4 + 7 + 5 = 96%
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1 + 20 + 20 + 9 + 20 + 21 + 4 + 5 = 100%
D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E
4 + 9 + 19 + 3 + 9 + 16 + 12 + 9 + 14 + 5 = 100%
When I saw this, I literally stopped what I was doing and started writing. Because here’s the deal…
HARD WORK
We’ve talked about effort and action before, right? I’m not knocking hard work—if you’re in inside sales and not putting in the reps, you’re toast. But hard work alone gets you to 98%.
That last little bit that takes you from good to great? It’s something more.
KNOWLEDGE
We’ve all worked with that rep who wants to know everything before picking up the phone.
The product. The perfect pitch. The right moment. The complete process.
Spoiler alert: that moment never comes.
Here’s the truth about knowledge:
- Know what you know.
- Don’t fake what you don’t.
- Find answers fast—and get back to the prospect.
Yes, deep product knowledge builds credibility over time. But paralysis-by-analysis? That just stalls your momentum. The only way to get confident is by getting in motion.
ATTITUDE
Charles Swindoll nailed it—and you’ve probably heard this one before, but it’s worth revisiting:
“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”
In sales? That ratio feels more like 5/95 some days.
Attitude is what gets you through ghosting, end-of-quarter chaos, and back-to-back rejections without losing your spark. It’s also what keeps you showing up when no one’s answering and the pipeline’s looking lean.
You control your attitude—every day, every call, every email. That makes it your most powerful tool.
DISCIPLINE
Hard to measure. Impossible to fake.
Discipline is your daily follow-up. Your CRM hygiene (yep, I said it). Your consistency in reaching out to customers when there’s no fire to put out.
As H. Jackson Brown Jr. said:
“Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates.
There’s plenty of movement, but you never know
if it’s going to be forward, backward, or sideways.”
Oof. Been there, seen that. Maybe even been that.
So what’s the point of all this?
I’m not saying turn your pipeline into a Sudoku puzzle. I’m saying there’s a reason ATTITUDE and DISCIPLINE both hit 100%. They’re what elevate your hard work and knowledge into real results.
And the kicker?
I can’t imagine taking the time to convert words into math AND then figuring out something that was meaningful from it.
Luckily, someone else did and reminded me: combining hard work, knowledge, attitude, and discipline = you (and me) at our best.
Get after it,
Lynn