There was a study in 2010 on fungi intelligence. The researchers put oats in petri dishes, placed in the shape of major cities in Japan.

Then they added this single-celled amoeba to see what happened.

First, the amoeba started to expand, going in every direction. It was a jumbled mess. They tried to explore their environment, get their footing.

Once they got a grasp of their surroundings, they came back together and began to map out the most efficient way to get from one oat to the next. The less-efficient pathways dissolved and the most-efficient pathways remained.

(The most-efficient pathways are nearly identical to the rail system in Tokyo. It was proof to the researchers that the rail system was efficient.)

I think sellers are the same.

Right now, they’re frantically trying to figure out what works. They’re testing all the different:

• strategies

• sequences

• personalities

• subject lines

• etc.

Very slowly, the best practices start to ooze out of the top performers and find their way to the next person…and the next (and so on).

But the lead time here is often 3 to 4 months.

By the time you’ve scheduled an all-hands, relayed the info, and started implementing, you’ve wasted a LOT of time.