Is 90% of Sales Luck or Skill?

Is 90% of Sales Just Luck?

What do you think? Is sales luck or skill? It’s mostly skill you can train. Here are the data points, examples, and three weekly plays that measurably lift win rates.

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I saw a post recently that claimed:

"90% of sales is being in the right place at the right time. The other 10% is skill."

It stopped me in my tracks, because if that’s true, what are we even doing as a sales profession? So is sales luck or skill?

I understand the sentiment. Timing is important. Reaching a buyer when they’re ready, when budget’s approved, when the problem’s become urgent makes everything easier.

But if you believe 90% of sales is just being lucky with timing, then what are you building?

• You’re not building a sales strategy.

• You’re not building a repeatable process.

• You’re certainly not building predictability.

You're building a pipeline based on luck.

And luck doesn’t scale.

The best salespeople I have worked with don’t wait for timing.

They create it.

They help the buyer realise they have a problem worth solving.

They uncover urgency where none existed.

They build consensus. They challenge assumptions. They reframe priorities.

That’s not luck. That’s skill.

In problem-centred selling, we don’t cross our fingers for the right moment.

We focus on helping the buyer see the cost of inaction.

We don’t show up and hope.

We show up and solve.

So no, I don’t believe 90% of sales is luck.

I think the best salespeople just make it look that way.

What do you think? Is 90% of Sales Just Luck?

How much of sales is skill—and how much is just being in the right place at the right time?

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