#229: Spray & Pray Sales Technique, Pottery Principle & the 10,000 Hours Theory
3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Quantity & Quality
I. Spray & Pray Sales Technique
The Spray & Pray Sales Technique is a marketing approach that tries to get quality through quantity. The idea is to contact as many potential buyers as possible with minimal targeting or personalisation, hoping that sheer volume will produce a few successful leads.
It can generate some leads through volume alone, but it’s inefficient and often wastes time on unqualified prospects. It may boost reach, yet rarely delivers lasting or meaningful results in the form of lasting customer relationships or sustainable growth. Unless there’s a considerable amount of answered prayers involved.
Apparently, it can work with impulse-buy products such as snacks or promotional goods. But personally, I’m not inclined to respond to Bob, the generic outreach bro, who knows neither my name nor that of my website, but is confident he can double my non-existent online course sales within a year.
II. Pottery Principle
So quantity cannot produce quality? Well, it can. Case in point is the Pottery Principle, an anecdote from the book Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland.
A ceramics instructor split his class into two groups. One was graded on how much work they produced, the other on making a single perfect piece. The quantity group would be judged by the total weight of their pots, while the quality group needed only one flawless example for top marks. The results were telling:
[T]he works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work — and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
—David Bayles & Ted Orland, Art & Fear
III. 10,000 Hours Theory
Just put in 10,000 hours of work into anything and you’ll be a master.
Well, no. The 10,000 Hours Theory is as widely quoted as it is misunderstood. It comes from psychologist K. Anders Ericsson’s research on how people develop expertise. His studies of musicians and other high performers found that the best had accumulated about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.
The concept was later popularised by Canadian journalist Malcolm Gladwell, but the popular version oversimplified what Ericsson actually discovered. Ericsson never claimed that 10,000 hours automatically produce mastery. What matters is how those hours are spent. Deliberate practice means operating at the edge of your ability, correcting errors through feedback and maintaining sustained concentration.
Making lacklustre attempts at repeating a skill and putting in time doesn’t count. What drives improvement is quantity combined with intensity. You need enough volume of practice to build experience, but the practice must also be high-quality to actually refine the skill. 🐘
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you again in 2026! 🎄🎊
Chris
themindcollection.com
RE 10,000 Hours. Vince Lombardi opined that "perfect practice makes perfect."
Re Quantity versus quality. I had a commercial photographer who claimed that getting a good picture was similar to raising political donations. "Quantity matters more than quality" One example displayed in in his office, was a bright sun in a blue sky shining through a cloud of ice chips. They attached a Nikon with a large film magazine and radio remote shutter control and took 300 frames in the time the sled ran down the course. Of the 300 frames 2 were acceptable.
Spray and pray proponents should read some Seth Godin Material. Transaction versus relationships.
Thanks for your work. I look forward to your emails.