Most riders know the experience. You approach an intersection, a driver looks straight at you, and yet pulls out anyway. They are not reckless or malicious, they just didn’t see you.
Road-safety research calls it inattentional blindness. The driver is scanning for cars, so their brain filters out anything that doesn’t match that expectation. A motorcycle is not what they expect, so it becomes invisible.
It’s a human limitation, not a moral failing. And it happens in business every day.
In sales, leaders and teams also suffer from a version of this. We look for what we expect: the “ideal buyer”, the familiar objections, the competitors we already know, the patterns that match our past wins. Anything that sits outside those expectations is easy to miss.
Some examples I see often:
Teams ignore a viable segment because it does not fit their historic ICP. They are scanning for the same type of business they have always served, so emerging opportunities remain hidden.
Managers overlook early indicators of a slowing pipeline. Their mental model says, “We usually close strong at the end,” so they fail to see the small signals that momentum is dropping.
Reps miss genuine buying intent because it does not arrive in the form they expect. A technical question, an unusual stakeholder, or a quiet client can be misread as low interest when it is actually readiness.
It is the same cognitive trap that causes drivers to miss motorcycles: we see what we expect to see.
Sales improves the moment we acknowledge this.
A few practical steps that mirror good riding habits:
1. Change your scan pattern Riders learn to widen their search, not fixate. Sales teams can do the same by reviewing leading indicators weekly, not monthly, and looking at outliers instead of only averages.
2. Review your blind spots Motorcyclists accept that drivers may not register them. Sales leaders should identify the assumptions their teams hold about customers, competitors, and markets.
3. Use structured checks Before riding off, I check tyres, fuel, lights, chain tension, and gear. Simple, regular, and reliable. Sales teams benefit from the same rhythm: pipeline reviews, value checks in each stage, and clean handover notes.
4. Invite a different point of view Motorcycling teaches humility. You cannot assume others see you. In sales, leaders should actively seek perspectives from marketing, operations, or customer service to challenge what the team expects a buyer to look like.
When people miss you on a bike, it is usually because they are not expecting you. When teams miss opportunities in sales, the reason is often the same.
Expanding what we expect to see is one of the simplest, and most powerful, ways to lift performance.
About the Author
Dominic Parsonson is a seasoned Fractional Sales Director with 25+ years’ experience leading sales, business development, and marketing across four continents. He partners with small to mid-sized businesses to bring clarity, structure, and sustainable sales growth through Sales Xceleration’s proven framework. Dominic also serves as an advisor and emerging Non-Executive Director, offering practical, growth-focused oversight to organisations he believes in.