For hundreds of generations, recipes were something that were relayed through conversation, and taught by experience under the watchful eye of friends and relatives. A pinch of this, and a dash of that, often yielded less than desired results. That all changed a little over 125 years ago when (an aptly named) Fannie Farmer published a cookbook. Although it probably wasn’t her intent, Ms. Farmer revolutionized cooking forever. She invented standardized measurements for cooking, thereby making recipes repeatable for everyone, no matter what their skill-level.

Recipes just aren’t confined to cookbooks. If you do a little research, you’ll find several different recipes for sales success. For every Michelin star chef, there is a bona fide sales expert. If you follow either’s recipe exactly as written, you will achieve a favorable outcome. However, if you decide to outsmart that recipe you will likely not achieve that same outcome.

For instance, let’s say you want to prepare a recipe from Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, and it calls for sashimi grade tuna. In your infinite wisdom, you decide it might taste better with leftover cocktail shrimp. Not only will your creation not taste like Morimoto-san’s, it could give you weapons-grade dysentery.

Likewise, let’s say you use vAuto. If we paid attention to at least five minutes of a vAuto presentation, we’d know the tool shows the user optimum pricing based on a given vehicle and market. If you use vAuto exactly as you are trained to use it, you will achieve the results they promise. However, if your used car manager insists on pricing a 374 day-old 2008 Impala at 137% of market value, vAuto will not perform as advertised. Gordon Ramsay and Dale Pollack would probably both call you a donkey, and tell you to get the f#$% out of the kitchen. Your owner might also get weapons-grade dysentery

If you want to use a recipe for success, you cannot pick and choose what you want to do. If the recipe calls for fresh basil, use it. If your trainer tells you to call twice on day one, then do it. If your SEO vendor tells you what keywords to target, then listen to them. Like any chef, consultants, vendors, and/or trainers, are only as good his or her results. They want you to win. If you follow their exact directions, you will succeed. Any deviation, no matter how minute, can be a recipe for disaster.