It amazes me how much the profession of sports mirrors sales. Teamwork, strategy, competitiveness, mental attitude, execution, leadership…all these attributes show themselves in both arenas. I had a recent athletic experience I wanted to share that left me with three important tenets for business and life:
- Strategy is critical to success, but ultimate success lies in the execution;
- Being a leader requires not only vision but toughness;
- Fail Forward…learn from your mistakes.
Here is the scenario:
I had the good fortune of being selected by USA Volleyball to represent the United States in a recent international beach volleyball tournament. This is a professional tournament – two-person teams – and featured teams from 12 different countries from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Being that it has always been a dream of mine to represent the US in an international event, I packed up the wife and kids, put my “Out of Office Assistant” on and headed to the Cayman Islands for five days of sun, beach and top level competition!
My partner and I were seeded second in the tournament, and we faced off against a local team from the Cayman Islands for our first match. This was the equivalent of a “done deal” as we were much more skilled, both physically and mentally, than the Cayman team. But have you ever been in a business deal, maybe when trying to close an account, that you thought was a “slam dunk”, a “done deal?” No matter how easy a close you think it might be, you still have to execute the fundamentals: contact, problem solving, value generation, follow-up, service, etc… Same can be said for our first match. We discussed our strategy prior to the match, but failed to execute to the top of our game. Our follow-through was just okay and our communication on the court was just so-so. Mentally, we didn’t bring our “A” game; therefore, the match was much closer than expected. It took us a while to wake up and realize that no opponent can be taken for granted.
The sales game is no different. Make sure you have a specific strategy for success then bring your “A” game in order to be prepared for the rigors of the competition, AKA your competitors in the marketplace. Next, you need to EXECUTE your game plan. In sales that means making the calls, following up, servicing the client, etc… Lastly, you can’t take any sale for granted. Just when you think a deal is “done” the inevitable happens – an objection arises to delay the sale. Don’t take any sale for granted until the check clears the bank.
So, onto our next match against a very good Canadian team (spoiler alert, they ended up winning the tournament). I won’t bore you with the details but we got our butts kicked! What I noticed most was a lack of leadership on our side of the net. Both my partner and I were looking for the other player to step up and start making plays, communicate adjustments and emotionally fuel the tanks. Consequently, with a lack of leadership, we floundered and stumbled through an ugly match.
In my years of selling to thousands of companies and consulting with hundreds of sales professionals, I’ve noticed that a lack of leadership, particularly when it comes to motivating and guiding a sales force, can be devastating. Without strong leadership, a sales force can flounder and stumble just like my partner and I did. , I’ve come to the conclusion that a good sales leader, at the minimum, must possess these two skills: vision and toughness. He/she must see the business from 30,000 feet so he/she can explain to the troops on the ground what it looks like above the clouds and guide the team accordingly. Humans want to be led and sales people want, no need, to feel like they are part of the process. They need to understand the bigger picture in order to stay motivated when the 26th person in a row just told them, “thanks, but no thanks.” To that point, a sales leader needs to be tough with his/her team. More on this as we move into my last insight…
I like winning. So when we got our butts kicked by the Canadians morale was low. But instead of sulking, I took a minute to evaluate our performance – most specifically my own since that was the only thing of which I had control – and determine where we made mistakes. Once I collected my thoughts, I regrouped with my partner. We decided to refocus by openly discussing ae shortcomings the previous match, i.e. our failures. Understanding these failures, we were able to isolate the reasons we weren’t successful then turn our attention to solving the problems. We spent 20% of our time on the problema nd 80% on the solution. We embraced our failures, put them behind us WITH A GAME PLAN FOR IMPROVEMENT MOVING FORWARD, and went to work. I call this practice “Failing Forward.”
When it comes to business you aren’t going to win every sales. Heck, you can’t sell everyone because not everyone has a need nor can benefit from the product or service you’re offering. The key is to evaluate your performance when you had a legitimate chance to make a sale but it didn’t happen; by doing so, you’ll understand where you’re falling short and where you’re excelling. Once you have that information make sure you apply it so you can increase your chance for success on the next appointment. I call this Failing Forward because even though you failed to make the sale, you moved forward in your development as a professional.
This is a good time to circle back to toughness and finish our story. Let’s fast forward to the bronze medal match: USA#1 (my partner and I!) vs. Canada #2 (the US and Canada each had two teams representing their countries). The first game went well and we won. Nothing fancy, just solid play and executing our strategy.
When the second game started it became obvious that our opponents made some adjustments to their game. We came out flat, failed to make the necessary adjusments of our own, and got beat. So we headed to the all-important third game and the moment had arrived to be tough. Sensing one of us had to step up and be the leader for our team, I quite simply said, “The time is now. Give me everything you have for these 15 points and I promise you we’ll get a medal!” Sure enough, my partner and I shook off our exhaustion and willed ourselves to victory and a bronze medal. Had we not learned from our previous experience and made the step forward, we wouldn’t have made it to the podium ceremonies.
As I said from the outset, sports mirrors sales. In order to be successful in either, you need the right ingredients of attitude, planning, skill and execution. And if you remember the three tenets I’ve explained, you’ll be more likely to win more often and get from where you are to where you want to be: on the podium accepting your award as a top performer! Now go sell something!
