GOLF PROS & SALES PROS
Q. Dan, I have been involved in competitive sports all of my life. As my career in sales progresses, I find myself remembering my coach from High School and applying principles from those activities in my sales job. What do you think of that?
Kathleen, St. Paul, MN
A.
Kathleen, great observation! It may surprise some, but I propose that there are many similarities involved whether you strive to excel at sports or at sales. .
Take, for instance, the game of golf (one of my favorite sports). Bob Rotella, a renowned golf/sports psychologist and
author of the book Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect,
outlines suggestions to help golfers with their "mental game" on the PGA
tour. We'll see in the analysis below
that some basic tenets may be held in common.
Bob
Rotella's Golf Rules: & Sales
Lessons:
GOLF: Free will is a golfer's greatest
source of strength and power. Positive
attitude makes a great player. People
by and large become what they think about themselves. Choosing how to think is a crucial
decision. Negative thinking is almost 100% effective.
SALES:
You and only you determine your attitude. Customers love positive people. Be positive
and surround yourself with positive people!
GOLF: Golfers must learn to quiet their
minds, stay in the present and focus on the shot to be played.
SALES:
Don't celebrate too early. An
order is not an order until: It's booked, you and the company have been paid,
it's been delivered, installed/implemented, the customer is happy, the
customer continues to buy from you and the customer refers others to you.
GOLF: A sound pre-shot routine is
critical.
SALES:
Developing a sound pre-call plan for sales calls, presentations and
negotiations is vital.
GOLF: Golf is a game played by human
beings, therefore, it is a game of mistakes.
Successful golfers know how to respond and learn from mistakes.
SALES:
Develop a routine for critically analyzing wins and losses. Feeling badly about losing a deal is natural, but think about trying to recover something positive from the experience--learn from it!
GOLF: Golfers must learn to love the
challenge when they hit a ball into the rough, trees or sand. The alternatives, anger, fear, whining and
cheating, do no good.
SALES:
Excelling as a sales professional is not easy. Learn to savor the challenge.
GOLF: Quality of practice is more
important than quantity, particularly for better golfers.
SALES:
To the sales superstar, the process of becoming better is a never
ending quest. There are tons of
colleagues, sales books, sales trainers and selling methodologies. Be very selective about your choices; sift through material critically and assess mentors carefully in your search for advice.
GOLF: Great
golfers must learn the importance of the training mentality and trusting
mentality. Training mentality makes
things happen and is used on the practice range to engrain swing mechanics. Trusting mentality lets things happen and is
used on the course.
SALES:
Sales pros must practice and prepare to insure that during "game time" (your time with customers) your responses and actions come naturally and easily.
GOLF: If a golfer chooses to compete, she
must believe she can win.
SALES:
Properly qualify opportunities utilizing the BMPCC account
qualification strategy before you invest significant corporate and personal
scarce resources into an opportunity. "Whether
you think you can, or think you can't, you are always right." Henry Ford
GOLF: On the first tee, a golfer must
expect only two things of himself: to have fun, and to focus her mind
properly on every shot.
SALES:
Do your best and have fun doing it!
GOLF: You must play every significant
round with a game plan! Follow a conservative
strategy but have a cocky swing!
SALES:
For major opportunities you must have a sound strategy
(Building Trust, Growing Sales: chapter 4). Even more important than
the strategy are the action items/tactics that flow from it.
GOLF: The best way to prepare a plan is
to start from the hole and mentally review it backwards.
SALES:
Develop a "Critical Event Time Line" for each of your major
opportunities. Remember: 3-D:
Discover, Document and Drive the customer's buying process starting backward
from the customer's critical event.
GOLF: In golf, the bad news for the
present champion is that tomorrow is a new day. That is when the competition starts
again from scratch. That's the good
news for everyone else.
SALES:
Unlike most other careers, the selling professional is paid and rewarded
based upon the here and now. The past
is irrelevant.
Good Luck, and Close 'Em!
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FOR INSPIRATION:
"Negative thinking is almost 100% effective"
Bob Rotella
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, your always right."
Henry Ford
"Those at the top of the mountain didn't fall there"
Unknown
"The harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph"
Thomas Paine
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