37 and Counting...(and What it Means in Sales)
Posted by Todd Kasper on Tue, Aug 04, 2009 @ 07:27 AM
A lesson from Michael Phelps...
This past weekend, I watched with amazement as Michael Phelps for the most part dominated the FINA Swimming World Championships in Rome. Phelps won five gold medals, and perhaps his most impressive performance was being the first swimmer to break 50 seconds in the 100m Butterfly, supposedly racing in suit technologically inferior to that of his competitors.
As if that wasn't enough, during the championships, he passed Mark Spitz's mark for the most world records - Phelps now has 37, and if last week is any indication, he's nowhere near done.
Watching this performance reminded me of an interview that Phelps gave to Matt Lauer for the Today Show shortly before the Summer Olympics in Beijing last year, when he famously won eight gold medals.
In some of the footage that was apparently edited out (see below), is a quote by Phelps about having just set five world records at last year's world championships, shortly before the Olympics.
When asked by Lauer if setting world record after world record ever gets "ho-hum," Phelps responded: "It means you're improving," then paraphrased USA teammate Ian Crocker, saying, "You never want to train a whole year and not get better."
Phelps added, "It helps me to judge where I am, and if I'm able to get faster at the end of the year, then obviously I'm doing something right."
...what do we learn?
Few aspects of life reflect the world of sales as well as sports. The lessons learned by athletes on the playing field (or in this case in the pool) translate to lessons learned by sales professionals and sales managers in the conference room, on the phone, or in front of the customer. Michael Phelps teaches us that even if we are on the top of our game, we still need to keep improving, because you never want to waste a year.
In his book "Winning Every Day," famed college football coach Lou Holtz says he keeps a saying on his desk that reads, "I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I ought to be, I'm not what I'm going to be, but thank God, I'm not what I used to be."
Think about this quote. What are you doing for your sales team as a whole to make sure that they are getting better every day? How about for the team as a unit? How are you making yourself better?
In a world of software, metrics, and process improvement, sometimes increasing sales force effectiveness is as much about attitude as anything else.
Video credits: ana4182
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