Coaching Sales Managers how to coach winning sales teams can best be described by a quote from the great Mohammad Ali – “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses — behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”
Effective Sales Management is all about coaching individuals, helping them to become better people, realising their true potential, and, yes, in some instances, helping them realise what that potential is.
When I was nominated for Australian Sales Manager of the Year over 30 years ago, I was interviewed along with the other nominated people. In that interview, I was quoted as saying that Robert believes that priorities and profit should follow people in management. “My most important responsibility as a Sales manager is people, “he says. “Without that, the rest doesn’t matter. Look after your people, and the business will benefit.”
When it was published, that article caused great concern among my peers but not with my manager because being 180% over forecast gave me lots of latitude.
So here are several quotes that have helped shape my thoughts. I hope one or more are of interest to you and inspire you to find ways to help the people who look to you for guidance, direction, and, most of all, inspiration.
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan.
“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses — behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.” – Muhammad Ali.
“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up”. – Vince Lombardi.
“The interesting thing about coaching is that you have to trouble the comfortable and comfort the troubled.” – Ric Charlesworth.
“Set goals – high goals for you and your organization. When your organization has a goal to shoot for, you create teamwork, people working for a common good.” – Bear Bryant.
“A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.” – Billie Jean King.
“The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. The will to prepare to win is important.” – Bobby Knight.
“There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.” – Tommy Lasorda.
“Don’t stop three steps short.” Bennett barked this with particular emphasis during training runs, Don’t Die With The Music In You.”– Wayne Bennet
“As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the birds that follow. By flying in a ‘V’ formation, the whole flock adds 71 per cent to the flying range.”– Phil Jackson.
“When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back to take advantage of the lifting power of the birds in front.” – Phil Jackson.
“If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?” – Vince Lombardi.
“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all-time thing,” he said. – Vince Lombardi.
“You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” – Vince Lombardi.
“Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if willing to pay the price.” – Vince Lombardi.
“If what you did yesterday still looks big to you, You haven’t done much today.” – Mikhail Gorbachev.
“A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on “x’s and o’s” as compared to time spent learning about people.” – Mike Krzyzewski.
“Sent off, carried off, but never backed off.” – David Dunworth.
“Doctors and scientists said breaking the four-minute mile was impossible; one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead.” – Roger Bannister.
