College
football is in full swing and, unsurprisingly, Alabama is the #1 team
in the nation. How has Alabama been so good for so long?
A big
part of the answer is that they keep their saws sharp. And, a lot of
that credit goes to their head coach, Nick Saban.
Last week, I talked about the idea of staying sharp. If you have not read
it, click here. When I combined college football, with Covey's
seventh habit, I was reminded of an article I read not too long ago.
The
article was written by a sales trainer named Gary Walker. Here is the
article in its entirety:
The
college football season kicked off last week. Reigning national
champion, the Alabama Crimson Tide, began right where they left off
last season with a convincing 52 to 6 win over the University of
Southern California.
A while
ago, CBS 60 Minutes did a segment on Alabama football coach Nick
Saban. He's one of the best coaches in college football, having now
won four BCS championships with Alabama in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015,
and another with LSU in 2003. I included a link to the segment. It’s
under fourteen minutes long. If you have the time, and you’re a
salesperson or sales leader, I think it is worth watching. There are
so many lessons in this brief segment (Click here to watch the 60 Minutes segment.)
Most
notably to me is that he attributes his team’s success to following
and executing what he calls a football process. He insists his
players not look at the scoreboard or worry about winning, but
instead to focus on executing their individual assignments,
perfecting their skills, and each offensive play that allows them to
move the ball systematically, yard by yard down the field, and
ultimately score. Now, they don’t sit around all week and decide
they will go play a game on Saturday. When they are not playing an
actual game they are practicing; about five (5) days of practice
prior to the actual game. They practice their process for hours on a
daily basis. That is the Alabama football process and it achieves the
desired results.
So why
is that notable to me? CustomerCentric Selling® is a sales process.
If you are a salesperson and will continually focus on understanding,
practicing and mastering the sales process, perfecting your sales
skills, and moving the opportunity systematically through the
company’s sales process, you will ultimately win. If you are a
leader of salespeople, if you drive the execution of the sales
process, you’ll drive the required revenue. It will require skill
practice and opportunity coaching on a daily basis. You will help
your salespeople prepare to win.
What
practice do you have scheduled for your team?
