After watching back-to-back, lopsided losses, it’s safe to say that my 9-year-old son’s basketball team has plenty of room for improvement. From the opening tip off, the track race from one end of the court to the other began as my son’s team helplessly tried to keep up with their competitor. As I watched the game, I began to smirk-not because my son’s team was getting demolished, but instead of how the sport of basketball so closely correlates to our game on blacktop.

• He who controls the ball, controls the game. You have a 1 in 50 chance of hitting a shot from half court-obviously your chances of scoring improve if you can control the ball and get closer to the goal. Lesson: Control the controllable. You cannot predict the incentives, weather, economy, or the stale, crappy commercials your dealership runs, but you can control YOU. Your month, albeit tragic or triumphant follows a simple formula: Attitude + Effort = Results. If you want different results, control your focus on what’s going on both sides of the plus sign. Put your self in the best possible position to score more sales.
•  You can’t always go right. It’s not difficult for the opposing team to force a turnover if you’re only able to dribble with your right hand. Lesson: You can’t be a one trick pony. Like the game of basketball, our industry is moving at a fast pace. You may have talent in your right hand, but you need to develop the skills with your left- when you can seamlessly mix both skills and talent together, you’ll develop a mad crossover no competitor or customer can defend. You can’t obtain more talent, but you can develop more skills. Basketball players are ambidextrous; use your talents to hone your skills-your How-To’s, in order to perfect your craft. Product knowledge, effective listening and communication, negotiation, opening and closing, and prospecting are all skills that can be developed and refined. Author Stephen King said, “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”  Work when others won’t. Be willing to work those Phantom Hours- those are the hours you are working, prospecting or catching the first Up, while the others are busy recapping last night’s buzzer beater or making evening phone calls-scripting tomorrow’s game plan-grabbing a few more Ups lurking in the darkness while the rest “call it a day” an hour early-hunkered in an office, until its time to go home.
• If you don’t see a lane, create one.  Some players just seem to have a knack for capitalizing on chaos. In spite of traps, picks, and presses, some are willing to take the risk, drive the lane and take the shot, because great players know, unseen opportunities are embedded in the risk. Lesson: Even if you do everything right today, you’re destined to fail- knowing failure is disproportionate to success, learn to have affection for rejection. Even if your customer has told you they aren’t buying today a dozen times already; even if your customers want payoff for their trade that you’ve already mentally appraised; even if Jim and Debbie are fresh out of bankruptcy-no matter how insurmountable the odds, work your proven process then ask for the sale, because the more attempts you make at failing increases your odds of succeeding. Remember, if you never try you’ll never fail; if you never fail, you’ll never learn, and if you never learn, you’ll never grow.
• Take the lead and keep it. Getting out to an early lead may enable a team to settle into a less restrictive rhythm, but great teams are always aware of the shards of mistakes and miscues that can erode momentum and lose lead. Lesson: Many sales consultants make the mistake of getting out to an early lead and then settle comfortably into a coast. Unfortunately you can only coast in one direction; instead of creating a new normal, they revert to their old habits by taking fewer Ups, longer lunches, and begin to host impromptu huddled get togethers out on the blacktop. It was less than a week ago that you professed your love for the management, inventory, and fellow salespeople, but today, thanks to an absent work ethic, the only game you are playing is the one of blame. Suddenly, your managers are out of touch, the inventory mix is all wrong, all of your Ups are buried or bankrupt, and your fellow salespeople get on your last nerves. Your perspective has relegated from treasure to trash. Similar to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and countless others who are willing to color outside of the lines, you must be in a state of positive paranoia. When productively applied, positive paranoia is the ability of being purposefully aware of what you are doing and where you are going every working moment. Opportunities are like 3D objects-what is hazy and 2 dimensional to many, jump out to others who see things differently. Take advantage of the adversity that surrounds you-do what others are unwilling to do. Working on seemingly minor details of self-improvement will enable you to take and keep your lead. When it comes to success, everything matters. 
• No coach, no ring. There are no coachless teams. Lesson: [Michael] Jordan needed [Phil] Jackson; Magic needed [Pat] Riley-players need a coach’s perspective. You may be able to sell more cars than your manager ever dreamed of selling; you may even be able to order a better selection of cars, appraise better, or spin paper faster, but you’ll never be able to realize your dreams if you cannot be coached. No matter how good you think you are or your tenured experience in the business, you must remain porous to coaching- throughout your career, be like that of a sponge, soaking up buckets of advice, skills, and work ethic. The decision to become is successful is yours alone; the path to achieving success is with the help of others.

In our business, every month is March Madness-our careers have been filled with crucial turnovers, sudden upsets, and stunning losses, and true to our resilient character, we show up the next day, month, and year to compete-a little quicker, stronger, and better. You see we know what defeat feels like- and when it finally comes, that’s what makes victory taste so sweet. I’ll see you next time on the blacktop.

Proudly published in