Industry Magazine Get JACK'D Magazine Summer 2018 | Page 7

the responsibilities of children at home
and employees in my company. But I put
together a game plan. I built the systems of
measurement and accountability and had
people holding me accountable to achieving
the goal of being an Ironman.
When I think about my businesses—
whether I was owner, sales manager, or
salesperson—I have taken the same path
to success. The goals were in writing; the
vision was clear. We had game plans for
our salespeople and managers and for the
organization as a whole. We had systems
of measurement to make sure we were
doing what we needed to do, and we held
ourselves and others accountable.
I have learned the importance of
modeling the masters. You will find people
who have already figured out how to do
what you want to accomplish and who know
it better than you do. Year after year, I see
the same salespeople at the pinnacle of
success. They have the same product as
their competitors, the same price, the same
service and yet they excel where others do
not. I say they must be doing some things
better. It’s better to learn from others how
to avoid mistakes than to learn from your
own mistakes.
Wouldn’t it make sense to let people
like that coach you? Coaching is critical
to success. In the Ironman sport, one
must know how to swim properly. Once, I
couldn’t swim twenty-five meters in a pool.
Now, I find myself swimming 2.4 miles in
deepwater ocean, and I am achieving it at
an incredible time. I can do that because
I sought out a coach who taught me the
effective and efficient way to swim and
cut through the water and still maintain an
energy level that would allow me to do the
bike and run portions of the triathlon. Seek
out those who know what they’re doing, and
learn from them.
It takes training and practice. Nobody
starts and finishes the Ironman without an
abundance of both. In fact, nobody excels at
any sport without training and practice. And
that’s true too in the sales arena and in the
business world. If you want your business to
run well, and if you want your sales to grow
“IF YOU GO ABOUT THAT BUSINESS WITH
A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE, THEN YOUR
PERFORMANCE IS GOING TO BE LACKING.
WHETHER IT IS RACE DAY OR SALES DAY, A
POSITIVE ATTITUDE IMPROVES YOUR GAME.”
at a more robust pace than those of your
competitors, you need to practice and
train, train, train. If you are not training,
you are not gaining.
Your support team will help you. You
need one. My wife had been to every one
of my Ironman races. On race day, the
wake-up call was at 4 a.m., and there was
Bonnie, helping me with my breakfast
and then taking the equipment down to
the race site for the 7 a.m. start. After the
2.4-mile swim is the 112-mile bike race and
then a 26.2-mile run. And always, there
was my loyal, devoted cheering section,
my support team, my Bonnie. And along
the way, regardless of the weather, were
many others out there all day giving me
encouragement. I need my bike coach,
my running coach, my nutrition coach, my
strength coach. These are my support
team.
Salespeople too need a support team.
If they try to do all things themselves,
they are not exercising the concept of
leverage. If they don’t have an assistant,
they are an assistant. You need support
from operations and from marketing, and
you need to manage your contacts. It all
comes together in the business world just
as it does in the triathlon sport. Success in
any endeavor requires a support team.
And whatever the endeavor, you need
to stay fit if you want to stay in the game.
I have known the rigors not only of the
Ironman sport but also of the business
world. Some days the hurdles are high and
you have to hustle to put out fires. If you
eat right and exercise, you can rally the
energy to get to the top and stay there.
The sales world itself is full of rejection,
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massive amounts of it. You need the
stamina to get beyond that to victory.
YOU CAN DO IT
I mentioned that nearly three decades
ago, I watched Julie Moss, who is legendary
in the history of the Ironman, crawl across
the finish line in Hawaii after a feat of
swimming, bicycling and running. What we
human beings are capable of is astounding
to me.
I decided at the age of 57 to move
forward with the Ironman challenge. The
swim portion of an Ironman competition is
2.4 miles. Though I couldn’t swim, I believed
I could do it. All I needed to do, I told myself,
was hire a coach, learn the technique and
devote myself to practice.
And just a few years later, I achieved
a successful finish in the World
Championship Ironman. It came about
through discipline. We bring into our
lives the very things that our attitude
attracts. As we pursue greater heights,
the opportunities come to us from all
directions. I feel it’s my duty to raise the
bar. It’s your duty too to raise the bar. You
must risk believing in yourself. Until you
test the limits regarding what you can
achieve, you can’t truly know what your
chances really are. The major obstacle to
overcoming the odds is never challenging
them.
As the leader of a company, you can
develop a winning culture that will have
people knocking at your door for a chance
to work with you. As a salesperson, you
can learn the tricks of the trade that will
drive you to ever-greater heights. For
the company and for the individual, your
business is poised to soar.