As many of you know, my oldest son plays football at Kingwood High School. He's a sophomore and loving every moment of it.
Yesterday he walked over to our office after football practice around 4:30pm stinking like only a 15-year old can. It was so bad I had to tell him to go outside. He said, "Well dad I can't expect to win if I don't work hard". There's a lot of truth in those simple words. Though Kellen's football team has struggled at times this year, he absolutely believes that if he continues to work hard and stay focused on the fundamental that his team can be the best team in the district by his senior year.
This little exchange with Kellen reminded me of Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers. Mr. Lombardi took over the coaching job of the Packers in 1959 after having posted their worst record ever, 1-10-1.
On Lombardi’s first day of being introduced to his team, he called them all together on the practice field and he held up a football and simply said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”
He paused, looked around at the confused and questioning faces of the pro football players and then he explained:
“As a team last year we were horrible at the fundamentals of the game of football. Nobody here knows how to block and nobody knows how to tackle. All I saw last year was grab, grab, grab!
“What we’re going to do now is go back to basics and we’re going to learn, drill and practice the fundamentals until we become better at them than anyone else in the game. If you do this with me, I will make you champions.”
Lombardi created punishing training regimens and expected absolute dedication and effort from his players. The 1959 Packers immediately improved to 7-5, and rookie head coach Lombardi was named coach of the year. In his second year, Green Bay won the NFL Western Conference for the first time since 1944.
Green Bay then went on to win 9 post-season games (a record streak not matched or broken until Bill Belichick won 10 in a row from 2002 to 2006), and of course the first two Super Bowls.
The Green Bay Packers became famous for their precision execution of football fundamentals and even when opponents knew certain plays were coming, they were unable to stop them.
It was the attention to and perfection of the fundamentals that made the Packers a great football team.
It’s the same with the profession of real estate and anything else in life. Once we start to focus in on, learn and get better at the fundamentals of our profession, we will begin to see the rewards of our efforts.
It is so easy to get pulled into "programs" that don't bring measurable results. Every time I do a presentation on a new product, discuss social media with clients, or look at a new app I have to discipline myself to ask hard questions; will this program bring results? If not, I have to let it go. I believe it's the fundamentals of sales that will bring success; phone calls, client meetings, marketing campaigns, proper attire, industry knowledge, and hard hard work that bring success.
So, if you’re a professional, then make it a point to go back and learn and perfect the basics of your sales cycle. I wish you all the success this season. Just remember: those who learn and perfect the fundamentals will always outperform those that don’t. There's no app that can replace hard work.
Comments(0)