First Steps

The similarities between coaching athletes and business people always amaze me and it is often helpful to compare on to the other. My athletes respond better to stories about coaching business people than they do to direct criticism, and vice verse.

Bio-mechanics are essential to an athlete. Learning basic movements, determining exactly what leverage points are best for that person and understanding that they are absolutely unique is essential to effectively training.

Yesterday I had a new athlete in the gym. He is obviously gifted and has been lifting weights somewhere, but no one has ever taught him proper mechanics - the first step. We worked on the 3 core lifts - Squat, Bench Press and Dead lift. He was OK on the bench - not great and he didn't appreciate my fiddling with his leverage. He was a little more receptive in the dead lift - they all are because none of the kids dead lift without a gun to their head. When it came to the squat his form was so bad that I couldn't put weight on the bar.

Here is the key - if he will work with me and allow me to refine his first steps - his bio mechanics within 3 to 4 weeks he will be faster, jump higher, quicker and stronger without adding one muscle fiber to his frame. He is simply going to learn how to use the body that God gave him.

As a business person you have to do the same thing.

All of us with experience are like the athletes coming to the gym to bench press - we already know it all and any critique is resented - but it is exactly at this point that we need to have the humility to focus and learn.

Break down your first steps. Break down your limiting factors and get the coaching that will help you break through.

As a Gold Buyer the hardest thing to get down is setting the event - the gold parties at businesses or homes.

The presentation begins before you get there - what does your dress communicate about you?

Have you managed your appearance to communicate your message for you?

Where did you park? Are you right in front of the door making it less convenient for the stores' customers to come and go?

What did you do when you pulled into the parking lot? Did you sit in your car, make phone calls, psych yourself up and otherwise creep out anyone inside the store? Or did you pull in, park well away from the door, get out of the car in a timely fashion and present yourself in a friendly and non-threatening manner?

Yesterday, before practice, I was in a corporate store.

A man pulled into the parking lot and sat in the car for at least 5 minutes.

I was about to leave but the store manager asked that I stay until the man came in.

I did, and for 5 minutes it appeared that this guy was running a mobile office. he parked in the 1st parking space next to the door and by the time he came in the branch manager was convinced that he was an ax murderer.

Needless to say, when he started his pitch (which did not begin with a question of our need) he had already lost the battle.

Think about your first steps.

What is your approach?

Is your appearance congruent with your request?

Where do you park? (If you need prep work or a 'psych up' do it somewhere else - not in the parking lot of the company you are pursuing).

What are you conveying as you walk into the business - yes they are watching you.

How do you open?

Get your first steps down. Analyze them often and refine them constantly.