August PowerLunch "The Business of Football: Strategies from the Gridiron"

The Business of Football: Stratgies from the Gridiron

Reggie Rivers, Former Denver Bronco

Pro athletes develop finely tuned active listening skills that allow them to “hear” complicated instructions despite the roar of tens of thousands of screaming fans, which is a skill that successful business pros develop in order to effectively “hear” their clients, their vendors, their competitors and the market.

Pro running backs develop amazing mental resilience because they “know” they will be tackled on most plays. That knowledge neither discourages nor demoralize them. Successful sales pros have the same mentality. They’re not worried about getting tackled–they focus on making as much forward progress as they can before they get tackled.

World class customer service looks a lot like the focused attention that football teams give to the football during the game. The football is the customer. It’s the point of the game. Each team gets to keep the customer only as long as they can keep delivering forward progress. As soon as they stop moving forward, the customer will demand to be punted to the other team to have a better chance at moving forward.