Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Professional Mediocrity


Are you a sales professional who does everything right, works hard, but just can’t break out of being mediocre? Do you sometime take chances, pushing to close a deal only to have them blowup in your face? Let’s see if we can help.

I just got back from an annual Frisbee Golf Tournament that I play in that has been going on for 31 years. I have never won. I play well, don’t make many mistakes, don’t get too emotional, don’t take too many chances, and don’t win. Sometime if I have a nice drive and approach shot, and if I have a good look at the pin and I think I can pick up a stroke, I’ll take a chance. Generally I miss, and sometimes lose a couple of strokes.

Birdy to bogie is never any fun. So it is easy to get conservative. Don’t take a chance, play for par, play not to lose, and not to win. It is easy to get greedy when you can see the prize, over extend and get burned. I can hear you now, you are saying, you want me to take a risk, but not take a risk, what gives?

I think the lesson I have learned is you need to take risks when you can’t see the prize. If I threw a little harder on the tee-off, cut the angle just a little, got more aggressive on the approach shot, I would have a better chance to get a birdy. So being aggressive when you can, conservative when you need to, this will put you in a position to win. Oh, and don’t throw into the deep rough.

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