Gold Rush – Heptathlete Motivation

I love Jessica Ennis. Victoria Pendleton. Katherine Grainger. And so many more Gold champions. I’ve even started to quite like Andy Murray.

Yes. The Olympics Have Got Me. Bigtime.

Countless tales of sterling endeavour preceding heroic execution abound from our sceptred isle.

Let’s start with Jess.

She clearly has one of those love-hate, ying-yang relationships with her coach. Here’s an excerpt from Monday’s Times, of which she is also a columnist. Her coach claims there are;

…four colours of motivation.

Red is for drive, green for planning, yellow for innovation and blue for relationships.

He explained, “if we had to climb a mountain, the reds would be saying ‘Let’s get to the top’, the greens would want a map, the yellows would ask if there was another way of getting up and the blues would be asking if everybody was happy.”

Here’s my quickfire assessment of where most sellers sit on these marks.

Commission is considered a universal ‘drive’, although I dispute this as you probably realise. Most have some degree of redness. Which incidentally, I always joke is a salesman’s favourite colour. Perhaps now I know why. For the record, I do not necessarily think a saleswoman’s favourite colour is pink.

They all are in thrall to the power of relationships. So blue is also prominent.
Now we get to the deficiencies. There is a clear distinction between seeking shortcuts and innovation. Also, I see very few salespeople innovate. Only the winners genuinely pursue this. They are the ones that embrace new products, are always looking to tweak their own process, and challenge (in a stimulating way) their customers.

And as for planning, well, greenery is as shockingly absent as it is from every country’s government’s real priorities.

So, does that mean that salespeople are generally purple? The blending of red and blue?

And if so, how do we try and add in yellow and green flavours?

Here’s a start. Have you got a proper plan for your biggest opportunity? If not, make one. Can you try something new on a sale? If you can, do it. Now.