Madrid Maestros Mentality
Not the "best" side. Yet the winners.
Real Madrid mugged Liverpool to the top European club football crown at the weekend.
Reminiscent of Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan somehow nabbing the 'big cup' back in 2010.
In the aftermath, one of the victorious players spoke candidly in the media zone.
Toni Kroos endured a sorry 90 minutes. A shadow of the footballer he once was.
Not that any kind of imposter syndrome was going to affect such a world cup winner as he, naturally.
One remark of his stuck with me. To précis;
It's not the team playing the most exhilarating football, but the one who wants it more, that wins.
His team had been outplayed. Their goalie the clear man-of-the-match. Yes, their knackered opponent wasn't at their scintillating, marauding, fearsome best. Yet the Spanish side took full advantage. Hardly a shot, let alone one on target, but with one pretty much solitary swift moment of attack, prevail they did.
This has such a Sales mirror.
The salesperson who oversells. One with a sizzle-to-sausage imbalance. Forgetting to move from free-of-charge consultant to being commissioned to provide goods for compensation worthily commensurate with projected outcome.
Our personal checklist is not about just being thought of as likable by the prospect. The glow of having people dancing in the isles at one of your gigs. Or even thinking you've got the most glamourous collaterals.
I was also reminded of the steer of famed VC Paul Graham, running along the lines of;
better to choose working with a startup founder who's determined, rather than merely smart.
Echoing one of the b-school mantras of my youth. Where we were told the Ray Kroc guiding pair of traits, from McDonalds legend; 'persistence and determination'.
This can manifest itself in many forms.
It does not translate to the number of doors knocked. Though does relate to how you view sales as less a numbers game - Liverpool had nine of their twenty-four efforts on target, way more than Los Blancos - but a ratios game.
Put that slant of effort into a prospect cause and you too will come out with the glory.