"The King" & Sales

People that ‘sell’ for a living, particularly those male in gender, like to be spurred on by what motivates sporting heroes.  I came across another couple of gems from cricket legend Viv Richards yesterday.  When interviewed by Mark Nicholas as rain prevented England polishing off the Windies on the 3rd day’s play he talked about how their current crop of under-performing, less skillful team members could improve their mental approach.  Many of his points can be applied to how you approach selling – here’s a sample from the man that if Botham referred to as “the king”, then must surely have been truly spectacular:

“cricket is a simple, simple game”, you tend to come unstuck when you try an over-complicate it, make it simple and you will succeed

“you can have talent, but you must work on it”, never rest on your laurels

“there’s nothing wrong with looking someone in the eye and letting them know what you will accomplish, you might be dealt nasty cards ocassionally, but if you let them know you always back youself and deliver, there’s nothing wrong with that”, Viv was often accussed of an arrogance due to his determined swagger and often outrageous shot selection, but he reckons if you believe you are good enough, don’t be afraid to let people know – of most relevance to your relationship with that sales manager getting on your wick, I suspect, to get him to back you more….