YourSalesManagementGuru

Blog archive

Zen and Art of Golf

One of my more popular blogs last winter was "Zen and Art of Snow Shoveling" based on the famous book Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. After yesterday, I thought I might leverage that title one more time.

Yesterday was a lovely fall day in the Smoky Mountains. The sky was bright blue with no clouds, the leaves were changing into brilliant colors, the air was warm, and I had a 1 p.m. tee time. Unbeknownst to me, another couple had signed up to play with my wife and I. As a not-great golfer, I became concerned when I saw the other man, Ed, begin to boom his shots on the driving range. On the first hole I was still somewhat nervous, but made a double bogey on a long par 5. Moving to the second hole, I hit a great drive.

But it was the next thing that happened that made the afternoon a wonderful experience: Ed began to compliment everyone's shots and form as he continued to be a long and accurate ball stroker. My second shot hit the green -- the first time I had ever done that. On the third hole I began to get on a roll. By the end of the day, I had a few pars, a birdie, and scored my best round of the year. Even with losing five balls, I shot a 93! Now, while that might not be good for many readers, for me it was a positive experience. 

What does this have to do with sales leadership? From the first hole, which I didn't pick up until the second, Ed was setting the tone for the day -- compliments, some laughs but setting a standard on distance and accuracy. He would pick up broken tees, cleaning the tee box and fixing ball marks on every green. Pretty soon, all four of us were encouraging each other, managing the course and enjoying the experience. I found myself concentrating more clearly, working my shots better, and even when Ed gave me a tip, I appreciated his concern to make my game better

As a sales leader are you setting the standards of expectations? Doing the little things (like cleaning a tee box) to make sure your team is executing more professionally? Making sales calls with your team and providing strategy and sales tips to your team to make them better? It was the entire approach -- by everyone -- to the afternoon that made the difference. Is your team helping each other? Is everyone in the organization encouraging and pressing for excellence?

Have a great fall -- focus on the details, push your team for more, but set the tone with positive strokes and perhaps you will finish 2011 as your best year ever!

Posted by Ken Thoreson on October 17, 2011


Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.