Today, we’re continuing our conversation on winning and doing your best. But first, if you’ve ever wondered what we do for executives, professionals and salesperson in our coaching program, here’s an opportunity to find out. We’re going to be offering six no-charge, 30 minutes mini coaching sessions on Thursday, June 27 from 8 to 11: a.m. CST. More details to come. If you’d like to schedule a session, please contact Briana Dudley at briana@corsini.com or (205) 879-0432.
Probably the best way to become a winner is the most obvious—always do your best. And yet, I often see people giving it less than their best.
I don’t think the competition beats 
people nearly as often as people do less than they are capable of doing in order to win. Now I know this is a bold and broad statement, but I truly believe it. A lot of losses happen when people don’t give it their all—or when they give up. (And maybe even worse is when someone doesn’t get in the business game at all—they remain on the sidelines of success with no hope of ever winning.)
Let’s look at how people might fail to give their best effort. These are the folks who underprepare. They don’t rehearse. (There is a wonderfully apt saying about presentations: If you don’t practice in advance, you practice with the buyer.) People fall short when they don’t research the buyer. They don’t take the time to understand the customer’s goals, problems and what they are trying to accomplish. People can’t win if they don’t understand the issues going on in the buyer’s industry. Underachievers push products. They don’t bring a new, fresh or a big idea to the table. They don’t make the buyer think in a new or different way. They don’t change their offerings as the market changes. They just “don’t” a lot.
Underachievers tend to play it safe and simply go through the motions.
I do occasionally see unfair or one-sided fights in business. But the unfair competition comes not from two people having different skills, education, abilities, looks, teams, products, etc. The imbalanced contest comes when one person brings their “A game” and the other does not. The go-getter will outthink and out-strategize and then run circles around the person who plays it safe. Winners bring a new idea or a novel way of doing business to the buyer. The one-sided situation results from everything the winner says, does and brings that makes it obvious to the buyer who should get their business.
When talking about presentation strategy, I often get asked if you should hold back information, ideas, etc. when making a pitch. The fear is: What if the buyer takes your idea and implements it with your competitor? Should you play it safe to avoid this?
I coach people to go all in. In my experience, nine out of 10 people won’t do that, so why play to the minors? People gravitate to positive thoughts, insights into their business, suggestions for how to be better, etc. In your own life, I’ll bet you do the same. You want make-it-happen people in your life; you want the advice of experts, idea generators, problem solvers, etc. You use what they bring to make your life better—you don’t steal what they have and move on.
Joe Trippi said it best: “Losing would be painful, but not as painful as knowing there was something else you could’ve done.”
So go all in, and leave nothing behind. You will win more and have fewer “woulda, coulda and shoulda” situations.
Do you always bring your “A game” when you compete? If not, what’s stopping you?