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Duke’s arduous seesaw victory over Butler in the N.C.A.A college basketball championship game showed Cinderella doesn’t always get the last dance and the will of the people doesn’t always propel a hometown favorite to victory. And easy as it is to dismiss Duke’s victory as a notch for basketball elitism and move ahead, a fair amount of props is owed to my LEAST favorite college basketball team for being a top ranked team and living up to it. After all, aren’t we all striving to be front-runners?
Having a winning attitude sounds cliché but it’s the most fundaMENTAL aspect of success in competitive team sports, and you can argue, life. We’re not going down the road of Tony Robbins style motivation, but expecting victories and learning from, but not dwelling on failures is the surest way to achieve astonishing results or even results that just make life more satisfying.
The winning-est coach in college basketball history, UCLA’s John Wooden, had a quote that goes, “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” Wooden’s Bruins didn’t win every game they played, but they expected to win every game, and they worked hard enough to win every game, the coach made sure of that.
Sports analogies play well in the business realm so it’s easy to make parallels between championship caliber teams and successful businesses. Excellent recruiting aside, Duke competes on a yearly basis, because, in their minds, they’ve worked harder than any team in college basketball and deserve to be champions. Insurance sales and marketing is no different. The work you put in is a reflection of the victories you achieve, and more importantly, personal satisfaction.
It’s possible to survive and even grow a business without a winning attitude and hard work, but it’s not nearly as enjoyable or gratifying. The success of automated processes and agency management systems don’t rely on happy productive employees, but genuine customer relations and maximum efficiency cannot be achieved without them.
In the end Duke wins with accountability, excellent coaching (management), high-effort defense (hands-on insurance marketing) and by grooming talent (keeping good employees). Assess yourself and your team, would it make Coach K and Coach Wooden proud?
April 6, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Nick,
I don’t understand the title of this article, but I think you make excellent points. Going through the motions gets you no where. Whether you like sports or not having a Winning attitude is crucial to the success of your Agency.
I also Love the fact that you equated Marketing to Defense… I think that fits perfect and probably not how many people would view Marketing (I would think offense).
Thanks,
Ryan H.
April 6, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Ryan,
Thanks for reading, at second look, the title is a bit confusing, I’ll tweak. The meaning was supposed to represent how failures are learning opportunities and agencies that embrace and learn from failure are better equipped for long-term success and “winning” in general. Duke can’t win every year, but they can learn from defeats and expect to win every game.
As the old cliche goes, you can win a lot of games with offense (sales), but you win championships with defense (marketing) and I think the socialization and overall leveling of the marketing playing field (or court) makes this truer than ever.
Nick
April 21, 2010 at 11:01 am
Nick,
You make good parallels that hit home for me as anew agency owner. Recently, I had to part ways with an agent & partner that did not pull his weight. He was in charge of marketing and business development. I was in charge of the sales and service. it was like my defensive coordinator took a vacation.
In my situation what should I have done? I took the approach of the Detroit Pistons of the Dennis Rodman era. I played Mr. Marketing. Excellent marketing and focused sales helped me quickly get back on track.
Thanks for the article. I am marking your site for future reference. Keep posting.
David
April 21, 2010 at 11:34 am
David,
Thanks for your comment. I love the Dennis Rodman analogy, although I would venture to guess you’ve stayed away from wearing wedding dresses in public and changing your hair color to various shades of neon on a weekly basis.
The bottom line is that your partner was a weak link, taking up resources while not contributing enough back to help grow the business. You decision was a sound one. While it probably added more work in the short term, I’m willing to bet your agency’s marketing and business development became more streamlined in the long run. Well played Mr. Sales Service Marketing.
Nick