future
losing
self development
winning
Win or lose, you have to train tomorrow again
photo credits: Ville Pirttilahti
I still remember the feeling when I realised that my master was serious, when he told me that I should put my gold medal into my bag 15 years ago in world championship games. At first, I was a bit confused, since I thought that we should celebrate my victory and be happy. He was happy, but also concerned that I wouldn’t be training the next day. I was a bit rebellion and held the medal around my neck for the next 15 minutes, but then I took it off and started to stretch and improve my body condition after the hard fights.
Many years ago, I was working in sales with low base salary and higher commission on sales. We were down on money and the last day to make sales for the upcoming salary was Friday. We were supposed to close the books by 4 pm, and I had one big offer out and no response at 3:55 pm. I called the CEO and asked for more time, but he couldn’t give me more time. I was in a desperate need to close the deal and get the commission, in order to be able to pay my mortgage. At 4:02pm I reached the customer and managed to close the deal. I reached the CEO at 4:10 pm and he agreed to pay the commission accordingly. On Monday, I had to start to build up new deals, in order to get commission for the next month as well.
The other day, I received a negative answer from a prospect, where the deal would have been a new record in new business development and we would have got a great reference with a new business field for our company. I had worked many weeks with this project and done everything I could to make the deal. But unfortunately we lost the deal to one of our competitors. Luckily, that wasn't the only deal in the sales pipeline.
I still remember the feeling when I realised that my master was serious, when he told me that I should put my gold medal into my bag 15 years ago in world championship games. At first, I was a bit confused, since I thought that we should celebrate my victory and be happy. He was happy, but also concerned that I wouldn’t be training the next day. I was a bit rebellion and held the medal around my neck for the next 15 minutes, but then I took it off and started to stretch and improve my body condition after the hard fights.
Many years ago, I was working in sales with low base salary and higher commission on sales. We were down on money and the last day to make sales for the upcoming salary was Friday. We were supposed to close the books by 4 pm, and I had one big offer out and no response at 3:55 pm. I called the CEO and asked for more time, but he couldn’t give me more time. I was in a desperate need to close the deal and get the commission, in order to be able to pay my mortgage. At 4:02pm I reached the customer and managed to close the deal. I reached the CEO at 4:10 pm and he agreed to pay the commission accordingly. On Monday, I had to start to build up new deals, in order to get commission for the next month as well.
The other day, I received a negative answer from a prospect, where the deal would have been a new record in new business development and we would have got a great reference with a new business field for our company. I had worked many weeks with this project and done everything I could to make the deal. But unfortunately we lost the deal to one of our competitors. Luckily, that wasn't the only deal in the sales pipeline.
Win or lose, the next day is more important
For a person, who is very goal oriented, it is hard to get back to normal routines after the timeline of your objective. You have planned the victory in your head and if you achieve the win, you want to celebrate it. If you lose, you want to take time to overcome and find your motivation again. My other post “goal-setting” looked more in depth about how to set proper goals. The big question is, how can you get back to your normal routines and continue, no matter of the results?
One of my previous bosses told me many times “don’t fall in love with your offers”. One shouldn’t value one offer over another. That paralyzes the sales efforts and one starts to overthink everything. One might not want to bother the prospect by calling her and asking about the decision, because the answer might be negative. It feels better to have hope, even if one knows that the longer the decision takes, the less likely the deal is coming in. One should merely concentrate on keeping up the routines and keep building up new offers, when old ones are closed. If you stop the process, you will stop to sell.
One of my previous bosses told me many times “don’t fall in love with your offers”. One shouldn’t value one offer over another. That paralyzes the sales efforts and one starts to overthink everything. One might not want to bother the prospect by calling her and asking about the decision, because the answer might be negative. It feels better to have hope, even if one knows that the longer the decision takes, the less likely the deal is coming in. One should merely concentrate on keeping up the routines and keep building up new offers, when old ones are closed. If you stop the process, you will stop to sell.
Sometimes you simply lose, no matter what
One of the reasons why I started to write this blog was to share the story of losing and still not giving up. In a fight, there is always a winner and a loser. The silver medal stands for nothing. You either win or lose. In many other sports, you can still get a silver medal and be happy, even if you don’t win. Also, when you see that you are going to lose, you can take it easy and the only thing you might feel is shame. But in martial arts and in a fight, if you don’t do your best, you will feel more pain. You just can’t stop fighting, even if you know you are going to lose the fight.
In the end, it is not about winning, not in martial arts nor in sales. You win some and lose some. The ratio of winning and losing is what counts more and how many wins you in the end achieve. Moreover, how does the future look for you. Are you developing or not. There is always an opponent or a customer, that you cannot beat that time. The question is, can you recognize how you need to prepare yourself for the next time.
In the end, it is not about winning, not in martial arts nor in sales. You win some and lose some. The ratio of winning and losing is what counts more and how many wins you in the end achieve. Moreover, how does the future look for you. Are you developing or not. There is always an opponent or a customer, that you cannot beat that time. The question is, can you recognize how you need to prepare yourself for the next time.
The same goes for winning as well. You might have won this time, but can you win the next time as well? What do you need to improve, in order to get better each time. The more you put effort in developing yourself, the more you will find what to develop in yourself. You can always come up with a tougher challenge for yourself. Even if you are a world champion and the best in your field, you can still be better tomorrow. The ones, who go to training immediately after a big win or lose, are the ones who will be champions tomorrow and the day after.
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