Are You Ready to Win Big? Lessons from the Playing Field

Consider, for example, a 350-pound defensive lineman who faces a 270-pound tackle. The football is snapped and in an instant the bigger man is on the ground. The tackle’s secret? His preparation involved watching game films. “I realized that when a man that big begins to move forward there is an instant when he must only be on one foot,” says the tackle. “I waited until the foot came up, and that’s when I took him down.”

Many professional football teams plan the first 15 or more plays of a game. These plays are practiced as a team for months before the season begins; individual players rehearse them mentally for days before a game, and then review them again seconds before the snap. Sports teams engage in a SWOT analysis, evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of their offense and defense, as well as their opponents’.

The need for preparation is as crucial in business as it is in sports. Not long ago a managing director at an investment bank lamented that two of his associates had blown a deal, he felt, because they were not prepared to deal with a difficult client. “I should have done it myself,” he said. But refusing to delegate isn’t a long-term solution. When the managing director was asked about how the team had prepared, the problem became clear. The bankers hadn’t bothered to prepare. Had they taken a good look at the company, its principles and personalities, made an effort to understand the goals and objectives of those involved and asked the right questions, they might have been able to give the client what he wanted. Instead of doing the up-front preparation, they treated a real client like a practice field.

In most industries, having greater product knowledge or even the greater product does not necessarily translate into a competitive edge. The edge is often in the client relationship. A client needs to feel that you understand his business and his challenges. Consider how much better prepared the investment banking team would have been if they had an offensive coordinator and a “coaching” culture rather than a traditional management culture. The traditional management culture assigns a task and reviews a performance after completion. In a coaching culture, the managing director would suggest that the employees role-play. Here’s what the dialogue would sound like:

Managing director: “Both of you will be handling the XYZ pitch. I was wondering how you planned to approach Mr. XYZ. Let’s imagine that I am Mr. XYZ.”

Employee: “We’ve done this before. Why don’t you just give us some suggestions?”

Managing director: “The reality is that you might have some new ideas on how to approach this client. In any event, don’t you agree that running through the pitch in advance makes sense? [If the answer is no, you’ve learned a lot about your employee already.] Let’s hear your pitch.”

At this point, the managing director must avoid the temptation to jump in with his ideas. He must role-play Mr. XYZ. The key here is to get your team talking. Your role requires careful listening and creative questioning. This way, the managing director can quickly evaluate the thought process and preparation of his team. He can rapidly identify errors in approach and strategy and will be able to gauge the ability of the team to respond to challenges from XYZ. He or she will also identify areas of team development that can be addressed later in training. The coaching continues: 

Managing director: “Can you foresee anything that might get in the way or delay you both from being ready for this presentation?” [Here the employees have to commit themselves to a completion date.] “Can you anticipate any objection, question, or response that might concern you or that you are not prepared to reply to? Have you identified any internal relationship issues that could affect the deal?” And finally, the key question from the managing director: “Do you need anything from me?” This is key because it places the responsibility for accomplishing the task on the team members.
In another real-life example, a mergers and acquisitions firm brought a buyer to the table at the request of the founder of a very successful manufacturing business. At the closing, the founder surprised everyone by deciding not to sell, despite having a financially attractive offer. The M&A firm’s mistake was in not realizing that the founder wasn’t just selling an asset; he was selling his “baby,” the business he had nurtured for years. If the firm had taken care to understand the hidden dynamics, the closing might have gone through as planned.

Before you approach your next client meeting or presentation, perform your own SWOT analysis. Evaluate strengths and weaknesses (yours and theirs), opportunities (those missed that you can recover from, those currently available and those on the horizon) and threats (both the threats to your competitive position, and, from your client’s point of view, what it will cost not to take your proposal).

Only a foolish athlete would show up on game day without having put in the necessary time and effort to prepare. Practice should become an equally important part of your business.