Marketing Lesson From Ryder Cup Matches

Once again, the America’s dirty dozen is behind the 12 golfers from Europe heading into the final singles matches on Sunday.

Once again, the Americans will probably lose and the Euros will keep posession of the Ryder Cup.

Why ? Simple. 2 reasons.

1) Their captain put all his eggs into one basket. He had 4 really good players and he put them on two teams.

2) The captain didn’t give enough rope to the new guys, just because they were new guys.

Don’t make these mistakes in your marketing strategy.

Our captain, Tom Lehman, could have split those four guys up, put them with four guys who aren’t as highly regarded and had 4 good teams. Maybe they win four points.

Why should he do this ? Think of it like this - If you take your four best players and make them into two teams, they might, I repeat might, get two points. Two.

If you take the four best players and seperate them and put them with four players that they can guide, you might get four points. Four.

In this case, four beats two … every time.

He also sat the rookies too long and didn’t give them the chance they deserve, the respect they deserve. Consequently, the whole team was conscious of that and played tenatively, thinking they had to cover for them.

In reality, those guys earned their spot and should have been given the chance to suceed or fail.

In sales, if you hire a man to do a job, let him do the job and see if he fails or suceeds. Then and only then, can you determine if he’s gonna be on the team or not.

If you try to cover for a weak team member, sooner or later, they’ll be put in the spotlight and you, as the captain, and that team member will have to sink or swin, on his actions.

Everything rises and falls on leadership. If you have a team member who can’t hold their own, get rid of them now, BEFORE they cost you the match.

Don’t think that your job as leader is to just let your guys do their jobs. You have to be the guide, the leader, and make the tough decisions.

If you make as many poor ones as our guy did, you have a new title - Loser.

He made one other mistake I just thought of - he stuck with losing teams too long.

In a previous sales position I held, years ago, I was the King Daddy of the 7 salesmen we had.

There were several salesmen who had accounts that had not and would not buy from them, but the Sales Manager would not give those accounts to me or any other salesman.

If you have accounts that aren’t buying from you, won’t buy from you, demand that somebody else call on them for the good of the company.

Check you ego at the door and be a team player.

And if you’re a Sales Manager and notice some accounts that will not buy from one of your salesmen, give the account to somebody else and see if they can get the job done.

Don’t do like our Ryder Cup captains do and keep sending the same tired, old guys out to get their asses kicked by one guy who seems to have everybody’s number. Somebody on that team has got to be able to beat him (your competition).

If I was our Ryder Cup captain and I saw that one guy on the other side had kicked our butts 3 straight sessions, I have a huddle with my guys and ask for a volunteer to go kick his ass.

Sometimes in sales, there’s somebody in your organization that’s waiting for you to give ‘em a chance to prove themselves. Don’t be afraid to ask for somebody to stand up and be counted.

I, for one, have never been one to not accept a challenge like that and will jump in there against the reigning champ in a heartbeat.

He’s the champ, so what do I have to lose ? Nothing but a little hide off my backside, so let me at ‘em.

Take that approach the next time you have a sales meeting and see if it doesn’t get you a better chance at winning the battles that are out there, in the sales arena.