There is not a better place on the planet to spend the month of March than Phoenix, Arizona. Most days the overnight low temperature is right around 55 degrees and the high for the day is a sun-filled, cloud-free, balmy 85. The wonderfully distinct smell of orange blossoms, sunscreen, and bratwurst being fired over the grill fills the air. The sound of “Play Ball” echoes everywhere, drowning out the much more subtle sound of icy cold beers being poured and the quiet murmur of the crowd settling in to watch their favorite players limber up for a long season.

As you can see from the map below, 15 Major League Baseball teams call the greater Phoenix metropolitan area home during Spring Training.

I have lived in Phoenix a total of 20 years now and there hasn’t been a single year that I haven’t been to at least 3 games. Many years the number is closer to 10. Why am I so fascinated by these games that don’t matter? I promise you that it isn’t for the level of competition or the strategy. Many times the guys that are going to make the roster are showered and resting in the clubhouse before the 8^th inning. I can also assure you that it isn’t for the drama that unfolds during a close game. Whereas some games remain tight, I’ve also seen where the manager has left a pitcher in the game so that he could work through the challenges that were allowing the other team to beat him like a rented mule. The real reasons I love Spring Training are much deeper than that and somewhat philosophical in nature. I can think of 8 things that Spring Training and Mondays have in common and what they mean for you and your sales career.

Spring Training  & Mondays –

The Connection and What it Means for Your Sales Career. 

• Spring and Mondays are a time of rebirth. – Each spring every MLB Team shows up to Arizona different than the one that closed the fall last year. There are new players, new coaches, new front office personnel, new peanut vendors (Yes, many of the peanut vendors come to Spring Training! How do you think they get their arms into shape?), and new umpires. Every Monday we get a chance to start over in our business. I don’t care how awesome (or pain-filled) last week was for you, Monday starts a new week. What are you going to do with the next five days?
• Hope springs eternal from the human heart. – Every single team that is practicing right now believes that this is their year. This is the year that they break through! This is the year that they are going to lead their division and compete for the pennant. And if they can do that, what’s to say that they can’t win the whole thing? Every player in Arizona has been dreaming of hitting that late October game-winner since they were 9 years old playing whiffle ball in their back yard. What about you? Do you still hold out hope for winning the game by setting all-time sales records. Records were made to be broken. When was the last time you broke any?
• Fundamentals matter. – Do you know what the superstars and the kids that were just drafted have in common? They both are working hard this month on the basics. Things like footwork, speed drills, fielding practice, wind sprints, batting practice, breaking down tape of their swing, etc. Why on earth would someone who has been playing this simple game, at the highest level for most of their life, need to work on such basic things? Because fundamentals are the building blocks of true success. Oh yeah, they must be practiced constantly or they disappear quickly. Many great athletes have made the mistake of thinking they had arrived and allowed themselves to believe that they no longer needed as much intense work on their fundamentals. Unfortunately, they didn’t stay great athletes very much longer after that. What about you? Are you making sure that at least once a week you are doing some Practice, Drilling, and Rehearsing (PDR)? Or are you going to allow yourself to fall into the trap that you are good enough already?
• Intensity matters. – Just because the All Stars don’t play past the 6^th or 7^th inning, and just because most of the crowd is more interested in socializing and drinking beer, doesn’t mean that the players aren’t working their guts out. The challenge many of the players at Spring Training camp have is that they must do something very special to earn a roster spot. These players are willing to work their guts out to make the team. They run out every ground ball and slide hard into 2^nd base to break up the double play. Many times they know they are on a fool’s errand as the team’s roster already has 2-3 people in front of them on the depth chart. But still they hustle and work hard, in hopes of getting their big break. I’m hoping that you are starting to sense a pattern here and are already listing the ways that your intensity matters. The reality is that most sales are won through intense follow-up and dogged determination. This takes Intensity. How would you rate yours? Are you a 100-watt bulb that peels paint, or are you the 15-watt bulb that comes on in my refrigerator when I open the door?
• Even the pitchers bat. – They also take fielding practice, run wind sprints, lift weights, and various other things they don’t participate in during the season. It is important that they are able to step up and do things that aren’t necessarily in their job description. The same goes for the position players. They too often are placed in areas they might be uncomfortable. This can really help a team when someone goes down due to injury and they need someone to step up. The same better apply for you. For example if you sell voluntary benefits, you had better understand how major medical works and how National Health Care Reform is impacting it. The last thing you want is to be called upon by your client to help them navigate the ever-changing benefits landscape and not be able to get the bat off your shoulder. Take some time every Monday to educate yourself on one aspect of your industry that is outside of your normal purview.
• The price of admission is low. – During the regular season, the same seats would cost 3-4 times more. When I bought my Domino’s Pizza stores I had to go $350,000 into debt. The cost to start my insurance business? $350….and some hard work. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have made more money EVERY year in the insurance business than I did in my best two years COMBINED while owning the pizza stores. Now I’m not an economics or finance major, but I’m fairly confident that my ROI has been slightly better here than in pizza. What does this have to do with Mondays? Use today to register for a training seminar on sales. Or spend some money on a coach. Or at the very least, buy a book on sales and actually read it cover to cover. Did you know that 80% of salespeople have never even read one book on sales? But that’s not you, right? Your admission cost to this career was a pittance. Be smart now and invest in yourself. If you won’t, who will?
• The players and close, accessible, and friendly during Spring Training. There are always exceptions, but for the most part, the same players that won’t stop to sign autographs during the regular season will happily spend several minutes thrilling their fans by signing anything thrust at them. They seem genuinely happy to meet and greet the people that indirectly pay their salaries. If you are a superstar salesperson, my guess is that someone, or more likely several some ones, helped make you better. What are you doing to pay it forward? I know your manager’s Monday Morning Meeting is always geared for the new people. And I also know it probably isn’t going to add a lot of value to your sales skills. But what kind of an impact might you have on that new agent that is thinking of quitting? Perhaps you can share your story with him about how you thought about quitting every day your first year. (I know I did.) But you hung in there and went to work every day. Now look at you! Your inspiration for hard work and perseverance might be the only thing that keeps that future superstar in the business.
• It only lasts so long. – The actual games last less than 30 days. It seems like it is over before it even began. Each day is precious and the importance of every at-bat, or fielding attempt is magnified. Rookies and superstars alike must use every minute to showcase their talents. To miss 2% of their time might make the difference between making it to the show or riding busses another season. The same holds true in the VB sales arena. If you give up even a part of Monday you are negatively impacting your chances for success. If you spend all of Monday doing paperwork or justifying your lack of prospecting on the fact that “Mondays are a hard day to set appointments,” you just gave up 20% of your selling opportunities. Are you comfortable with that?

Conclusion: Every day counts. What’s your outlook on Mondays? We are ready to take you and your team to a place where Mondays are their most exciting and productive day of the week.

Question: Are you ready to say TGIM?!?!? If not, why now???