3 things sales people can learn from Ted Lasso (1-2 min read)
I know this is a little late, as Ted Lasso was an Apple+ hit from last year, but I thought it was a great show to take some wisdom from. Here are three quotes revenue teams can learn from Ted himself:
1) “There’s two buttons I never like to hit: that’s panic and snooze.”
A great process allows reps to be blindly optimistic. Now when I say, “blindly optimistic”, sales reps should still be cynical about their deals, so they can see every angle and know why/how it could fail, so they can prepare for any situation. But what I’m talking about is the plan and mindset a rep should have… Once there is a plan in place, an individual won’t be second guessing their results, which will reduce their anxiety. When a deal slips, because let’s face it…it will…we can fall back to the plan we set in place to move forward.
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2) “I do love a locker room, it smells like potential.”
Ted puts the team first. He really didn’t know anything about soccer, and that made him an even better coach - he trusted the talent of his players, however, what he brought to the table was communication and teamwork.
3) “You know what the happiest animal on earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why? Got a ten second memory.”
When you first start a career in sales, some will teach these robotic call scripts and have you memorize features & benefits until your ears bleed. People buy from people they like. Let's spend more time building rapport, so we can get a seat at the table…literally at a happy hour or dinner table... When running into someone that is a jerk or if a deal is going sideways, let's be like Ted and have a short memory, because the next big deal is only one action away.
Now let me shamelessly plug Syft AI . We created this application for the revenue team to put a territory PLAN in place, take that plan and COLLABORATE as a team, and take ACTION to be relevant and differentiate from the rest to ultimately find more opportunities. To leave you with my personal favorite Ted quote: "Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong."
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2moZach, thanks for sharing! How are you?
Innovation in sales, much like Ted Lasso approaches coaching, relies on empathy and creativity 🌟. Aristotle once hinted - excellence is a habit, not an act. Embrace it daily!
Staff Senior Petroleum Engineer
2yThese are all great points, well said! I especially resonate with the 2nd point -- I have observed that organizations and teams that have the most success do so because of their team chemistry and their understanding that the *team* winning means they win, too. Of course, another critical part is having a leader who can identify and surround themselves with talent, and then trust them to execute, much like what Ted Lasso did. Today we find ourselves often with leaders who feel threatened by competency on their team (smartest guy in the room syndrome), but to me that means that the leader has failed in their key job: enabling their team to be maximally effective and therefore produce results. So lets all be like Ted Lasso, and trust and listen to our awesome teammates and achieve our goals!
I “discovered” Ted Lasso late too. Love your points and would add “give your key customers something they can’t get anywhere else”. (Biscuits) and be consistent with it. Although she does love the biscuits, clearly she likes Ted too, even to her chagrin.
Regional Manager | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
2yLasso is life! Congrats on getting married bud