Southwestern Sales Talk

Over the course of the next month, most of the student managers at the Southwestern Company will wrap up their team building efforts.  This is the time of the year when recruiting fatigue sets in, and some students give up on theirgoals.  “I’ve done well enough.”  “What’s important is quality, not quantity.”  Other rationalizing thoughts surface (not that I ever thought them). 

I was conducting a webinar on how to have a I Wanna Win finish, and it reminded me of the greatest finish I witnessed in swimming history–the U.S. men’s 4 x 100 relay at the Beijing Olympics.   Do you remember?

At the 50 meter halfway mark, Jason Lezak peered through his goggles at the lane to his right and briefly lost hope. 

“The thought really entered my mind for a split second,” Lezak said. “There’s no way.” 

The anchor swimmer took off from the blocks well behind Frenchman Alain Bernard and, after sprinting for 50 meters, had not closed the gap.  Bernard, who began this race as the world-record holder in the 100 freestyle, had not put the race out of reach — something he all but guaranteed by declaring the French would “smash” the Americans in this event. 

When he flipped and pushed off the wall, he was still half a body length behind.  As a Masters swimmer, I can tell you that is huge in a sprint race. The United States was going down and taking Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals with it. 

But just as quickly as that glimmer of despair flitted through Lezak’s mind, it was shoved aside by fresh determination. 

“I changed,” he said. “I thought, ”That’s ridiculous. I’m at the Olympic Games, I’m here for the United States of America. I don’t care how bad it hurts, I’m going after it.’  I just got a super charge.”

Lezak closed the gap and out-touched Bernard by .08 of a second.  Less than a blink of an eye.  The greatest comeback I have ever seen at the Olympics.  People went crazy.  I went crazy.  It was very cool, unless you were French.  Here is a link to a video of the whole race: 

Are you in the final stages of your school year?  a big multi-faceted B-to-B sale?  building your team for the summer?  This is the time when people give up a little, and think, “no way.”  Decide it’s important to hit your goals–you may not have millions of fans cheering for you, but finishing strong(ly) is a great habit to adopt.  Your thoughts/comments are welcomed!

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