Winners Win and Losers Lose. Time to decide!
Michael Alexander looked at me across the table at the Green Street Cafe in Pasadena, Ca., and said with all of the drive of an attorney, Marine (there are no ex-Marines), financial advisor and sales mentor, "These may not be the best of times, Jim, but we’re here and our clients have to make the most of it. When the chips are down, Winners find a way to win."
"A Loser," he continued, "Puts his head in the sand, but a Winner fights. Our clients have to make a decision if they are Winners or Losers."
That very afternoon and going forward I took the "Winners Win" pep talk into meetings with my clients and prospects who are trying to figure out what to do in this business climate.
After stating some of the obvious points of where they stand in the marketplace I gave them the Michael Alexander pep talk, "My mentor taught me that Winners Win and Losers Lose. When all is said and done today, you have a decision to make; which are you? Who will you be going forward? "
If you take a losers attitude you will most likely go down with regret, remorse and doubt. If you take a winner’s attitude and fight, you will be a winner regardless of the outcome. Everyone will know that you gave it your absolute, unconditional, unqualified best effort because that is what Winners do. Make a decision and let me know. "
Since I started taking this approach, several presidents have said to me later, "Something you said on your last visit struck me. You said Winners Win and Losers Lose. I have decided I am a Winner."
Interesting how a few words can make a difference from an inspiration leader such as Michael. If you quote this, don’t quote me, quote Michael Alexander, one of the SLMA’s advisors. If you want to meet him, you can often find him during lunch at the Green Street Café in Pasadena. Tell him you’re a friend of mine. If you’re a winner, tell him that also.
This was taught to me in high school sports and I taught this to many young men (and some young women) that I coached later. And I've used in sales and business since. I appreciate the reminder!
I would add one more thing to this as well. It doesn't cost any more to try your best and you win respect from yourself and from those around you.
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Jim - well written and so true. It's easy to be optimistic and carry on when the $ are rolling in. It's times like these that test our character and our values...time to breathe deep, roll up our sleeves, and make the tough decisions.
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I couldn't agree more.
I was 24 when I started my first company, Elledge Photographic Lab in Austin Tx.
I had great success and was soon recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in central Texas.
But as anyone who has been there, can tell you, growth is as challenging as it's counterpart; Cash Flow, HR issues, increased overhead, personal strengths/weaknesses and the final straw that broke the camel's back, covert employees with their own agenda.
After resigning as president of my own corporation, I had a choice to make, remain the loser I felt like or fight like hell.
At the time I had some friends that where going through similar situations (Losing their business) and they took the easy way out by becoming lazy, depressed and wallowing in their own mire. Heck some of them still haven't recovered and it has been years!
8 years have passed since those terrible days I thought I would never survive. But I have a new career, wife, house and more importantly, a new passion for success.
I had to fight like hell to get here but it was all worth it
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Shawn:
Glad to hear about your success story Shawn. This country has been built by the risk takers, the never say quit, stand up and be counted entrepreneurs who typically fail three times before they make it big. Along the way they create wealth for everyone around them. Thanks for your inspirational story.
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Great point...any tips from anyone on what to do when you're in an organization thats taken the attitude "hunker down, lay low"---not the winning attitude?
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In my opinion, it is difficult to change people who are determined to be negative, particularly if the negativity starts at the top. The best you can do is to be a beacon of optimism yourself - or as they say, "it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness." This morning's homepage of my local newspaper had the headline "Bad Economy Causing Dour Moods." Perhaps it should have read "Dour Moods Causing Bad Economy."
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They obviously are concerned about layoffs. You must reassure them that they are safe and you need their help to keep the business successful. Innovative ideas should always be welcome, especially in bad times, even if they aren't implemented. Bring them into your world so they feel like they are part of your team. The more isolated they are the more they will withdraw.
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Jim, Thanks to you and Michael Alexander for the inspirational blog topic. Your timing could not be better. We are all feeling the pressure right now to just throw in the towel. If the news media doesn’t drive us to the brink of hopelessness then our prospects and customers will...if we let them. As a nation we have a history of overcoming incredible challenges. We have had wars and economic slides in the past but we have always risen above them. We will thrive again because there is a nucleus of Winners among us who will raise the economic tide and all things with it.
Our company develops, sells and manages sales lead management software. In the past few months I have had a number of prospects tell me ..."given the tough economy we just can’t afford to move forward with implementation of a lead management program." – LOSERS!
Some current clients recently told us they will not renew technical support for our software because the marketing budget has been gutted and they aren’t doing trade shows or ad campaigns until things get better. – LOSERS!
This is like the old cliché “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” How do companies expect to maintain or increase revenues if they stop marketing and selling?
To the contrary, last Friday I received a call from the VP of Marketing for a large distributer of scientific equipment with more than 500 sales people in North America. He said “…the Economic Stimulus Bill will drive an additional $10 Billion into our sector this year. It is critical that we manage every sales lead and let nothing fall through the cracks”. - WINNER!
He went on to say that they have been entrusting their precious sales leads to an outside firm but they have dropped the ball too many times. They are going to bring the sales lead process in house and micro-manage it.
Two weeks ago one of our long term customers returned from a trade show with a renewed spirit. She said everyone at the show (her competition) was so pessimistic that her team decided that they are going to make huge market share gains in 2009. While the competition is moping about how bad things are (LOSERS) her company is seizing the moment with implementation of very aggressive marketing, sales and lead management tactics to win market share. What a concept…increase marketing spending, raise quotas and insist on accountability, while your competition is doing the opposite. – WINNER!
As a fiscal conservative the Economic Stimulus Bill causes me a great deal of angst. However, the Economic Stimulus Bill is driving hundreds of billions of new dollars into the market place. As an entrepreneur, I have decided to be a WINNER and earn my share of the new spending. I also want to send a message to all of those who have decided to let the economy make them LOSERS – thanks for the market share.
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Nice reminder in pessimistic times – I went to an Improv show last night and someone was doing a good natured spoof on Obama. His skit ended, saying something like, “You need to stop bemoaning the economy and your situation. At the end of the day, you need to put more faith into the person staring back at you from the mirror.” Do you choose to win, or do you choose to lose?
The pep talk is classic tough love, albeit a much gentler version of the speech Alec Baldwin gave in “Glengarry Glen Ross.” My decision to win was made pretty recently. I have a history of stepping away from organizations as they begin a long fall to the bottom, not unlike the Bugs Bunny narrowly escaping disaster by stepping off the boulder just before it hits the ground. I decided this was not one of those times. The core of our sales and delivery teams has been stable for the past two years, and I believe in our abilities above any other. Still, knowing the troubled waters ahead, I had to make the conscious decision: do I jump ship, or do I stay and fight? Not an easy question with a young family counting on my paycheck. Jumping ship would be to sacrifice my potential for success in return for what I assume would be a more stable paycheck. I can’t help but feel some guilt at not making that jump. I don’t know if it is the sin of pride, gambling the comfort of my family for personal success, or if it was true courage to stay with a riskier position I believe can provide greater rewards in the future. Mostly I feel optimistic.
I have been happily surprised by the extent of the fighting spirit that remains in my business unit, as well as the company at large. We have chosen to continue the flight, fighting to win. We have worked too hard to position our team for success, just to watch it sail away. We have worked too hard for our clients to give up and walk out on them.
One point I am curious about though: I am not sure that I had much of a choice. I don’t know that I could have “chosen” differently. Do winners choose to win, or do winners just win? I’ll think about that more some other day. For now, I am content to win.
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So true. But the reason they are winners is because they believe in their abilities and instincts. With that they are able to take a positive attitude to continue to succeed. No matter how bad the situation, you can be positive or negative. One gives you the ability to fight the good battle, the other keeps you in your troubles. Which way you go is up to you.
Remember, success is not based on completing a goal in your favor, but on advancing to the point where you better understand the problem so you can continue to solve it. Sometime the best answer is not what you want to hear.
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I agree with Michael Alexander. I believe that winners localize failure and globalize success. I've failed many times, but I am not a failure. I just found something that didn't work. On to the next thing. When one personalizes the failure, there is no "next thing", because there's no point. Thanks for the story.
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The original posting by James and the follow-up comments are excellent. Sometimes it is as simple as making a decision to act as a winner or an also-ran. We will be best served by confidence and action, not complaining and inaction. Carpe Diem....
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Someone once told me the difference between amateurs and pros is a professional is willing to engage in behaviors the amateur won't (i.e. Work with a structured process, work longer hours, do research, ask tough questions).
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Wow, I never knew that Winners Win and Losers Lose. That's pretty interesting…
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Cool,
In order to win, you need the confidence and the belief that you can win,
Keep up the good work
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You're right. If you believe you can, or believe you can't, you're absolutley right.
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I agree too. It's tough, but when you really face up to yourself and make the hard decision to push for that extra ounce, you'll end up with more than just a sense of achievement. You'll prove something special to yourself so that next time it'll be a natural response.
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