Recruiting and Football

patrice

This past Sunday, I watched my Ravens lose to the Redskins. You cannot believe the local rivalry with my friends and these two teams. My attitude and demeanor changes almost instantly with each call, play, fumble, or score. In a period of four hours and overtime my emotions ranged from gut wrenching disappointment to joy, to “Are you kidding me?” comments, to unrealistic expectations and back to disappointment. I then started to think about the similarities of football and recruiting.

We arrive at work expecting to WIN, we encounter many obstacles and challenges as we run through the placement process trying to score a placement or fill. Along the way many people try to prevent us from scoring and many things beyond our control can prevent us from winning!

We don’t wear a football uniform and to protect us, but we’ve protected ourselves with proper training, scripts, ability to overcome objections and our competitive energy and spirit.

We may not have pulled hamstrings or concussions, but our day can be filled with unlimited rejection and disappointments that can injure our self-esteem and ability to perform at our best.

Some players compete in the Super Bowl or win the Heisman Trophy as a Freshman, and others are traded for lack of performance or warm the bench. It was no coincidence that Johnny Manziel passed for 3,419 yards, rushed for 1,181 and accounted for 43 touchdowns. He’s been throwing a football since he was two years old!

In our Profession there are the Big Billers, Top Producers, the average producers and then some who leave our profession for lack of production. Which one of these best describes you? I’m sure you didn’t think of being a recruiter at age 2, but are you fulfilling the dreams you had when you entered our Profession? Are you tracking your individual stats and ratios? Numbers don’t lie and help you know what adjustments to make. (More on this later)

To be good at anything including a sport or profession – it takes conditioning, training, repetition of plays that work, focus on best use of time, knowledge, expertise, the ability to overcome all obstacles and the tenacity to keep your eye on the prize. A football player would never compete without watching films of their competitors in order to prepare. You should never make marketing presentations without proper research, preparation and confidence. You should continue to learn and adjust your game based on your results or lack thereof.

The next time you watch a football game, realize the similarities to our Profession and get in the game DAILY so you can enjoy the greatest level of success.

I mentioned numbers and stats earlier. If you know your numbers you know exactly what results you need each day to consistently hit your production and income goals.