If you are tired of hearing me take some liberal leaps and tie TV shows, Broadway musicals, and movies into lessons about sales and printing, perhaps you had better give this blog post a pass.
Because I am about to regale you with my obsession with TED LASSO.
I seriously was blown away by this show, which is currently streaming on Apple+ and stars Jason Sudeikis as a D1 American College Football coach who gets hired to coach an English Premier League Soccer Franchise. And it is pure gold. Fight me.
In the second episode, Ted and his assistant coach, Coach Beard are walking down the street in London, and Coach Beard says to Coach Lasso, “We keep losing!” and Lasso replies, “Bird by Bird, Coach.”
And my mind was blown. I knew what he meant because I had heard of the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont many times. You can find it here.
Bird by Bird? What the hell does that even mean? Here is a word for word explanation that I stole from a Reddit thread on Ted Lasso (and yes, that was my FIRST time on Reddit, I swear.)
Once, when Lamott’s older brother was 10, he was struggling to write a report on birds. The teacher had given the class three months to write it, so it was hardly a surprise assignment, but this kid procrastinated. Like, big time: he waited until the day before it was due to start it. He totally panicked. Lamott’s father, a writer, put his arm around his son’s shoulders and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird”.
Bird by Bird. One tiny step at a time.
How does this apply to sales?
We have always been told that sales are a numbers game. Make lots of calls and you will get lots of clients. I am not here to debate that idea, but I am not so sure that it is all about the numbers in 2021. I am more of a quality over quantity person now.
But here’s the thing. Any way you slice it and by any measuring stick, getting new customers is hard. Getting people’s attention through all the content and messaging out there is hard. Anyone who has ever tried to make a sales call can tell you that. HARD.
So how do we reach our 2021 goals?
One client at a time.
How are you going to find that client?
One call/email/social engagement at a time.
How are you going to discover that prospect?
One research session at a time.
How are you going to make that first LinkedIn post?
One word at a time. One call at a time.
You will get to your goals.
Bird by Bird, coach. Bird by Bird.
As a sales and marketing coach and consultant at Success In Print, and Girl #2 at #GirlsWhoPrint, Kelly Mallozzi advocates for graphic arts companies to keep fighting to keep print relevant. She may be irreverent, but what she lacks in convention, she makes up for in smart-assery.
Kelly is a regular co-host on the #GirlsWhoPrint Podcast along with Deborah Corn. She is also a mentor to several future sales stars and she connects to them through the Women’s Print Mentoring Network. Check out her book, co-authored by Bill Farquharson: Who’s Making Money at Digital/Inkjet Printing…and How. Kelly also occasionally guest blogs at Printing Impressions and you can see her most recent posts here.
Connect With Kelly: Twitter @SuccessInPrint and on LinkedIn where she regularly posts and is even often interesting.
One Response
This is sales management GOLD – I am a big Ted Lasso freak and a huge fan of his kind heart and forgiveness. Led Tasso however makes me very uncomfortable and I do not wish to be coached that way. What I struggle with is being a goldfish and letting go of my mistakes and or failures.
Thank you for this very relatable content. I am currently reading Fanatical Prospecting – your comments could not be more spot on. Thank you both.