11: Don’t show up at a penalty shootout without having trained before

Would you show up at the penalty shootout that decides whether your country can lift the World Cup without having trained and kicked multiple penalty kicks before? I watched Captains of the world at Netflix[1] and, besides feeling energised by the stellar progress of Morocco, I saw a number of matches going into penalties after extra time (this is a practice in football/soccer to decide who will win a match when they have drawn during the match).

In business we have some of these events during an year, especially in sales, where millions of dollars of value might be on the line. These critical meetings with customers/suppliers are equivalent to the world cup penalty shootouts: negotiating a difficult and important clause with a customer/supplier, arguing for a reduction/increase in discounts, a reduction/increase of credit terms or pitch for an extension of terms are all what I would define as a ‘penalty shootout’ event: it needs to be prepared, coached and trained upfront.

The first task is to do the research on the goal keeper. Where are they likely to go? What are their strengths and areas of weakness?

The second task is to train, and in sales this is the good and tested approach of role playing. Now relegated to a secondary practice it could see a bit of a revival, especially in a context with high pressure or high stakes negotiations. Practice makes perfect, but only the right practice, under pressure, says James Barraclough in his insightful analysis[2], and I agree with him.

That’s why finding a fellow colleague who can play the role of an angry customer or supplier and can represent their motives and feelings is an even better practice that repeating in our heads what type of objections we will find and how we will deal with them (practising penalties in the mind). Showing up at the meeting with the right mental frame is the second important thing to do. One of my sales managers always advised to not go into an important sales call without the right frame of mind - better to ‘delay the penalty shootout’ than show up weak or unprepared.

So, before the next big negotiation consider kicking a few penalties in the office, sit down with a colleague and ask them to be tough with you and defend their goal. It will help you when it is your time to score.

[1] https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81681112

[2] https://members.believeperform.com/practising-penalties-necessary-or-pointless/ is an insightful article about the relevance of preparation in challenging contexts with several good videos included.