DANGAL's DAS KA DUM : 10 Inspirational Sales Coaching lessons

Sales Management is dying fast. This is a pretty bold statement to make but that is the truth. Sales Management is now giving way to Sales Coaching. As Sales Manager, one has to manage the Sales Numbers, Sales Reports, Sales Activity, Team - Mediocre & Underachievers. As a Sales Coach, one has to motivate people to reach their highest levels by offering them opportunities & possibilities, not obligations. Coaching is the art of creating new possibilities that didn't exist before.

The recent Blockbuster from Aamir Khan , Dangal reflects a great deal about Coaching. For someone Born to be a Salesman like me, Dangal has gone a long way in creating a list of Inspirational Lessons ready to implement & transform one's Sales Unit.

After seeing the movie twice, I could draw the following lessons which would go a long way in transforming Managers into Coaches who would coach Salespeople into Sales Champions:

Sales Coaching lessons from Movie DANGAL:

1. Sales Coaches live with BURNING DESIRE, NEVER ENDING PASSION & HOPE:

Mahavir Phogat played by Aamir Khan in the movie keeps the passion alive for getting the Honor for his Country - A Gold Medal in Wrestling for the Nation. Despite the fact that his dream didn't see daylight, he aspires the same from his children. He goes ahead and renews his attempt 4th time for having a Boy. The sole purpose was to nurture a champ who could live his passion of getting Gold for the Nation. Even after not getting a Boy, he didn't let the passion for Gold die but kept on simmering it in his heart. Post noticing the fighting & self defense instincts in his daughters through a kid fight with the nearby kids, he became ecstatic to live his passion & plans to march ahead on the way which no one ever dreamt for his kids, WRESTLING. This BURNING DESIRE made Mahavir Phogat go on facing herculean challenges to transform his daughters in World Class Wrestlers & achieve his unfulfilled passion of Winning Gold for India. Even at the end of the movie, when Aamir is locked by the mischief of the NSA Coach, his passion doesn't end. He tries to break the door with his entire might & when unsuccessful, he keeps HOPE ALIVE & PRAYS TO ALMIGHTY.

2. Sales Coaches swear by SUCCEEDING WITH EXISTING RESOURCES:

Aamir Khan(Mahavir Phogat) does that very well in Dangal. Whether it pertains to having confidence in Geeta & Babita to excel in Wrestling or swearing by his own gut in Volunteering as the Wrestling Coach of his daughters, Aamir does with 100% confidence & excels. Despite Poor financial resources in arranging for Training Diet, he manages to Convince the Meat Shop in selling him Poultry Diet at 1/4th price & takes on the wrath of his wife for Accommodating Non-Vegetarian cooking in the Vegetarian kitchen. Aamir Converts a portion of his farm into an Akhada when his request to the local Akhada is turned down by fellow wrestlers. He even coerces his brother to push his Nephew, Participate in Wrestling Practice. Aamir goes to an extent of Getting the Household Mattresses for the Wrestling Practice when Authorities don't give any respite on financial assistance.

Sales Coaches need to constantly take a stock of their existing resources & assess the potential of their existing team. Sometimes it may happen that existing resources may be far more poised to win the battle than engaging with the new ones. One needs to be smart as a Sales Coach in exploring the Right Fit for the Right Job & Right Execution of the existing resources & achieve desired results.

3. Sales Coaches KNOW THE GAME OF THEIR SALES TEAM MEMBERS:

Aamir Khan(Mahavir Phogat) knows the game of Geeta as of an Aggressive Wrestler who excels while attacking in the fight. He pushes Geeta to fight aggressively despite her New Coach guiding her to defend. And Geeta goes on to win fights leveraging on her skills of attacking wrestler. At the same time, in few matches where in the opponent wrestler is attacking, he contains the aggression of Geeta & coaches her to defend & create winning position as per the situation.

Sales Coaches cannot transform the Sales Team to achieve excellence unless they know the Strengths & Weaknesses of their Sales Team. Once the Sales Coach knows the strengths of his team, he can channelize the same in BIG WINs. There is no point not playing to strengths of the team members.

4. Sales Coaches LIVE FOR RUTHLESS EXECUTION:

Aamir Khan(Mahavir Phogat) goes to any extent to execute his dream. When he finds that his daughters are getting distracted, he gets the hair cut done for daughters which is heartbreaking one everyone. He even makes the daughters jump into the nearby Water Stream without any swimming skills. He stops the salty, spicy & unhealthy food habits of his daughters.He pushes his wife to accomodate Non Vegetarian Cooking at home to ensure High Protein Diet for the Daughters. He ensures regular practice early in the morning and even leaves his Job to take up farming for the bigger cause. He even makes his daughters fight Boys in a nearby Dangal(Wrestling Competition) knowing the fact that daughters have never fought any formal wrestling contest.Even when the daughters join National Sports Academy & he is caught training the daughters, he doesn't give up and still delivers Wrestling Strategies on mobile to Geeta.

Sales Coaches need to thrive for Ruthless Execution. Most of times, the best of the Sales Strategies go for a toss as a result of Poor Execution. One needs to ruthless execute the plan. One should choose processes over people.

5. Sales Coaches CONSTANTLY STRATEGIZE & INNOVATE:

Aamir Khan(Mahavir Phogat) was never tired of strategizing in order to achieve desired results.He made his daughters fight boys in nearby Dangal not only to ensure that Geeta & Babita got the best opposition to prepare but also emerge with flying colors during National Championships amongst girls. Whether he utilised his nephew's presence during Wrestling Practice or the Household Mattress, his mind was always working on achieving more towards the goal. He even created a parallel Academy in Patiala at his PG Accomodation when Geeta & Babita were getting trained at National Sports Academy. This was with the sole objective to fulfill any gaps during the National Academy Coaching, which was anyways useless. When he was caught & debarred from meeting his daughters at the Academy, he got the recordings of Geeta's International Matches to coach her on various gaps of her Wrestling style. The entire film shows Aamir thinking at all times & overcoming challenge by challenge in ordet to meet his goal - Gold for Nation.

6. Sales Coaches, IF CONFIDENT OF THEIR APPROACH, NEVER COMPROMISE ON THE RIGHT SIDE:

Aamir Khan(Mahavir Phogat) doesn't get affected by his Wife's concern on her daughters' future marriage prospects. He doesn't even give an ear to what the local community feels about his decision to make his daughters future in Wrestling. Even when Geeta returns from National Sports Academy for a brief break, after being challenged by Geeta on his conventional Wrestling Style & Technique, he doesn't get bogged down and even fights with her. All way through the story, he is an epitome of Indomitable Will wanting to achieve his passionate goal.

Sales Coaches need to execute ' what is right & just not please the team members'. If the Sales Coach gives in regularly to the undue comfort of the team, the core objective gets compromised.

7. Sales Coaches TAKE A STAND FOR THE TEAM MEMBERS:

Aamir Khan(Mahavir Phogat) puts all his strength by the side of her daughters. He forgets his ego at first place when disregarded by Geeta's new coach despite being a superior wrestler. Even when Geeta misbehaves with him, he forgets his ego when she needs his moral support & training.He also doesn't lose time in apologizing in front of the management of National Sports Academy & regrets his involvement so as to ensure continuity of Geeta & Babita's Wrestling Coaching. He watches every game of Geeta & keeps on supporting her from the stands. His role was imperative in coaching Geeta win every game & ensure Gold for the Nation.

Sales Coaches are the important fulcrum in the performance of Salespeople. The very fact that Salespeople know that they have their coach by side improves their performance by 25%.

8. Sales Coaches CELEBRATE BUT DON'T WASTE MUCH TIME BASKING IN THE PRESENT GLORY:

Aaamir Khan(Mahavir Phogat) collects the Rupee Notes won by Geeta from various Dangals (Wrestling Competitions) and makes an album of the same. This is despite the fact he needed funds for Training and any financial support was more than welcome. He also doesn't waste much time on just rejoicing the glories but quickly wants to get Geeta to prepare for the next challenge. This helps Geeta not become complacent & be always on toes.

Sales Coaches need to celebrate Sales Team Success & party hard but at the same time need to make their units ready for practice very next day. Living in the past glories may impact the team complacent for the new battle.

9. Sales Coaches believe MULTI-TASKING AS A LIE & FOCUS ON JUST THE ONE THING SUCH THAT BY DOING IT EVERYTHING ELSE BECOMES UNNECESSARY:

Aamir Khan(Mahavir Phogat) constantly aligns the Vision of Geeta & Babita towards making a mark in Wrestling. He first goal is to focus on Fitness of his daughters. Then, he focuses on Progressive Wrestling practice to finally start arranging for Wrestling Competitions, Dangals. He simply focuses on ONE THING at a time & ensures completing before he moves to other goal.

Sales Coaches need to focus on the One thing such that by doing it everything becomes easy or unnecessary. Just like one cannot catch 2 Rabbits at the same time, one cannot chase 2 Goals at the same time.

10. Sales Coaches CONSTANTLY RAISE THE BAR & INSPIRE TO SOAR FOR MORE:

Aamir Khan (Mahavir Phogat) initially starts the journey with the Gold for the Nation in mind but later on takes up journey & raises the bar of his dream to the bigger cause, Glory of the Girl Child in India. He constantly inspires Geeta & Babita to aim for bigger milestones. There is an instance when Geeta loses her first fight but wins heart of people along with Fifty Rupees Note, she is not able to sleep and asks Aamir : When is the next Dangal ? Just before the Final match at Delhi Commonwealth Games, he tells Geeta that if she wins Silver , people would forget her one day but if she wins Gold, people would just remember what she would have done for the cause of Girl Child in India.

Sales Coaches keep inspiring their Salespeople to improve inch by inch so that when the inches get added, a considerable distance is covered to unleash super performance. They constantly raise the bar for Salespeople & push them to achieve more with each step.

Above 10 Point Sales Coaching Attributes - DUS KA DUM came to my mind after getting inspired from the movie Dangal. I am sure after watching the movie few more times, sharper insights would emanate to enrich one's Sales Coaching Quotient.

Sales Coaching is a huge responsibility of transforming Salespeople into Sales Champions. Sales Coaches create history by creating Historic Sales Performance & Super Sales Organisations.

Above mentioned are my personal views.

Happy Reading, Cheers !

Amol Maheshwari

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