Dog Walking, Running – and Sales Business Performance…

Apart from representing some of my favourite activities, what might these three things have in common?

In this post I’ll offer my thoughts! Thoughts, incidentally that came to me whilst I was doing one of these things: dog walking / running /sales business performance. Can you guess which one?

It was walking the dog actually.

The backdrop to the content of this post comes courtesy of: (1) Dealing with a few recent personal events and (2) Spotting the (pictured) tweet from North-West based Running Trainer Michelle Mortimer (Website: www.mileswithmichelle.co.uk & Twitter @mileswithshell):

I figure this tip probably also holds true when it comes to developing performance in other areas of life – and in particular, commercial sales.

Walking the Dog

So there we were; little Rolo our family dog & I making our way along a fairly regular edge-of-field route when I noticed a change in his behaviour; he was sprinting quicker and seemingly loving it. A double-positive occurred; I was delighted that he was delighted!

He regularly looks back for encouragement and that day was no different – by the way, that’s another observation linked to coaching and effectively leading a sales team! Be visible, be supportive – just being there is a pretty good start! (Woody Allen: “80% of success is turning up!) - I’ll cover more of that another time…

Remember, in this post I’m looking to demonstrate a link between the dog-walking, running and sales performance…

Rolo’s schedule over the past 5 days:

Mon: Regular walk with my partner – route unknown.

Tues: Regular walk with my partner – route unknown.

Wed: Unusually clear blue sunny spring day – took dog to the beach for a long walk. We all gained some exercise & topped-up our levels of vitamin D in a different environment. Back to office to complete work.

Thurs: Shorter walk with my partner – route unknown. Dog reportedly a bit tired from yesterday.

Fri: Regular walk with me – dog is energised & sprinting without encouragement. This is our ‘regular route’ however there was a noticeable improvement in pace! Back to office to complete work.

Michelle’s running tip (not trying to increase two areas of performance at the same time) sprung to mind. Rolo had completed a long training walk and recovered - something that's just as important as exercising - and now a re-vitalised and energised performance could be observed. He was even skipping at one point – metaphorically (or literally), how many salespeople do that?

Indeed, my dog’s improvement in pace struck me as being very similar to what occurs when human training runs are varied; this is sometimes referred to as ‘Fartlek Training’ (yes – actually a thing!) which helps to create better running performances. Sales coaches take note; it ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it!

Mixing it Up…

During my recent running training ((26.2 miles/42km distances completed in Manchester, Dublin & Barcelona during the past 12 months) I’ve found huge benefit in ‘mixing it up’ and varying my physical training. Basically, if you continue to do the same thing in life, you’ll get broadly similar results – most leaders already appreciate that. Looking back, when asked about my running pace I used to laugh and say “Oh well, I’ve only got one speed anyway – I just focus on completing the distance”. Running-wise, that served well enough to get started, but did little to nothing to improve my completion times. I soon sorted that out when I began doing ‘Effort Sessions’ (Fartlek principles) at the running club though. Take it from me – this methodology works!

Mindset

Given my own marathon training experiences, I proved on many occasions that in order to generate a different outcome, all I needed to do was change the front-end manner in which I approached the task – starting with my mindset and thinking. These, and other performance-enhancing principles are shared during the coaching and training sessions I provide via UpThinkers.

When we vary the way we choose to think about things, it stimulates different senses, fires up new neural pathways in the brain to enable innovative ways of doing things to be created. When we make those new-found activities regular habits (vitally important!) we maximise our chances of creating improved outcomes for ourselves. Pretty useful stuff to know and put into practice!

So there it is; dog-walking, running and sales business – each linked with performance. Key points? 1). Remain flexible in your thinking 2). Keep focussed on what you want to achieve 3). Vary tasks to create performance improvement when you complete other chosen targets 4). Laugh at the word 'Fartlek' and enjoy doing it!

Oh, and remember: You cannot out-perform your current level of thinking!

If you have any observations, similar experiences or endorsements please leave your comments at the bottom of this post.

Thank you!

Stuart Sayer, Director, Trainer & Coach at UpThinkers

Contact: T: 07500 877675 | [email protected] | www.upthinkers.co.uk