It’s not easy at the top, especially if you start thinking it is

Kings of Europe!

“Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone… You’ll never walk alone” The 87th minute and it was down to Divock Origi, a player who had not featured much during the season to score the goal that sealed the deal. The Champions League was ours! We were the kings of Europe once again! We’d made it to the final just a year before and lost so this should have been the pinnacle but as much as the celebrations were wild, this kind of felt like the start of something. We had beaten an English team in the final and it felt like maybe, just maybe, we were on the road to winning the top tier of English football for the 1st time in 30 years.

Football and business

I can’t deny that this story is about football and in fact it’s about the greatest team in the history of football: Liverpool! (insert angry rivals’ comments here! Haha) but keep reading, even if you don’t like football. So many elements of the beautiful game are related to the not so glamorised world of business and sales. We’re focussing on one in particular today.

It all feels so right

Liverpool started the next season in a manner nobody could have expected. They couldn’t stop winning. 27 Premier League games, 26 wins and just one draw (we had to give United something after their epic fall from grace. ??), we were on fire. City had already lost 6 games and they were sitting more than 20 points behind us. We were out of the League Cup but in all honesty, we had played kids for the game we lost because we had to win the World Club Championship the next day. (Another Trophy!) Everything looked rosy…

Just a blip

Suddenly, we lost. It was in the Champions League against a truly great team: Atletico Madrid, so that didn’t faze us too much. Plus, it was only the 1st leg. We’d come back from 3-0 down against a greater Spanish team, Barcelona, the year before. It was the next game where something seemed to truly be out of place. Watford are a good team but they haven’t had the best of seasons. Until recently, they had been rock bottom in the Premier League and although they had won a lot since they brought in a new manager and pulled themselves out of the relegation zone, nobody would have expected them to give us much trouble.

Maybe trouble was what we gave ourselves

Even if you’re not into football, I’m sure you will have seen where this is going. Watford beat us 3-0. Our first defeat in the 2020 season but it wasn’t just a defeat. It was a performance that seemed to be telling a much more worrying story. Liverpool’s current squad is known for their strength as a team, rather than a bunch of talented individuals. Every pundit and neutral fan will tell you how incredible it is to see the coordinated pressure they put on other teams when they don’t have the ball and the almost telepathic understanding each player seems to have for one another. Effort has been as important as skill to the success they have had this season. That effort felt a little lacking against Watford.

Complacent?

I’d even say that we were complacent. It felt like the players had become so used to winning that they thought they could just turn up and it would happen again. Not likely at the top level. Teams are always improving and teams are always fighting so if you offer them even the smallest chance, they will take out the bulldozer and crush you. Of course, it was just one game and it would be silly to overreact. This team deserves nothing but praise and it is only because of how good they are that we can even think about obsessing over one loss. However, losing can have severe mental effects and if you’re not careful, it can cause bigger problems further down the line. You need to understand how to deal with it to turn things around.

Don’t fall into the trap

Why am I talking about this? Well, hopefully, you can all see the analogy. In business and in sales, we often have months where we are flying. Every target gets smashed, every customer is giving us incredible ratings and everything we touch seems to turn to gold. The feeling we get in these moments is incredible. We feel invincible and of course, we should celebrate but we should also stay alert and be prepared. So much can happen, self-inflicted or not and if we are not ready, if we are complacent, all of our hard work can quickly be ruined. It might start with one lost deal but it might turn into a short, then medium, then long term loss of revenue.

It takes work, togetherness and leadership

We can stop this from happening but it takes work. We need to make sure that we are always working together as a team. If one member gets complacent, the others need to make them aware and bring them back on track. If we see motivation dropping, we need to remind ourselves why what we’re doing matters and a good sales leader needs to be focussed at all times. A good leader should be watching every sale and every member’s actions closely. This doesn’t mean micro-management; it simply means awareness. If things start to slip, they should know their team members well enough to help them get back on track.

Here when you need me

I have been that leader for many organisations and I am ready to help your organisation develop its ability to stay on top. Get in touch today to find out how.