Selling in a Crisis

2Put Your Swimsuit On

It was the bottom of the fourth inning in our first game of the season, and our team was up six to nothing. The parents on our side were cheering. Our kids, singing from the dugout, had their shoulders up and their heads held high.

This was a sharp contrast to the mood a month earlier at our first practice. Then the team looked like the kids from the Bad News Bears. We had a deep talent deficit, and things looked bleak. All of the parents geared up for a losing season.

Jody, our coach, saw things differently. At each practice he gave the players the same short speech. He told them that the key to winning in baseball was excelling at pitching strikes, fielding the ball, getting hits, and running bases. He placed intense focus on practicing the basic fundamentals of baseball.

Coach Jody patiently ran the same drills at each practice. Soon, things started to click for our motley crew. As their skills developed, confidence followed. My son learned more about the game of baseball in one month than he had in the previous five years. In just a few short weeks these Bad News Bears had developed into a team of winners.

A month later, in our first game, we trounced the most talented team in the league. As another one of our kids rounded third and slid into home, the opposing coach threw his clipboard to the ground in frustration. He came to the field expecting to win, but could not find a chink in our armor.

The one common characteristic that defines all consistent ...