3 Lessons On Talent from College Football, Week 2
It’s officially football season, which means you may be getting a dose of analogies and metaphors involving the 85 scholarship limit, cover 2, the veer and shoot, and the SEC in Birmingham, not Washington D.C.
To get this fall going, let’s extract some lessons from Saturday’s games to help you develop your sales organization and win more business.
We have to touch on Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois.
And as a Tennessee guy, I’d be remiss if I didn’t cover the Vols’ win over NC State.
Both offer lessons in leadership and sales management.
✅On sticking with the right guy…
✅Knowing how to select the right person (or persons)…
✅And having leaders with the ability to build a culture that performs.
We’ll get into Notre Dame and NIU. But first, let’s review lessons from Charlotte, NC, where Tennessee beat up NC State, 51-10. In a lesson on sticking with the right guy.
Lesson number 1.
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1. When you’ve got the right guy, you stick with him, regardless of some bumps in the road.
That’s what Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has done with defensive coordinator Tim Banks.
Despite some big losses the last few years:
- Losing 36-7 at Missouri in ‘23
- Giving up 29 points to a terrible Florida team in ‘23
- Losing 63-38 at South Carolina in ‘22
- Several other 17+ point losses at the hands of Georgia and Alabama
Given what message board geniuses were saying, I’m sure some boosters were complaining to Heupel that Banks wasn’t the guy.
But Heupel has stuck with Banks, and seen his team not surrender an offensive touchdown in the last 12 quarters played.
Heupel knew Banks, and saw what he was building. He had seen Banks’ units lead the country in tackles for loss in prior years, an indicator of an effective defense. Player development was improving. He also had context – Banks was playing with fewer scholarships and a lack of depth.
So he stuck with him. And finally has a great defense to complement the Vols’ offensive identity.
If you’re reading this, you either have a leader in place, or you manage people selling for you.
You’re going to have gut check moments – a la 63 points getting hung on you in Columbia, SC – that force you to ask, “Did I make the right decision?”
You need to know what to look for as indicators of progress:
- Pipeline growth
- A change in the quality of opportunities
- Shorter sales cycles
- Better talent put in place
- Larger average order size
- Cultural improvement (see NIU)
Because you will have losses. It’s part of the game. But the indicators are there, if you’re willing to look.
You must also be able to contextualize your leader or reps’ situation:
- What sort of competitive advantage do you have or lack?
- What infrastructure is missing or needed?
- What sort of bias does your leader or team need to overcome from prior regimes?
With the right leading indicators, AND context, you’ll be able to make the right long-term decisions, and you’ll hold onto the right people.
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2. You gotta be able to identify talent.
I’ll be honest: when Tim Banks was hired at Tennessee, I said, “Who?” And I follow college football. But a little digging revealed this guy had done some work, and had called the D at Penn State. He had a resume, even if he wasn’t a “big name.”
But I was much more skeptical when Vols AD Danny White, recently hired from Central Florida, hired Josh Heupel, who was the football coach at … Central Florida.
I thought, “You did a nationwide search… and you hired the guy from your last job?”
Note: managers often do this when they go to a new gig – they bring someone with them from their last job. They know them, are comfortable with them, and trust them. For Danny White, this was a much bigger gamble because he was going to be retained or fired based on Heupel’s success.
I hung out on message boards and discovered that Tennessee had talked to all the big names, and either been told, “Nah, fam,” or had been asked for stupid money, even for an SEC program not called ‘Bama or UGA.
White knew Heupel: he’d seen him build a program. He had worked with him. And he …cue the callback… had context for Heupel’s record at UCF, which involved Covid and losing a great QB early in the year. He was aware he was getting undervalued talent. He probably also wanted to go with Heupel to begin with, but had to make a real effort to land a “name” coach.
Fortunately for Vols fans, he got his guy.
Do you know how to identify a sales leader? Do you know how to assess:
- Their communication skills?
- Their ability to hold people accountable?
- Their strategic chops?
- Their ability to win over a team?
- How they sell?
- How they coach up and develop talent?
If you’re hiring sellers, do you know how to assess:
- Their intelligence?
- Their sales DNA?
- Their skill set?
- Their ability to consistently do the work needed to build pipeline?
- Their upside potential?
If you’re hiring, you’re in a position where the people you hire can make or break you. Being “good” at identifying and hiring the right talent isn’t an option.
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3. The right leader (or rep) will either build or change the culture.
The result will be you punching above your weight.
If you’re reading this, there’s a 99.999998% chance you’re not in a Fortune 100. Meaning, you have serious competition, and you’re often an underdog when you go to market. You’re not the Ohio State or Alabama of your market.
That’s not bad. It’s just reality.
So you’re unlikely to get the first round pick of talent in your market: someone can always spend more than you. And they’ll have more resources at their disposal to sell against you.
You’re going to get someone who is likely to be an underdog, on the mend from a last gig that didn’t go well, or on their way up.
One way to know you’ve got the right person (post-hire) is that they’ll deliver some big wins.
Cue: Coach Hammock at NIU.
Guy gets his “dream job” at his alma mater, NIU, after coaching at Power 5 schools and in the NFL. Even named one of his kids after a dorm on campus, I hear.
It’s in the MAC. It’s in the Group of 5. He won’t be getting Dabo money. He’ll fight for 3 star recruits. And see them lured away to bigger schools after one year if they’re an absolute baller.
But he gets to work. He lands some wins against Power 5 (now 4) schools. Georgia Tech in ‘22. Boston College in ‘23. Did he got 12-0 last year? Nope. Finished just above .500.
But (see #1), his AD believed in him.
And saw this guy go into top 10 Notre Dame, outplay them in every statistical category, and walk out with the school’s biggest win. Ever.
The right people land big wins.
Not only is that a big win. It’s an indicator of someone building a culture. Getting a group of 18-23 year olds to go into a top 5 team and win? Despite being 28.5 point underdogs? And hearing about it all week on social media? And probably having 250 fans in the stands?
He’s got buy in. That lasts. It’s not a flash in the pan. It’s not all marketing. It’s the anti-Colorado.
I can’t speak to what this says about Marcus Freeman or Notre Dame. But I can tell you that NIU has the right leader in Hammock. He’s changing the culture.
The right leader builds culture.
The right reps will challenge the culture. Most companies have a laissez-faire or “just enough” attitude toward sales. You hire the right talent, and they’ll be itching to raise the bar for the whole organization… and not very tolerant of complacency. You want that.
Is your leader (or rep) delivering some unexpected wins?
Is your leader building a culture of accountability, performance, and trust?
Is your rep getting bigger and better opportunities, selling cleaner deals, or simply winning more consistently?
Those are signs you’re looking for. That’s what you want.
If you’re not seeing these, see #1.
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Three takeaways for you:
- Know what to look for with your existing people. Understand what to measure, and the context they’re operating in. Otherwise, you may be cutting the cord too soon on the right people for the long term.
- Develop the acumen to identify and hire the best talent you can. If you don’t know how, there are plenty of people out there who can assist you.
- Look for someone who builds culture…or challenges it.
Questions on managing sales? Email me at adam@thenorthwoodgrp.com.
