Recruiters & Salespeople: Change Can Make You a Champion!

The Milwaukee Brewers are in the playoffs! Please note I'm writing this before we find out if they are division champions, but for my point in this article that doesn't matter.

The pictures above are of two of the star players, Ryan Braun and Randy Wolfe.

Braun is a nationally recognized player, all star, and the lead vote getter in the 2011 all-star game balloting.

He's a star performer but every now and then he gets stuck in a little bit of a rut. He never stays in them long though because he realizes early on he is in a little slump and makes tiny adjustments to his stance, or what he expects pitchers to throw or the way they throw to him and that busts him out of his slump quicker than most players. He is open to advice from the Brewers hitting coach and isn't afraid to ask for help either. If Braun were never to make adjustments to pitchers he would eventually break out of a slump, but those slumps would be longer and his overall production would be down over the course of the year.

Randy Wolfe is a different example. Acquired by the Brewers before the 2010 season by signing a huge contract, for the first half of the 2010 season he looked horrible. Fans and management alike wondered if they made a mistake. Start after start Wolfe kept doing things the way he thought he always did that worked in the past. As the disappointing results were mounting he decided he needed to do something drastic. Thanks to the Brewers pitching coach and his own study of his performances by watching film comparing his starts over his career, he tweaked his delivery and speeded up the pace of his game. By increasing the pace and shortening the time between pitches, he gave hitters less time to guess what was coming, made it easier for fielders to stay engaged in the game and play behind him, and has less time to second guess himself on pitch selection. Tweaking his delivery left hitters guessing what was coming because his arm delivery was more fluid and came from a variety of arm angles. Wolfe was the best pitcher of the send half of 2010 for the Brewers and a mainstay of the rotation in 2011.

What do these players have to do with sales and recruiting? When you are in a slump, how fast do you recognize it? How open are you to suggestions from others to change your habits? Can you honestly look at your day and admit that you need help? Does your sales pitch, prospecting, proposals, cold calling habits, metal state, outlook, or sense of responsibility need a small tweak or a major overhaul? Only you and your sales or recruiting manager can decide those things. Be open to trying them.

Thanks!

Ev

GO BREWERS!