There are many lessons to be learned from Tom Brady about nutrition, self-belief, poise, and leadership. But one of the best traits I think he possesses is mental toughness.
And we can all use a checkup from the neck up in that department about now. How mentally tough are you? If you haven’t stuck with the plan you established for yourself on January 1 to make more money, use these pointers as motivation to get back on track. Finding new business, renewing old business, or upselling current clients are the same as exercising, eliminating alcohol and sweets. It’s never too late and never look back.
JUST DO IT.
The book, TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance contains four of Brady’s tricks for staying mentally tough. Brady writes, “the right mindset and attitude give us opportunities to do the best we can and realize the potential that’s in every one of us.” So lets max out our potential and get to work on improving our sports radio performance.
1)BE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH YOURSELF
Ask yourself your strengths and weaknesses in selling radio. Are you a good closer? Do you need help finding new clients to call on? Is your referral game up to par? How are you at digital terms and strategies? Figure it out and attack it.
Brady doesn’t dwell on his weaknesses instead he targets his deficiencies. One of the first things he said after the Super Bowl was that he wanted to work on his speed this offseason. If a 43-year-old QB can ‘work’ on his speed can’t we all improve our cold calling skills? Take Brady’s ‘will-over-skill’ mindset and practice, read and discuss with others what you want to improve and you will be amazed at how the results will follow.
Go back and remember what it was like when you first started selling and you wanted to be like the #1 biller. You had excitement, purpose and an openness to learn. You can recapture that enthusiasm. Apply that mindset to improving your deficiencies and let the good times roll.
2) TREAT PRACTICE LIKE A GAME
Brady uses practice to gain the respect of coaches and teammates. He believes that “if I don’t there’s no way the coaches will let me play”. Start participating in sales meetings. Get together with other reps to role play new proposals. Volunteer for bigger learning projects with your sales manager and offer to share with the group what you learned.
Maybe other reps will want to do more team selling with you or managers will feel more confident giving you some larger accounts or agencies because they have confidence in your ability. Be in competition with yourself to grow and learn.
3) GIVE YOUR BRAIN A WORKOUT
“If you want to perform at the highest level, you have to prepare at the highest level mentally,” Brady said in the new Facebook Watch documentary Tom vs. Time. Brady asks, “does it matter what you eat if your mindset is negative or angry or if you have poor self-esteem?” You are what you think!
Get some index cards and write down digital or social media measurement terms on one side with definitions on the back, or positive affirmations that you repeat. Review them alone or practice with your wife and kids. Also, create a regular sleep routine. If it works for you, rinse and repeat.
I am an early riser, so I need to be in bed earlier than most. Just aim to be awake for 15-16 hours day and realize that anything over that and you should be asleep. Who cares if you wake up at 8 am if you stay up till midnight? I wake up at 5 am daily and fall asleep by 9 pm often. I maintain that if you are as productive from 9 pm to midnight as others are from 5 am to 8 am, then go for it. I just think attacking important exercise or work projects when you are fresh from 8 hours of sleep is a lot easier than doing it after you have already been awake for 12 hours.
If you are a night owl, examine what you are doing and if it helps you meet your goals. Brady has his brain trained to expect morning workouts and work projects. It suits him. Brady uses cognitive training or neural priming. You may want to study that more.
4) USE FAILURE TO AUGMENT YOUR EFFORT
Brady says the amount of effort he puts into a game matters more than the outcome. He says if he doesn’t play his best, he reminds himself he should play better and work harder. We can learn from our sales mistakes and try to not repeat them. Sometimes its paperwork issues or sloppy proposal writing. These are correctable mistakes. The key is to learn from those mistakes and move on.
“I found that challenges bring out the best in me, today I think back on them as gifts. I fought hard to get to where I am today, which means I know what it means to fight hard,” Brady said. “When you’re in a Super Bowl game and your team is three touchdowns down and the clock is running, mental toughness is what makes the difference at the end.”
With the pandemic raging on and our billing in decline maybe we need more mental toughness to end up winning the game of 2021.
Jeff Caves is a sales columnist for BSM working in radio and digital sales for Cumulus Media in Dallas, Texas and Boise, Idaho. He is credited with helping launch, build, and develop Sports Radio The Ticket in Boise, into the market’s top sports radio station. During his 26 year stay at KTIK, Caves hosted drive time, programmed the station, and excelled as a top seller. You can reach him by email at jeffcaves54@gmail.com or find him on LinkedIn.
