Sell Or Die

Mark came up with four commitments to a winning team that came from his journey of being a 21-year-old auto mechanic who couldn’t play basketball well, to becoming an NBA All-star. Along the way, Mark met a ton of influential people and coaches that really helped him to see the importance of being a good teammate and what it takes to be a part of a winning team.

1. The first commitment that Mark learned was to understand his role. In basketball, Mark struggled to find his role and wasn’t being an effective player. Once he was able to know his role on the team he became such a better teammate. The ability to know and focus on the one thing you are excellent at is so important. For salespeople, you should be identifying the reason people do business with you. Once you’ve identified that, mold your career around it! Continue to be interested in how to do your job better and more efficiently.  
   
2. The second is the importance of execution. Do what you’ve been asked to do. Make sure you are very clear on what other people want and need from you in your role. There are many times in business where we think we did our best but we should be asking what people need us to do differently or better. Take the extra time to see what else you could do to make yourself better at your role, don’t just assume you’re doing it perfectly.
   
3. Number three is all about making other people look good. Something Mark took away from one of his coaches was that when a team he was on wasn’t doing well the coach mentioned if the teammates stopped competing so much with each other and started cooperating a little bit the individual successes would come to fruition. The ability to start trusting one another and working with one another instead of trying to be the best individually improves everyone. The more you make one another look the better the team looks as a whole.  
   
4. Last but not least, it’s important to protect the people you work with. It’s a fact that people want to work with loyal and trustworthy people. The ability to show and prove to people you have their back goes such a long way on a team and in the business world in general. Think about why you do business consistently with certain people and companies, it’s because you trust them. Make yourself someone who people can trust and rely on. If you can do that and build those relationships you are going to be building successful teams and a better work environment.