The parallels between sport and business have been well documented over the years.

Training, setting goals, teamwork, determination, focus etc.

They are all there and there have been some brilliant books written about the very subject.

On the other end of the literary scale is my friend William Shorten and I texting each other during rugby matches, namely during all the recent Six Nations tournament games.

William is a proud Englishman and I a Scot with more than a tinge of Irish. As much as we each love our respective teams, we follow the ancient tradition of Rugby culture and appreciate good play and a great match regardless of who wins. I remember the first time my wife Sarah came to watch international rugby and she was mystified as to why the opposition fans were applauding the other teams try…

This year’s Six Nations tournament has been full of thrills and spills, ups and downs and the usual mix of joy, disappointment and excitement.

The tournament culminated in the epic clash of England versus France at the Stade de France. The French team in excellent form and tipped to win the world cup in their host nation next year, they are on fire and if they win this match, they take the six nations title and the grand slam…England came to spoil the party and have all the skill and competence to do just that…on paper.

During the game Will and I were texting each other about the unbelievable break speed of France. They were pushing forward at such pace that it was difficult for England to keep up. The man of the moment, scrum half Antoine Dupont enabling amazing speed from his team which was overwhelming the opposition.

Warning: Stand by for some sport / business parallels.

Will texted “quick ball makes games easy…”

The joy of being a blogger is that you get these little flashes of inspiration anywhere and anytime.

Quick ball makes games easy. Being able to move quickly through markets and past competition makes wining business easier…. maybe something in that (note taken).

Being able to quickly move through the opposition and take advantage before they can reset. And by the time they have, you are further up the field and can’t be caught… (this is coming together, another note made on the iPhone).

We shouldn’t be limited by our competition, but we should be aware of their activity and movement. Professional sports team change their game plan to suit every team they meet. If our version of winning the Six Nations and the grand slam is to win those projects, get those orders and make out numbers then we need to apply a winning strategy and tactics that will win.

⭐We need access to markets, in some cases before our competition and in other cases they are already there, and we need to catch up.

⭐We need credibility in those markets when we get there…how do we get people in these new markets to take us seriously.

⭐When we get people to take us seriously how do we deepen the level of our relationship before we can meet them face to face?

⭐And how do we capitalise on all this strategy and tactics and convert it into commercial gain?

The answer is clear...

You focus on becoming the leading technical and commercial digital influencers in your sector.

Influencer, a term some don’t understand or find irrelevant.

Don’t be put off...

👉We want to be influencing people in your target organisations to amplify your message, support you and spread your influence.

👉We want your people influencing decisions in your target organisations.

👉We want your people influencing buyers with their thought leadership on the topics you want to be famous for.

👉We want your people influencing people leaving school or college or university to want to join your company.

👉We want to influence investors to offer you funding.

👉We want to influence people to ask your team members to come and speak at events.

👉We want to influence journalists to want to write articles about you and your company.

👉We want to influence people you’ve never met to contact you about a problem they have that they think you can help them with…

We are just getting warmed up with this, the list is much longer.

We do all of this with Strategic Social Media whether you are in the American tech sector or an Oil and Gas engineering service company.

This is Social Media influencing at its best and, in a technical and commercial sense.

A few weeks back a company leader argued with me that Social Media is a fad and that he and his team were more interested in winning work than being technical influencers…

The irony that they had contacted me to discuss a diminished pipeline, a cliff face forecast on its third revision and we are only in March...

If we want to compete in an ever more digital world, we can’t expect to bumble along and everything to be alright. We need to train, to adjust, to strive and open up to new ideas not become stuck in analysis paralysis where anything new is dismissed as a fad. The road to commercial success is littered with the carcasses of companies who just become stuck and didn’t move with the times.

In the end, France won the game.

They won the tournament and took the grand slam

They had a better strategy, better tactics, better players and were ahead from the start.

➡️Are you and your team walking out onto the ‘pitch’ match fit for the commercial game you are about to play? 

➡️Do you have all the training and tools you need to win in an ever more digital world?

➡️Do you have a digital first strategy?

➡️Can you access markets, build credibility in those markets, deepen relationships and close business all through the Strategic use of Social Media?

If not, you are leaving money on the table day after day.

Its time to look up and outward, its time to reset and prepare for change.

The conversations about whether Social Selling & influence works or not is over, the mountains of evidence are there to see. 

The conversation is now about your ability to accept change as a leadership team, your company culture and your appetite to win.

Live Social ‘22

Eric Doyle

Crux / DLA Ignite