.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} I threw out the first pitch today. A perfect strike! OK, it was at the Fort Wayne Wizards game – a minor league team.

OK, a Class A minor league team.

I did not view them as the lowest level of professional ballplayers. I saw them as the stars of the future. Kind of like an entry-level salesperson.

Before the game, I got to talk to the Wizards manager, Doug Dascenzo. Doug was a seven-year major league player for the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres.

I asked him what his biggest challenges are when handling a team of young “wannabes.” He said: “Each player is an individual and has to be communicated with individually. Heck, some players don’t speak much English. And each player has a different skill level and must be challenged to improve every day.”

I asked him, “What’s the toughest part of the job?”

“Getting my players to improve slowly rather than all at once,” Doug said with an all-knowing smile. “They think because they’ve done something once or twice that they can go to the next thing. That’s wrong thinking. There is no ‘fast’ way into the big leagues. Great players have to execute excellently and improve slowly for years if they want to play in the big leagues. Most of these kids have played baseball all their lives and still don’t know enough to play major league ball. And add to that the personality trait of ‘no patience’ and you have a team of potentially frustrated people.”

Kind of like salespeople.

Each player has his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and his or her own level of dedication and determination to make it in the big leagues. And each player has quirks. One of the Wizards burns his bats when he’s in a hitting slump.

Baseball is full of characters and superstitions. Kind of like sales.

The similarities between baseball and sales don’t end there.

Practice has to be a daily occurrence. It’s the only way to improve. Kind of like sales.

Here are some more sales and baseball musts:

• Be your best every day.

• Learn every minute.

• Play to win every second.

• Dedicate yourself to excellence, achievement and hustle.

• Love the game. Otherwise don’t play.

• Live the right kind of life off the field, so you can be your best on the field.

I asked Doug about the biggest challenge he gives his players. “I tell my guys to master three or four elemental aspects of the game each year. Then after three or four years, they have a skill set that will get them in the major leagues,” says Dascenzo. “But most young players want to master three or four elements of the game every week, and it doesn’t happen that way. They all know it’s one step at a time, but they lack patience to get there.”

Same in sales.

The object of baseball is not just to win, but also to develop winners. Same in sales.

The coaches have the future of baseball in their hands. The players are looking for their chance in the major leagues, and every one of them would be ecstatic if Doug and the other coaches could help them climb the ladder from Class A to double A to triple A and finally to the major leagues.

A sales leader has the same responsibility.

The game is about to begin. The announcer bellows, “Throwing out the ceremonial first pitch is sales expert and author Jeffrey Gitomer.” I take the ball with a knowing smile, wind up and throw a perfect strike.

The pitch only lasted a second, but the thrill and the memory are forever.

If you want a few baseball quotes to help you make more sales, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time user, and enter BASEBALL in the GitBit box. Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2007 Jeffrey H. Gitomer