... Excuse me, it's again about the World Cup ... but it seems more real than life itself:
After beating Holland and England, Portugal is finally stopped by France. A very important detail matters. The French style also helped, but most of all, Portugal’s productivity wasn’t just enough; they were too much focused on sales.
- Sales and football? In a normal game each player tries to be productive. Sales and football is about convincing (the referee) that you have been hurt by your opponent. The best sales deal is when you fake a tackle in the penalty area and you receive a penalty you didn’t deserve.
The match between the Dutch team and Portugal was a big shame. For those of you who have seen it will understand. Besides the 16 yellow cards and four reds, there was no productivity. Instead both teams were competing for a golden globe - who’s the best actor in faking being tackled (in the penalty area) or hurt when not even touched. Both teams excelled in this. But Portugal won (and they deserved it).England, that met Portugal after the Dutch, was obviously not prepared for this of game. Rather than sticking to their own rules they were distracted and lost because of lack of discipline. Most of this could be set on account of one player, receiving a red card when the team cannot afford it: “It is not the first time that the 20-year-old has let his temper get the better of him to the detriment of his team.”(from
“Red card and penalties sink England against Portugal” - http://www.desifans.com/news/2006988)
Now the detail. This happened just now, when Portugal played against France. For the detail you had to observe Zidane the captain of the French team. He embraced Figo who he knows very well for they both played in Real Madrid. This little understanding that initiated Zidane was not without a meaning. Zidane - a real gentlemen - hinted the captain of the Portuguese team to a fair play. An important detail.
The sales was not out of this game however. Many tried to fake a fall in the penalty area, but besides this, there were no real incidents. Other than a real tackle by the Portuguese which led to a real penalty.
From that moment onward, the productivity of the Portuguese team wasn’t sufficient; although they tried, they didn’t get even. The (business) lesson from all this is that in the end, the quality of the product beats the sales energy.
Do not try to sell (a quality) that you can’t produce.
© 2006 Hans Bool
Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days. You can apply for a free demo account
Written By: Hans Bool
