Sports Marketing 2.0 | Pat Coyle

Got to take the afternoon off yesterday to play in our annual company golf outing. Beautiful day here in Indy. 85-degrees. Not a cloud in the sky…now if I could just learn to putt!!

While my golf game is not improving, I got a sign yesterday that my spirit may be maturing at least a little bit. Here’s the story…

Normally, when I golf I try not to carry my Blackberry. I have found that if I take a business call or look at my E mail during a round I get distracted. I could be striking the ball well, then I get my mind back into business and I start hitting worm burners for a few holes.

Anyway, at the turn yesterday we had a few minutes, so I looked at my messages and found one from a company that has decided not to use our software after all. This is a company (client) into which I’ve put a fair amount of effort, we had a deal, and this “we’re going another direction” E mail came TOTALLY out of nowhere.

The client was nice enough to list out 10 reasons why he made this decision, but I didn’t take the time to read the whole note. I got the messagage and didn’t really want to hear the details just then.

I’m feeling disappointed. I’m feeling surprised. But I’m not feeling mad. At least I don’t THINK I’m feeling mad. It’s hard to tell with me sometimes. My next swing would tell the tale!

So I’ve got all this stuff swirling in my brain as I step up to the 10th Tee. Normally, I’d duck-hook it into the woods at this point, but instead I hit a high draw out there about 250 or so, right in the center of the fairway. A very solid drive for me. And come to find out…this happened to be the “longest drive” competition hole, and my drive was a yard or two in front of the previous best!

Never in my life have a I ever had a chance to write my name on one of those little signs. Not for drives or closest to pin or anything. That was a pleasant surprise and actually made me feel pretty good, not so much about my game, which fell apart on the next swing, but about my perspective on life and business.

So a client went another direction. So it’s disappointing. What’s most important is that he gets what he needs. My job is to help that happen, whether it’s with my product or someone else’s. My job is also to remember that God is in charge of everything, good shots and bad and has nothing but the best intended for me, regardless of what the business day brings. He is all around me at this moment. In the beauty of the golf course. In my heart and in my mind. Even in my conversations…

Also on the 10th Tee I happened to be talking to one of my foursome about his new baby…and he thanked me for something I said (by accident) about fatherhood that really helped him put his life into a new perspective. God gave me that too!

So the 10th Tee was an encouraging place. I was having fun. Building relationships and practicing letting go of the ego crap that makes me want to sell everything to everyone and be the most successful, most famous, sports marketing 2.0 guru in the Universe! Perhaps I’ve made “the turn” in a whole new way!!

And it’s a good thing that I didn’t get too attached to that long drive championship. As we were making our way to the 10th green, one of our foursome said, “hey, Pat, look at that drive.” We looked back and someone in the group behind us had beaten my drive by about 30 yards

Easy come easy go.