Designated For Assignment
Not that long ago we had a “baseball-themed business blog” that we produced for a different team. In the big leagues when you get “designated for assignment” (or DFA’d) you can get picked up by another team or you might choose free agency. We elected to go a totally different route and create an expansion team…and, so almost a year ago, CreativeCompass was formed. That ended up leading to a little different perspective on baseball and its parallels to business.
Pitchers
It hardly matters what team you’re a fan of or what game you’re watching…there’s always a large emphasis put on who is pitching. Whether it’s Ian Anderson or Clayton Kershaw, the pitcher is given a great deal of the credit if the team wins…or blame if the team loses. And while those one or two “ace” level pitchers get tons of attention in the press, you really can’t afford to ignore the rest of the 5-man rotation.
In business, pitching is provided by your sales staff. They visit current and prospective clients to tell them about what your company does, why they are better than the competition, and what “unique value proposition” you bring. We haven’t yet built to a point of needing an in-house sales team, so we have partnered with some folks who excel in that area.
Beth McClary-Wolford specializes in “Fractional Sales Management,” helping put into place methods and procedures that can improve your sales staff’s performance without the need to hire a full-time sales manager. When one of her clients needs marketing assistance, she refers them to us.
Mike Costa, of Costa Media Advisors, provides media and communications strategies for small and medium-sized businesses that do not have the resources internally to address those needs.
Defense
Gold Glove-caliber fielders are a necessity if you want to create a championship team. Looking at 2021, just about every team that had an award-winner made it to the playoffs, from Yuli Gurriel’s Astros to Nolan Arenado’s Cardinals. The players that win these awards are able to clearly see the ball, field it smoothly, catch it cleanly, and defend against problems.
That roughly correlates to the role of customer service. They field the phone calls, texts, and emails from customers, answer the questions with a clear knowledge of your company’s products and services, and are then able to offer solutions to the customer’s pain points.
Up-To-Bat
In the world of MLB, hitting is where all the action is seen to happen. Most often a players’ hitting prowess is what makes them a “franchise player,” from Mike Trout to Aaron Judge…players become so identified with a team that you can’t imagine them in someone else’s uniform.
The ones putting the ball in play and running the bases in business are the producers…the ones who shoot and edit the videos, develop a new piece of software, create a widget, or make think of a new recipe. They are also the smaller role players who run an assembly line, cut the grass, or serve amazing food to the tables of hungry diners. Because you rarely have a lineup of all-star players…most of the time you have to rely on lesser-known names to keep the game going.
Extra Innings
Sometimes you have to do it all. When you decide to go into business for yourself, you may end up being sales, customer service, and producer…and janitor, for that matter! Hopefully you find a partner you can trust, an employee or two who helps to keep the line moving, and some trusted business alliances that can fill in the gaps while you grow.
The fact is that just about every game in the business world turns into extra innings if you want to win. So far, we’ve experienced very few “short” games where the result is a clear victory. Nothing about small business ownership is easy…but at the end of the day, it is rewarding.