Chess and the stategy of life

I love games. Baseball, Football, Tennis, Golf, Gin Rummy, Poker, Backgammon, Darts, Dominoes, Petanque, Boccie, but most of all I love Chess. It's such a simple game, but it offers so many opportunities for insight. Insight into your opponents life and insights into your own.

There are a couple of principles of the game that have direct corollaries to business.

The first is the principle of momentum. White moves first in Chess and as such has the Big Mo right from the start. All Black can do is respond and wait for White to take his or her eye of the "ball" so to speak at which point Black can seize the momentum and force White into the defensive position.

The second is the principle of engagement. The center four squares of the board are the most important, because which ever side controls them limits the opponent's options. I watch players lose momentum because they move pieces which do not continue to engage their opponent in the center of the board i.e. where the fight is.

In the world of business, it can be said that we have the momentum when our customers express an interest in our services. If we do not keep engaged with them we lose momentum and either another need becomes more pressing or a competitor moves in and makes the sale.

Now, serious Chess players reading this are saying I'm over simplifying the situation and salespeople reading this can probably think of numerous examples when this didn't apply to why they lost a sale.

I, however, believe that more sales are lost because for whatever reason the salesperson disengaged and lost the momentum.

Ask yourself, what can you do to sustain the dialogue with your prospect without becoming obnoxious?

Momentum is hard enough to establish, don't lose it through timidity or inattention.

Stay engaged by listening and focusing on your customers' needs, so you can sustain your Mo' or, even more satisfying, grab it from your competitors.

Next time you're in Richmond, drop me a line and let's see if we can play a game of Chess or Golf or Petanque or whatever strikes your fancy. There's a lot to be learned from playing games and like evrything else we do at Catch Your Limit; it's fun.