In the last Blog titled Second Chance Points, I present how great companies are given “second chances” if and when they mess up. I state,
“when you’re given a second chance, you have the luxury of being able to learn from your mistakes. When you aren’t offered a second chance, you die by your mistakes. This is why companies must fight their way to earn the right to be given a second chance”
If I work with a business, a considerable amount of time and “management think” is devoted to positioning the team for second chance points. It is what many people might refer to as “staying power.” Now a second, an equally important part of the equation. This is turnovers and points following a turnover. In basketball, great defensive teams position themselves to create turnovers, and subsequently score off turnovers. An equally important phenomenon occurs in business. Adam Hartung over at The Phoenix Principal puts it this way.
Adam Hartung is talking about the importance of and how a team can position themselves to create turnovers and score points off them. When we understand our competitors and their customers, we intimately know where they’re vulnerable and how to create turnovers. A turnover could be:
- Securing a new account when a competitor fails to deliver.
- Hiring a disgruntled employee from a competitor that fufills a needed skill set.
- Offering a complete solution to a marketplace that had been previously filled with products.
Why are Second Chance Points and Points off Turnovers such an important concept to understand?
Momentum!
Now back to our basketball analogy. Clark Kellogg in his commentary from the NCAA March Madness tournament noted that when teams had a positive (relative to their competitor) score from second chance points and points off turnovers that they are more likely to win the game. Not surprisingly, a similar scenario happens in the business world every day. Companies that receive second chance points and score points following turnovers are more likely to grow and prosper. Companies achieve this by leveraging the talents of their organization and exploiting their competitors weaknesses. When this occurs, a dynamic shift in the marketplace begins to occur. Slowly at first but over time the extra points begin to add up.
This is why second chance points and points off turnovers are important in basketball and business.
