CGM blog: Marginal gains

12 Oct CGM blog: Marginal gains

The stunning success of Team GB at the recent Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games should be an inspiration to us all.

It wasn’t just weight of gold, silver and bronze that impressed – it was the attitude, confidence rather than arrogance.

When asked how their success was achieved most British medalists mentioned the familiar phrase – ‘marginal gains’ – doing little things to make a big difference.

Sir David Brailsford, the mastermind behind the GB cycling team’s stunning rise, explained in detail that it was about dissecting each and every element of performance to see if it could be improved and worked at to achieve better results.

There’s an obvious lesson for business here – not least the ways many of us choose to market ourselves.

Too often, people go in search of a single magic bullet to achieve an unrealistic breakthrough. Of course there is no shortage of marketing quacks out there who are happy to roll into town with their new pills and potions to cure all (PR and marketing) ills.

Sure, a change of tactic or mindset can make a huge difference. But, in reality, it is about working on our own marginal gains – tweaking the small things and developing good habits that lead to significant results.

It is also about another phrase that athletes use – doing the ‘hard yards’. Talent, technique and luck can only get any of us so far. The rest is down to effort.

Mo Farah, for example, didn’t just rock up to Rio with a vague game plan to outrun his competitors. He trained his socks off in punishing conditions, pushing himself through the pain barrier in exhausting reps to fine-tune his tactical options. He could vary his act and win in any number of ways.

Now I’m not directly comparing amazing physical endeavours to working hard in business – but the analogy works – those who work smarter and harder can achieve more. What was it the late, great Arnold Palmer said: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” You bet.

There’s something else too. Character. It takes character to work hard and embrace new ways of thinking and working – and character marketing is king.

With respect to most businesses, no one really cares what we do or how we do what we do if we can’t explain why we’re good at doing it in the first place and what fires us up to be better than the rest.

Character marketing takes time and effort.

Marginal gains in marketing comes from proper planning and devising strategies across a range of methods whether it is PR, blogging, digital marketing, branding, using photography and video, developing the ability to front up your organisation in interviews and speeches, exhibiting, organising advertising campaigns and so on.

Coordinating all of this also requires time, effort and character…and only improves by making marginal gains.

At CGM we coach, train and deliver marginal gains. We’re sports folks. We have worked at the world’s biggest sports events and have delivered massive projects and understand the mindset of winning athletes.

We know what it takes to win in sport – and we don’t pretend it is easy to win in business.

But we can make sure you take the right steps and can offer the best advice and service to make your marginal gains count.

Chris Green is an award-winning author and broadcaster – and managing partner of Chris Green Media – which inspires organisations to communicate better by connecting deeper.