Football, Sales, and Everything In Between with JD Brookhart

On this episode of the Revenue Builders podcast, John McMahon and
John Kaplan talk to veteran football coach JD Brookhart. JD has
led an interesting life, working as a coach for the Denver
Broncos and several college football teams. He coached the Akron
Zips to their first MAC Championship Title in 2005 and brought
the team to their first collegiate bowl as a Division One
program. 


Beyond his life in football, JD also earned accolades as a
salesperson during his time with Xerox and is now a managing
partner at CJ&M Holdings. JD talks about the parallels
between coaching football and managing sales teams, particularly
in building a team, motivating them, and knowing how to lead them
to success. 


HIGHLIGHTS


Parallels between sports coaching and sales work 

You need to know what motivates you and what motivates your
team

Nobody cares about what you know until they know you
care  

Team chemistry can be just as important as individual talent

Always work just a little bit harder to find success 

Leverage your network and believe in the power of who 

Accountability, Productivity, and Persistence 



QUOTES


JD: "You got to have three rules to hiring.
Number one, you got to know how to hire, two, you got to know how
to fire, and number three, you got to do number one so you don't
have to do number two." 


JD: "The guys that I've seen that are really
good coaches, many times have been walk-arounds trying to prove
themselves. Guys that worked up the ranks, that came from smaller
schools. Sometimes those guys that have been there, they
understand what it takes to be good and the time that we have to
put in to be great." 


JD: "It’s always great to be on a winning team,
but we’ve all been in a situation when things aren’t going so
well. Whether it be the revenue numbers or the Games in the win
column – that’s when real leaders differentiate themselves."


JD: "I look back on it, and I don't know of a
job that I got by myself. I had somebody helping me or somebody I
met along the way, which just changed the course of my life. I've
just been fortunate to be around the people I've met through the
course of my career." 


Connect with JD via LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jd-brookhart-ba647977/