In my last post, I talked about playing to your strengths. So how does this relate to athlete management?
Well, as an athlete manager, you shouldn’t waste all your time improving an athlete’s weaknesses to make them more marketable. Rather, you should play on their strengths to own a niche category.
Not every athlete fits the Ian Thorpe / Pat Rafter mould. Don’t try to make your athlete something they are not.
Embrace your athlete’s true colours. But shine a spotlight on their strengths.
You see, what one sponsor perceives to be a weakness, is another sponsor’s gain.
If your athlete has a bad boy image (within context) that appeal’s to females then why not capitalise on that? The other approach is to burn an enormous amount of energy trying to change perceptions – only to mislead the public and sponsors.
This strategy will let you grab a piece of the sponsorship pie, be it a smaller piece but its better than going hungry.
Tags: Ian Thorpe, Pat Rafter
