Closing the deal

One of the more interesting ‘perks’ of running your own club is that you get asked to participate in interesting stuff. In the past I have been asked, though sadly had to turn down, a spot on a TV reality program, an interview with a magazine and an offer to be the private instructor to one of the biggest bigwigs in the City. But last week, I was asked by a sales company to take their sales staff on a team bonding session involving ju-jitsu. Now this I couldn’t refuse. The challenge for me was that I had to incorporate their sales ethos into my session and somehow relate martial arts to being a good sales person. Hmmm, a tricky challenge, but with my previous sales experience, I thought I could give it a go.

Well, the evening was a success. 13 sales staff from Magentanews came down to the dojo not knowing what to expect. After the obligatory ‘Welcome to Fight Club” announcement I got the team stuck in to various ju-jitsu drills and, with a little help from my systema training, some non-jujitsu drills. It was all very good fun and I even managed to use martial arts skills as metaphors for handling tough clients or negotiating a sales deal. The men and women seemed to take to the drills with much enthusiasm and merriment. Most of the drills were based on simple wrist lock defences, which always go down a storm with non-jitsuka. There was also a basic rear naked choke, simple straight arm locks, some padwork and the handshake of death grips I picked up recently. I really wanted to introduce groundfighting too but I ran out of time.

I was pleased that they all left the dojo with big grins on their faces and half a mind to try out their techniques on some unwitting office colleague the next day. For me, I enjoyed the challenge and the opportunity to reach a wider audience and show them ju-jitsu.
Who knows what to expect next in Meerkat world?