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Founder habits shape success: the Nadal formula for repeatable sales

Tennis legend Rafael Nadal is set to retire in November, having won twenty-two Grand Slam singles titles – bettered only by Novak Djokovic, Margaret Court and Serena Williams. The 38-year-old will represent Spain in his final appearance at next month's Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. Nadal, who has barely played over the past two seasons because of injury, retires as the second-most successful men's singles player of all time, behind only long-time rival Djokovic.


Known as the 'King of Clay', he won the French Open singles title a record fourteen times, winning 112 of his 116 matches at Roland Garros. Nadal is also four-times US Open champion and twice Australian Open and Wimbledon champion. Alongside enduring rivals Djokovic and twenty-times major champion Federer, they formed the 'Big Three' that dominated the men's game for many years. Nadal played Djokovic sixty times over an eighteen-year period, but it is his rivalry with Federer which was the heartbeat of his career.


They would often both walk on to court wearing a bandana, but that is where the similarities ended. Nadal might choose a sleeveless top and pirate pants; Federer a cream cardigan embossed with his initials. With the coin toss complete, Nadal would sprint in zig-zag formation to the baseline as Federer took a leisurely stroll to the back of the court. Federer's grace and economy of effort belied his aggressive instincts, but you could see the pistons pumping and sparks flying from Nadal. The physicality of his performances was breathtaking, the intensity of his spin intimidating, and the banana-shaped forehand down the line a devastating crowd-pleaser.


Perhaps more than any other tennis player, Nadal is a creature of habit. His routines are unwavering, from the precisely positioned water bottles, side by side, near his courtside seat, to on the court where he will not willingly step on the lines coming on and off. And even before he offered a serve, there was an elaborate and nuanced 12-step routine:


1. Towels off his face (left side first, then right) and arms, then accepts balls. Sometimes, when he is behind, he eschews the towel.

2. After scrutinising them, he tosses back the fuzziest looking one as he walks toward the baseline.

3. Turning to face his opponent, he places the second ball in his right pocket.

4. Then he slides his right foot along the baseline to clean it, usually taking two swipes.

5. He then flicks the dirt off the hash mark with his left, then right for the hash.

6. He knocks the dirt off his left shoe.

7. And then the right.

8. As he bounces the ball with his racket 10-12 times, he reaches around with his right hand and adjusts the back of his shorts. On certain occasions, he adjusts the front.

9. Still bouncing the ball, he adjusts the left shoulder of his shirt, then the right.

10. Now toeing the line, he wipes the sweat from his nose with thumb and forefinger, curls his brown hair over the top of his left ear, touches his nose again, then curls the hair over his right ear.

11. More often than not, he subtly shifts that tennis ball in his pocket.

12. He bounces the ball three to six times more and begins his toss.


His routine takes between 27 and 31 seconds - longer than permitted - depending on the gravity of the point to be played, but his repeated routine bring him to a Zen place, his way of shaping his mindset, his focus on a process.


Our lives are really the sum of our habits. Some of these are good, some are bad. Most habits are automatic, meaning no thought or action is required for them to take place, but there are positive, meaningful habits – as shown by Nadal’s serving routine – that you can establish to ensure focus, structure and discipline and a repeatable formula to follow for success.


For founders, these positive habits can be hard to build into a consistent routine but are necessary to open up a clear pathway for reaching your goals. It takes a lot of self-discipline, but good habits increase your efficiency and help avoid the never-ending distractions, ensuring you stay productive and focus on the important things.


Take founder led sales. It’s frequently not an activity most founders enjoy but is essential to get early traction. Building a network of relationships and forming personal connections, either from meeting at events, one-to-one coffee meetings or using valuable content as a magnet, is all part of having an outbound focus and customer discovery strategy. A founder with effective customer-focused habits becomes energised, from the learning, feedback and ultimately orders from early adopters of their product, and like Nadal’s, become winning habits through confidence in their repetition.


So, reflecting on Nadal’s serving habits and the success they brought him, what are the good customer-focused habits for startup founders to adopt? Successful founders have a customer first discipline and hone specific, consistent practices that lead to results. Here are some of the most effective habits I’ve noted:


Habit 1: Hold strong mental fortitude


  • Positive & enthusiastic: Maintain a positive attitude, lose the imposter syndrome of lacking self-belief that you can’t sell, project confidence at all times.

  • Resilience & perseverance: View rejection and setbacks as adaptive learning opportunities;  bounce back quickly. 

  • Growth mindset: Have passion and belief in your mind at all times, believe you can.

  • Self-compassion: Don't beat yourself up over slip-ups. Acknowledge them, learn, and get back on track. 


Habit 2: Maintain clear objectives & avoid the noise


  • The ‘why’ behind the ‘what’: Understand the reasons behind your goals. This fuels discipline when things get tough.

  • Specificity is key: exercise more is vague, swim 500m on Mondays and Wednesdays is specific and actionable.

  • Work on high value tasks: Sales is noisy, don’t caught up in low level opportunities, farm the low hanging fruit efficiently and shoot for the high hanging fruit.

  • Mindfulness: Pay attention to your thoughts and feelings, become aware of the naysayer voices in your head creating distractions and negativity. 


Habit 3: Be action-oriented & persistent


  • Bias for Action: Don't just plan, execute - walk your talk - avoid distractions and push excuses out of your mind.

  • Set OKRs & KPIs: Set clear OKRs and SMART KPIs  - what gets measured gets actioned.

  • Curiosity: Be eager to learn new approaches and explore new ideas to make it happen.

  • Embrace feedback: Actively seek feedback and be an adaptive learner.


Habit 4: Network to build relationships


  • Get out of the building: build and maintain effective, relevant networks

  • Keep yourself relevant: Maintain your value in individual relationships and collaboration.

  • Be an active listener: Listen to understand, not to reply; build trust and rapport; show sincere interest in customers as individuals, not just potential sales. 

  • Follow-Up & nurturing: Stay in touch with people not ready to buy today, provide value and invest to keep a long-term relationship a possibility.


Habit 5: Have a disciplined sales process


  • Structured approach: Develop and follow a consistent process to find, win and keep customers.

  • Make it personal: Tailor your approach to address specific customer needs and pain points. 

  • Avoid the crowds: Conventional wisdom yields conventional results. Joining the crowd is a recipe for mediocrity. Create your own market, do what others don't do.

  • Timeboxing: Dedicate time each day on customer focused activities to avoid getting sidetracked.


Habit 6: Prospecting and Qualifying


  • Targeted Approach: Know your ICP and reach the right prospects – quality not quantity.

  • Make small bets: Don’t risk everything on one roll of the dice, segment your market.

  • Look for 80/20 outcomes Being productive and being busy are two different things. Prioritise on the 20%, and if you can, cut the 80% that just makes you busy. The habit of focussing on outcomes is a key.

  • Look in the mirror: Ask yourself are you really going the extra mile or going through the motions?


Habit 7: Closing & Follow-through


  • Confident Closing: don’t rush a prospect but learn the buying signals and close deals effectively.

  • Recognise important over the urgent: Learn to distinguish between what truly matters and what can wait.

  • Make it a relationship, not a transaction: Think lifetime value, not simply making the till ring. Always conduct retrospectives, what could we have done better for you?

  • Asking for referrals: Make it a habit to leverage satisfied customers to generate new leads and referrals. 


Habit 8: Product knowledge mastery


  • Think like a customer: They don't just know features, they understand the value proposition and how it solves customer problems.

  • Be customer centric: Make it a habit to making value for customers. Everything else is noise.

  • Keep updated: Keep learning about industry trends, and competitor offerings.

  • Always look forward: Be a pioneer, keeping your eyes open and keep taking chances.


Summary

We are what we repeatedly do, nothing is stronger than habits. Like Nadal, you will live less out of forced habit and more out of focused intent. It’s hard work getting your startup venture off the ground, but don’t fall into a habit of making excuses that it’s all too hard - motivation is what gets you started, habits are what keep you going. Customer focus is a habit. Winning is a habit.


Celebrate your successes – but make it a high four, not a high five you can always learn and improve and get better habits. Each of the customer-focused habits detailed above will align your startup actions. It’s impossible to grow a startup when you’re always busy putting out fires of hopping across a range of different tasks each day, the distractions squander time, money, effort and opportunities. Without having a clear set of habits to guide your actions, ‘doing stuff’ is letting the tail wag the dog – you’ll be chasing your startup, not leading it. This is a bad habit.





Habits determine the quality of your startup life. Good habits shape your future. Bad habits leave you with regrets. Good habits will make your future remarkable by aligning your present actions with your future goals.

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