In one of his great battles, as the legend says, Alexander the Great gave order to his soldiers to burn the ships upon arrival at Persian’s shore, their enemy’s territory. They were outnumbered by the Persian armies and the odds were against them. When challenged by his men on how they would return without the boats, Alexander said his famous quote “We go home in Persian ships or we die”.

Alexander clearly showed his confidence and strong determination, a virtue which was supported by his strong leadership and astute strategy. He wouldn’t say that if the mission was simply impossible to do. He must have skillfully planned for a strategy which he believe could win the battle despite of being outnumbered. To pull it off what he needed from his men was strong determination, commitment, and single focus to the task ahead. He was doing this by giving them no back-off plan, either we win or we die.

In a modern business setting, let’s take for example in sales and marketing, the same method of motivation may be required. Your company may be in the bad shape with bottom line figures going down. The only way out is for your sales team to make some quick and significant wins to restore the shareholders’ confidence. In Alexander’s style, you, as the sales and marketing team leader,  gather up your sales and supporting teams and throw them a challenge. You need to embark in the journey to bring in big revenues in limited time frame. Failure to do so will force you and your sales team to leave the company. Bring in the sales or you get fired !

There are a few main things that you. either as the team leader or member. must consider before you take up this challenge. This is to ensure that your efforts would not turn to be wasted with a minimal chance of success. Those required aspects are:

Marketing Strategy. It may sound like “text book” but you absolutely need it. That’s the reason why it is always taught in every marketing course. Revisit your Consumer, Market, Competition, and Distribution channel analysis to develop the Marketing Mix (Product, Place, Promotion, and Price). If you have it, see if those are still relevant and make necessary adjustments. Make sure everyone understand this. In Alexander’s time, these are the personal weapons, arsenals, and battle strategy.
Strong teamwork is essential. Without this, no matter how sound your marketing strategy is, your mission is doomed to fail. It is time to shape up your team, get rid of the guys who are the weakest part in your teamwork chain. The feeling that you are together in this and no turning back will further boost you Esprit de Corps
Leadership. The sole reason why Alexander’s soldiers didn’t question his judgement is due to his strong leadership proven in many victorious battles. If your Boss doesn’t have this quality, forget it, better quit now than wasting your time fighting the losing battle.

Having all of these will increase your chance of success. Yet nobody can guarantee it as some uncertainties are always at play. But at least you have bigger chance of achieving your target.  So, let’s burn the ships !