Wrigley Field

Matt Ulrich loved living in the shadow of Wrigley Field. “With eighty-one home games, it always smelled like popcorn and hot dogs. I loved that. On game day, you’d hear the bucket boys playing five-gallon drums for tips and neighbors hawking their parking spots to the highest bidder. It was like a carnival all the time.” A former professional football player, Matt confesses he finds the actual game of baseball a little slow. “I’m just saying…,” he says with a boyish grin. “But that’s why it was so great to live next to Wrigley. I’d turn on the TV and, with the seven-second broadcast delay, the crowd would tell me when to pay attention to the game. Thirty-thousand people would explode, I’d set down what I was doing, look up at the screen and catch every big play.”

Matt tracks business development like it’s baseball. “The game is pretty simple. You’re at bat and the trick is to round the bases. Think of BD baseball as a series of bases you are trying to cross.”

Home plate—You’re ready but haven’t done much to make new friends.

First base—You’ve had the first call, and you’ve been introduced.

Second base—You’ve begun to understand the challenges of the people you are trying to help.

Third base—You’ve scoped a project and made a proposal on how you can help.

Home run—You’ve overcome outside factors like timing, budgets and stakeholder buy-in and work is sold.

I love the simple elegance of this model. Who can’t relate to pushing from first to second? Here are my main takeaways after talking with Matt:

by Matt Ulrich

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