TOP PERFORMER

His winning season

What Doug Bridges learned from losing, you could write a book about. In fact, someone is. Bridges, a salesperson with Russell & Jeffcoat Inc. in Columbia, S.C., was a basketball player at the well-known military college The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. His team’s 1967–68 season will soon be immortalized in a new book by his teammate, the author Pat Conroy (The Great Santini, The Prince of Tides).

The title of the new book is My Losing Season. The team went 8–13 that year. But Bridges says the lessons he learned on the court, and in subsequent years as a coach, helped him become a winner in real estate sales.

“The most important thing is, you’ve got to really want whatever you’re going after—whether it’s a game win or a listing,” Bridges says. He wanted, and achieved, $15.4 million in sales volume in 2001.

Aggressive prospecting, personal marketing, and community involvement are the keys to Bridges’ winning ways. To score corporate relocation work, he regularly cold calls area businesses that he finds through the local chamber of commerce directory and the telephone book. Once he has an interview with a company rep, he goes for the slam dunk with a presentation that includes information about his successful track record, data about Russell & Jeffcoat, and a list of referral numbers from satisfied businesses with which he works.

“I let potential clients know I’ll give them the best service in the area. I bring my assistant with me to show them how important they are and to help represent our good service,” he says.

The qualities Bridges learned in basketball—self-discipline, consistency, and persistence—he takes with him on every interview. “I have yet to be rejected,” he says.

Bridges is a standout in his community, literally. The 6¢4_ sales associate is president of his homeowners’ association, on the business advisory committee of the local school district, and a board member of the College of Social Work at University of South Carolina. He served many years as a coach for local baseball, basketball, and football teams, and he does seminars at company sales meetings.

“Being active in the community is a great way to learn what’s happening in the neighborhood and make connections, but you’ve got to be sincere about it,” he says.

As if he’s not visible enough, Bridges can also be seen on a billboard that’s posted along a main street in Columbia. “The billboard’s been up three weeks, and everybody I’ve run into says they’ve seen it,” he says.

Even a natural athlete can get tense before a game, and Bridges admits that he goes into some interviews with butterflies in his stomach. “It’s a little nervous energy, the kind I’d get right before tip-off.”

When that happens, he recalls tougher challenges he’s faced, such as the tour he served in Vietnam and his years of training at The Citadel. “You learn how to be competitive and perform your best,” he says. “When you lose a ball game, you still have to practice for the next game. It’s the same in business. The top producers are the people who can get back up after a setback and shake it off.”

—Leslie Cummings