Professional soccer player Lionel Messi is a world-renowned soccer legend, having received a record-breaking seven Ballon d’Or awards, two FIFA World Cup Golden Ball awards, and having won the Champions League four times, with more than 800 goals for club and country over the course of his career. In August, he surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo as the soccer player with the most Guinness World Record titles of all time.
In May 2022, soccer team Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami, commonly referred to as “Inter Miami,” officially acquired Messi as a player. Because of this, they went from a valuation of $500 million to $1.5 billion, from 900,000 followers to 14.3 million on Instagram while winning a championship. Messi attracted additional talented players to the team and has received tons of bonuses to reward the amount he is making the team, and is expected to hit a total career earnings of $1.6 billion.
How can this be applied to business? Perhaps you are one recruit away from taking your business and your life to the next level.
But in order to attract such a high-caliber recruit as Messi, your company has to have eight elements in place: Market, Synergism, Vision, Proven Concept, “Plant the Seed,” “Sell the Dream,” and “Follow Up.”
In terms of Market, Inter Miami was in the right place at the right time, as Messi had purchased a $5 million property in Miami in 2019 and Dana White of the UFC was bragging about Miami’s ability to bring in ticket sales.
In terms of Synergism, every major recruitment needs to have a synergist in play working for it. In 2014, player David Beckham began working with Major League Soccer (MLS) and was in Messi’s ear convincing him to come along despite MLS not yet being at their level.
But things would not have moved forward had not owner Jorge Mas planted the seed about a Messi acquisition, who in 2019 said: “I think he comes with the desire to leave his mark, and he will be able to do so beyond football. When he retires he will have a stake in the club.”
Then, power players in the industry such as Saudi Arabia began selling Messi the dream of signing up for a new team and getting a massive contract.
By taking a $25 million contract to launch the Miami MLS soccer team, David Beckham furthermore served as the proven concept to influence Messi’s move.
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