Remember the Hampton Pirates

March Madness is coming, and we can all probably guess the big names that will be invited to this year’s NCAA Tournament, or as it’s more commonly known, the Big Dance. Sure, the Blue Devils, Huskies and Demon Deacons (shameless Wake Forest plug) will likely be there. But so, too, will any number of teams you’ve never heard of. Take the Hampton Pirates, who in 2001 won their first NCAA Tournament game against Iowa State University in one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history. Teams like the Hampton Pirates show up every year, and without fail they destroy your bracket.

But how on earth do they get there? Seven-foot center? Negative. All-American? Doubtful. Hall-of-Fame coach? Probably not. Nine times out of ten, there’s nothing flashy about the way they do it. Put simply, they get the small stuff right. I’ll bet the Hampton Pirates didn’t have a state-of-the art arena and I’m sure they didn’t have a star-studded roster, but I would be willing to bet two weeks’ salary that they had the basics down pat.

The basics. Basketball players dribble and shoot. PR professionals strategize and pitch. If the Hampton Pirates were a team of PR professionals, we’d see them on the phones 24/7 fostering relationships, pitching stories and making their client’s presence known across the land. And they would know that one of the easiest ways to have someone ignore a pitch is to get something wrong. Say you add a few too many letters to a reporter’s name, or you send a food reporter a mobile banking pitch. These are the kinds of details – or fundamentals – that go completely unnoticed when you get them right, but that can cripple you when you get them wrong.

So when budgets are tight and clients need results, what can you do to maximize output for your client? Get the small stuff right and practice your fundamentals.

As I write this post, I can’t help but remember one of the saltiest, most annoying basketball coaches I’ve ever had. Over and over this guy would scream in my ear, “Hit the hands! Hit the hands!” Hitting the hands is when you make a pass and hit the other guy with a perfect pass, right into his hands. Back then, I didn’t always ‘hit the hands,” even though I always heard him loud and clear. Eventually, though, his words sunk in, and I become a good passer. And now – even though I’d never in a million years tell him this – his ‘hit the hands’ mantra is one I live by.

We all need to “hit the hands.” We need to remind ourselves that at the end of the day, our bread-and-butter tactics, like proactive media outreach, are our fundamentals. The more we hone our basic skills, the more useful we are to our clients.

In 2001, the Pirates made it through the first round of the NCAA Tournament, winning their first game 58-57 against Iowa State. Two days later they lost their second game to Georgetown. Why did they lose? I have no clue. But really, who cares? They got there. You may remember a Duke Final Four appearance, or a Big East conference victory, but truthfully, I’d rather remember the Hampton Pirates for getting the small stuff right when it counted the most.

Chris Lee