Arnold Palmer, the Ultimate Pitchman, Dies

Speaking with TJ Walker, dissecting the communication skills and practices of world class leaders.

Arnold Palmer dead at age 87 earlier this week. Arnold Palmer was a fantastic golfer. Won scores and scores of tournaments all over the world. Seven majors, A huge accomplishment. But where he was even more successful was in building his own personal brand and a business empire. Now these days with the Michael Jordans and the Tiger woods of the world, it seems almost commonplace. And as if that's always how it had been. Well, it hadn't been for most of human history. Former athletes were poor and really didn't have much money. Did not live out their golden years in wealth and fame and success. Arnold Palmer changed all that. Was really the first prominent athlete to get an agent who knew what he was doing. Mark McCormick, who went on to create a legendary talent agency. Later, just in the last handful of years, sold to to one of the great Hollywood studios or agencies. But it all started with Arnold Palmer. Now he has been associated with more than 50 major brands. His own tees. I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and I think of Arnold Palmer Cadillac Pennzoil. He was the main pitchman for Pennzoil for so many years. And he was one of the founders of the Golf Channel. Not to mention putting his name on hundreds of golf courses that he designed. These days so many athletes just assume they will be wealthy in their post playing career. Most of them aren't. Some of the case of former Chicago Bears football player Refrigerator Perry found himself making near minimum wage working on the back of a truck after his playing days were over. Arnold Palmer was quite savvy in how he navigated his career. Part of it was the sport. Golf is just inherently a great sport for sponsorships because who watches golf? A lot of really, really rich white men. Who buys Cadillacs and Rolexes? Rich white men. So part of it is the sheer demographics of the sport. It's different than for example archery. You can be the world's best archer in the world. You're probably not going to make billions of dollars. By some estimates, Arnold Palmer not just gross with his businesses but netted nearly a billion dollars. This obviously far dwarfed anything he ever made in terms of winnings of tournaments. To me this makes him the perfect role model for so many athletes today. Use your fame, leverage your fame, build a good reputation, build your speaking skills, build your media skills. Because Arnold Palmer made a whole lot of money speaking. Much more so than he ever did swinging a club. Now it all was possible because of how he swung the club. But he was a fantastic pitchman for 60 years. He was not a great golfer for 60 years. So let's not kid ourselves. When you speak and speak well for TV commercials, for radio commercials, for press conferences, unveiling your latest golf course, it is in fact your speaking skills and your reputation that you're getting paid for. So I think whether you love golf or not, and frankly, you couldn't pay me enough money to watch golf. Sorry if I'm offending any of you golf fans out there. I don't think it's an interesting sport to watch. I think it's an interesting sport to play if you're interested in building your cursing skills. And I do enjoy golf once a year or so. But beyond that, I don't have a huge fascination with golf. But I am fascinated by people who leverage fame in one field and then use that throughout their careers to build significant brands. The other thing Arnold Palmer did is he didn't just lend his name to companies, he built his own businesses. He had his own brand, he had his own logo. He really went about this from a true enterprise, business building, not just what can I do for a little extra cash? Before Arnold Palmer rose to prominence, athletes typically would just do things for a free meal, some free samples. They might be a spokesperson for a cigarette company if they got some extra cartons of cigarettes for free. It all changed when his agent, Mark McCormick took him on and introduced rate sheets, spokesperson fees, made sure he got a part ownership in certain deals, whether it's golf courses, the golf channel. So when you see an athlete out there and you see this person, if you see him or her on Wheaties boxes and TV commercials, whether they know it or not, they owe a large part of their legacy to Arnold Palmer. He had an excellent reputation throughout his life. And while I didn't know him, he'll certainly be missed by golf fans all over the world. I'm TJ Walker, thanks for joining me today. As always, if you have questions about speaking to the media, media skills, spokesperson skills, send me an email or post the question. Wherever you are experiencing this, whether it's on YouTube, LinkedIn, iTunes, my blog, wherever it is, post your questions or comments or just send me an email directly tj@mediatrainingworldwide.com. thanks. See you tomorrow.

Thanks for listening to speaking with TJ Walker, where the communication skills and practices of world class leaders are dissected.