--- title: "How \"marginal gains\" will help you win in business" description: How the 'marginal gains' that led Team GB to cycling gold will also help you win in business image: https://rosconkie.com/hubfs/marginal%20gains.png --- [![TMMW_main logo_RGB-1](https://rosconkie.com/hs-fs/hubfs/TMMW_main%20logo_RGB-1.png?width=150&height=266&name=TMMW_main%20logo_RGB-1.png "TMMW_main logo_RGB-1")](https://rosconkie.com) Search toggle - [Home](https://rosconkie.com) - [How I Work](https://rosconkie.com/how-we-work) How I Work - [Client Stories](https://rosconkie.com/case-studies) - [Work with us](https://rosconkie.com/get-started) Work with us - [Support for CEOs](https://rosconkie.com/ceo-marketing-support) - [Mentoring for Marketers](https://rosconkie.com/mentoring-for-marketing-managers) - [Training for Micro Businesses](https://rosconkie.com/small-business-marketing-training) - [Support for Charities & NFPs](https://rosconkie.com/pro-bono) - [Resources](https://rosconkie.com/resources) Resources - [Read the Book](https://rosconkie.com/shop) - [Listen to the Audiobook](https://rosconkie.com/audiobook) - [Blog](https://rosconkie.com/blog) - [Free Guides & Tutorials](https://rosconkie.com/resources) - [My Story](https://rosconkie.com/about) - [Book Ros as a Speaker](https://rosconkie.com/speaker) - [Contact](https://rosconkie.com/contact) [![TMMW_main logo_RGB-1](https://rosconkie.com/hs-fs/hubfs/TMMW_main%20logo_RGB-1.png?width=150&height=266&name=TMMW_main%20logo_RGB-1.png "TMMW_main logo_RGB-1")](https://rosconkie.com) - [Home](https://rosconkie.com) - [How I Work](https://rosconkie.com/how-we-work) How I Work - [Client Stories](https://rosconkie.com/case-studies) - [Work with us](https://rosconkie.com/get-started) Work with us - [Support for CEOs](https://rosconkie.com/ceo-marketing-support) - [Mentoring for Marketers](https://rosconkie.com/mentoring-for-marketing-managers) - [Training for Micro Businesses](https://rosconkie.com/small-business-marketing-training) - [Support for Charities & NFPs](https://rosconkie.com/pro-bono) - [Resources](https://rosconkie.com/resources) Resources - [Read the Book](https://rosconkie.com/shop) - [Listen to the Audiobook](https://rosconkie.com/audiobook) - [Blog](https://rosconkie.com/blog) - [Free Guides & Tutorials](https://rosconkie.com/resources) - [My Story](https://rosconkie.com/about) - [Book Ros as a Speaker](https://rosconkie.com/speaker) - [Contact](https://rosconkie.com/contact) Search toggle [![TMMW_main logo_RGB-1](https://rosconkie.com/hs-fs/hubfs/TMMW_main%20logo_RGB-1.png?width=200&height=266&name=TMMW_main%20logo_RGB-1.png "TMMW_main logo_RGB-1")](https://rosconkie.com) - [Home](https://rosconkie.com) - [How I Work](https://rosconkie.com/how-we-work) How I Work - [Client Stories](https://rosconkie.com/case-studies) - [Work with us](https://rosconkie.com/get-started) Work with us - [Support for CEOs](https://rosconkie.com/ceo-marketing-support) - [Mentoring for Marketers](https://rosconkie.com/mentoring-for-marketing-managers) - [Training for Micro Businesses](https://rosconkie.com/small-business-marketing-training) - [Support for Charities & NFPs](https://rosconkie.com/pro-bono) - [Resources](https://rosconkie.com/resources) Resources - [Read the Book](https://rosconkie.com/shop) - [Listen to the Audiobook](https://rosconkie.com/audiobook) - [Blog](https://rosconkie.com/blog) - [Free Guides & Tutorials](https://rosconkie.com/resources) - [My Story](https://rosconkie.com/about) - [Book Ros as a Speaker](https://rosconkie.com/speaker) - [Contact](https://rosconkie.com/contact) Search toggle What are you looking for? Search # How "marginal gains" will help you win in business 6 Sep 2016 ![Picture of Ros Conkie](https://rosconkie.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Ros%20Conkie%20-%20Portraits%20-%20turquoise%20marina%20024%20square.jpg?width=40&name=Ros%20Conkie%20-%20Portraits%20-%20turquoise%20marina%20024%20square.jpg) [Ros Conkie](https://rosconkie.com/blog/author/ros-conkie) ![](https://rosconkie.com/hubfs/marginal%20gains.png) Last month, on the final day of the Olympic track cycling competition, Team GB Performance Director Dave Brailsford explained the "marginal gains" strategy that had proven to be the secret to Team GB's success. ​ He said, "The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together." ([BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/19174302?kuid=d7458359-19b3-49fe-84ad-863aa593e105&kref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rosconkie.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-the-marginal-gains-that-led-team-gb-to-cycling-gold-will-also-help-you-win-in-business)) He explained one of the first things he taught the team was how to wash their hands. They were all instructed to spend an extra 5 seconds washing their hands every time they did this, and he estimated that those 5 seconds per hand-wash, over the course of 4 years, gave them an extra 5 days of training by reducing infections. Those 5 extra days of training might have given the team a gain of a few microseconds on the track. And at Olympic level, those microseconds can make all the difference. I couldn't help but think of the parallels of this in marketing.   People often come to me expecting me to say "Here's the ONE THING you're doing wrong! If you change this then all your marketing problems will be sorted." But it's never like that in reality.   Success in business is, more often than not, less about monumental changes and more about the summation of lots of small adjustments across the whole business (not just in marketing), which together add up to a big improvement.   And in some ways that can feel a bit unsatisfying because all these small tweaks take time to change and the effect isn't usually a sudden, dramatic influx of sales. However, once these tweaks are made, you can be confident that your marketing machine will run much more efficiently and effectively for the long-term.   If this is something you want to do in your business, [book a call with me](https://info.rosconkie.com/apply) and we'll talk.   ### Share: [Share on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://rosconkie.com/blog/how-the-marginal-gains-that-led-team-gb-to-cycling-gold-will-also-help-you-win-in-business&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook) [Share on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://rosconkie.com/blog/how-the-marginal-gains-that-led-team-gb-to-cycling-gold-will-also-help-you-win-in-business&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin) [Share on X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https://rosconkie.com/blog/how-the-marginal-gains-that-led-team-gb-to-cycling-gold-will-also-help-you-win-in-business&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&url=https://rosconkie.com/blog/how-the-marginal-gains-that-led-team-gb-to-cycling-gold-will-also-help-you-win-in-business&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&source=tweetbutton&text=How) ## Ros Conkie ## Comments ## Related posts [Should my marketing appeal to logic or emotion?](https://rosconkie.com/blog/-should-my-marketing-appeal-to-logic-or-emotion) Search ![TMMW_white logo_RGB](https://rosconkie.com/hs-fs/hubfs/TMMW_white%20logo_RGB.png?width=170&name=TMMW_white%20logo_RGB.png "TMMW_white logo_RGB") The Marketing Machine Works is a Marketing Consultancy and Training company based in Portishead near Bristol, North Somerset, UK VAT: 468 4037 71 - [Home](https://rosconkie.com) - [How we work](https://rosconkie.com/how-we-work) - [Work with us](https://rosconkie.com/get-started) - [The Marketing Machine Book](https://rosconkie.com/shop) - [The Marketing Machine Audiobook](https://rosconkie.com/audiobook) - [Free Resources](https://rosconkie.com/resources) - [Our Story](https://rosconkie.com/about) - [Client stories](https://rosconkie.com/case-studies) - [Contact us](https://rosconkie.com/contact) - [Privacy Policy](https://rosconkie.com/privacy-policy) - [Cookie Policy](https://rosconkie.com/cookie-policy) - [Marketing for Engineering Companies](https://rosconkie.com/marketing-for-engineering-companies) - [Book Ros Conkie As A Speaker](https://rosconkie.com/speaker) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/MarketingMachineWorks) [Follow us on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/marketingmachineworks/) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketingmachineworks/) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Ros Conkie", "url" : "https://rosconkie.com/blog/author/ros-conkie" }, "dateModified" : "2024-02-06T17:04:43.118Z", "datePublished" : "2016-09-06T17:04:00.000Z", "headline" : "How \"marginal gains\" will help you win in business", "image" : [ "https://rosconkie.com/hubfs/marginal%20gains.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://rosconkie.com/blog/how-the-marginal-gains-that-led-team-gb-to-cycling-gold-will-also-help-you-win-in-business", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://rosconkie.com/hubfs/TMMW_main%20logo_RGB-1.png" }, "name" : "The Marketing Machine Works" } } ```