The Sport of Selling: What Salespeople Can Learn from Sports
Selling isn't a sport.
But there are a lot of similarities between selling and sports—and there is plenty that salespeople and sales managers can learn from the way athletes prepare, practice, compete, and improve.
Think about baseball, hockey, football, tennis, soccer, and other sports that require skill, discipline, preparation, and interaction with other people.
The best athletes don't simply show up on game day and expect to perform at their best.
Neither should salespeople.
The Similarities Between Sales and Sports
There are some obvious similarities between selling and sports.
The superstars in both can make a lot of money, although there certainly seems to be more money in professional sports.
The less-than-superstars in both can still make a very comfortable living.
And both fields have plenty of wannabes—people who want the rewards but aren't willing to put in the work required to achieve them.
More importantly, success in both selling and sports requires:
- Drive
- Desire
- Discipline
- Practice
- Fundamental skills
- Continuous improvement
Neither professional sports nor professional selling is inherently mysterious or complex. Both require people to develop a fundamental set of skills and learn how to apply those skills consistently.
That's where some of the most useful lessons from sports begin.
The Biggest Difference Between Sports and Selling
Here's one of the biggest differences I see.
In sports, people practice and train for years for a few moments of glory. In selling, people often train for a few moments and expect years of success.
Think about a professional athlete.
They don't become great by attending one training session.
They practice the fundamentals repeatedly. They work with coaches. They review their performance. They identify weaknesses. They develop new skills. And they keep doing it even after they become successful.
Salespeople should approach their profession the same way.
A single sales training session can introduce a new skill. It cannot make someone consistently good at using that skill.
Training starts the process. Practice, coaching, and reinforcement make the skill stick.
For organizations looking to build those skills systematically, our [Salesforce Training Academy]Training Academy provides live, instructor-led training designed to help sales teams develop practical Salesforce skills.
Salespeople Are on the Playing Field Every Day
There's another important difference.
An athlete might compete for a couple of hours at a time, perhaps once or twice a week, and only during part of the year.
Salespeople are on the playing field virtually every day.
Eight hours a day. Five days a week. Fifty weeks a year.
Every prospecting call, discovery conversation, presentation, negotiation, follow-up, and customer interaction is another opportunity to apply—and improve—their skills.
That makes ongoing development particularly important in sales.
You don't get to practice once and then stop.
When You Lose, You Have to Get Back in the Game
Sports also teach an important lesson about resilience.
When a team loses a game, teammates have one another to console and encourage each other.
When a salesperson loses a deal, there may not be anyone standing beside them in the locker room.
They have to pick themselves up, learn what they can from the experience, and get ready for the next opportunity.
That's part of selling.
You will lose deals.
You will hear "no."
You will have prospects disappear.
You will have opportunities that looked almost certain suddenly fall apart.
The ability to recover and get back into the game is one of the fundamental skills of successful selling.
Sales Managers Need to Coach Like Coaches
This may be the biggest lesson sports has to teach sales organizations.
In sports, coaches exist for a reason.
Their job isn't simply to tell players what to do.
Good coaches observe, comment, correct, and encourage.
They watch what players are doing. They identify behaviors that affect performance. They provide feedback. They help players correct weaknesses and build on their strengths.
Then they encourage them to keep improving.
Sales managers should do the same thing.
Unfortunately, many sales managers don't have enough time to coach.
Their calendars are filled with forecasting, reporting, meetings, administrative work, customer issues, and their own responsibilities.
So coaching gets squeezed into a few minutes at the weekly sales meeting—or doesn't happen at all.
That's a problem.
What Good Sales Coaches Do
A good sales coach doesn't have to spend hours with every salesperson every week.
They need to know what to observe.
For example:
- Is the salesperson asking good discovery questions?
- Are they listening to the customer's answers?
- Are they uncovering business problems before presenting a solution?
- Are they establishing clear next steps?
- Are they following the sales process?
- Are they maintaining a healthy pipeline?
- Are they advancing opportunities or simply updating Salesforce?
The coach observes the behavior, provides feedback, and helps the salesperson improve.
That's coaching.
And it is much more effective than simply telling someone to "sell more."
Great Salespeople Practice
One of the things that separates great athletes from everyone else is that they practice the fundamentals.
They don't stop practicing because they became successful.
In fact, success often gives them an even greater reason to keep practicing.
Sales should be no different.
Great salespeople continue to develop their skills.
They refine how they open conversations. They become better at asking questions. They improve their presentations. They learn how to handle objections. They become better negotiators. They learn from lost opportunities.
Get sharp. Stay sharp.
That's the mindset that turns sales training into sales performance.
Salesforce Should Reinforce the Way You Sell
There is another lesson here for sales organizations.
A coach needs a way to understand what is happening on the playing field.
Sales managers need the same thing.
That's one of the reasons Salesforce can be so valuable when it is aligned with the sales process.
Your [sales process]Process should determine how your team sells, while your Salesforce [platform]Platform should reinforce that process.
Salesforce should help managers see what is happening across the pipeline and identify where coaching may be needed.
But Salesforce shouldn't replace coaching.
A dashboard can show that an opportunity has been sitting in the same stage for 45 days.
It can't have the coaching conversation.
A report can show that a salesperson has very little pipeline.
It can't teach them how to prospect.
A CRM can reinforce the sales process.
The sales manager still has to coach the person.
And that's why Salesforce adoption is ultimately about more than training or technology. It requires the right [people, process, and platform]People, Process & Platform working together.
The Best Sales Teams Have Coaches
Show me a professional sports team without a coach and I'll show you a team that is going to struggle.
The same principle applies to sales.
The best sales teams don't leave performance entirely to individual salespeople.
They provide leadership, coaching, training, feedback, and reinforcement.
That's also the thinking behind our [ProSell™ Salesforce Training & Adoption Program]ProSell—helping organizations develop the skills, behaviors, and Salesforce habits required for sustained performance.
And the salespeople who don't have access to strong coaching still have an opportunity to take responsibility for their own development.
Read. Practice. Role-play. Ask for feedback. Review your calls. Study what worked and what didn't.
You can coach yourself.
But having someone who can observe your performance and give you honest, constructive feedback is even better.
Be the Best Salesperson You Can Be
Great salespeople didn't get that way by sitting around waiting for something to happen.
They made things happen.
They developed their skills.
They practiced.
They learned from their mistakes.
They accepted coaching.
And they kept improving.
That's perhaps the biggest lesson salespeople can take from sports:
Talent helps. But preparation, practice, discipline, coaching, and continuous improvement are what turn talent into performance.
Don't wait for your next sales training session.
Get in the game. Find a coach. Practice your skills.
And get better.
If your organization needs Salesforce training built around the way your team actually sells, explore our Custom Training programs.
