When Wayne Gretzky retired from the NHL, they retired his number 99 to ensure no one else would ever wear it. And as soon as he retired, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. In polls, he is consistently ranked the greatest hockey player of all time.
Wayne Gretzky
Gretzky was already famous as a childhood athlete. When he was six, his father built a rink in the family’s backyard. There, Wayne skated for hours, day-after-day, practicing the key hockey skills of skating, shooting and stickhandling — learning all he could about the game from his dad. Wayne’s dad said about the rink, “I got sick of taking him to the park and sitting there for hours freezing to death.” Hockey was Wayne Gretzky's life.
Michael Jordan
When you think of Michael Jordan, all his collegiate championships, his 6x NBA championships, his Olympic gold medals and his numerous awards come to mind:
Not to forget that Jordan also holds NBA records for the career regular season scoring average (30.1 points per game) and career playoff scoring average (33.4 points per game).
It all came about because it was built into Jordan that he wanted to win every basketball game he played. His father said that Michael was born with a “competition problem.” He said, “The person he tries to outdo most of the time is himself.”
Sports and sports heroes like Gretsky and Jordan can teach us a lot about sales. That’s why I suppose I use sports as an analogy in so many of my posts.
In sales, as in sports, you get up to the plate, take a lot of swings and don’t always produce a hit. You play a lot of games but don’t win them all. Yet you suit up every day and compete again.
When I read about sports legends, there are always stories of years of concentrated training and personal sacrifice they have undergone. And they did all that not to really become the best but just to get to the point of having the chance to compete.
A statistic often quoted on the internet shows that 90% of salespeople have never read a book on sales. With 42 years of exposure in management out of my 50 in media, I tend to buy into that very sad statistic.
Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” We are a product of our daily choices and actions. Find your way into that 10% that work to improve!
Sales, like sports, is mental. You’re walking around in that head of yours all the time, so where is it focused?
Remind yourself why you’re in this sales world and what you’re working toward.
Even the best athletes start from zero. Yes, talent is a significant factor in their success, but true grit, resolve and practice are essential to reaching greatness.
Preparation matters, and it’s pretty easy to do. Make moves like ...
For my clients, I write a sales improvement tip of my own each week and share another 4-5 from sales gurus I researched.
Start with a sales legend like something from the late Zig Ziglar or Joe Girard (named the “world’s greatest salesman” by the Guinness World Records).
Nothing in sales improves by hoping. Take a long-term view of your sales career. You may never reach Top All-Star status. But if you just keep stepping into the batting cage and swinging away at it, you'll get darn close and solid enough to earn a great living and a name for yourself.
Get into a regimen of getting out, even when the economic weather environment is downright ugly, wet or cold and begin the tough training.
One of my favorite quotes from Zig Ziglar is, “You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
Get your head in the game!
Jeff Sleete is a 50+ year broadcast industry veteran — sales manager/GM/corporate sales head. He most enjoys helping sales departments position themselves as “mavens” (experts) of business to be more successful at selling advertising. Fundamentally, Jeff is a salesman. Through his media sales consultancy, Sleete Sales Script, he provides a daily road map for sellers of any media outlet type to be more consultative in their approach to their clients and set themselves apart from all their competition. Learn more about Jeff at https://www.sleetesales.com/. Or reach him at jeff@sleetesales.com.
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