Winning is not guaranteed, but earned. The same thing goes for sales: work like an athlete – overcome like an athlete – win like an athlete.

I’m a veteran salesman and a sports fan. Sales and sports – two separate worlds?

Hardly.

Take away SportsCenter, stadiums, cheering crowds and glamorous cheerleaders and you will find that the work of the professional athlete is very similar to mine. Yours, too. You might even say that we are Sales Athletes.

The fact is, business these days combines the “must win today” of football with the speed and ruthlessness of hockey – stretched out over the span of two consecutive baseball seasons: a bruising every-game-counts marathon (minus the bright lights).

If we look to our athletic counterparts the similarities become specific: Win-Loss records are indisputable; Ownership demands wins regardless of the strength of the rest of the league; Game plans often don’t work as designed; Breakdowns in blocking cause you to be sacked; The bullpen blows your lead; And the length of the season wears you down.

Athletes deal with adversity every day – so do you and I. They overcome. So can we.

What kind of Sales Athlete are you?

Are you first in the weight room to set a good example?

Do you watch just enough film to get by, or as much as you can to get an edge?

Do you work late in an empty stadium to strengthen a weak skill?

Do you carry the rest of the team on your back when momentum shifts the wrong way?

In our world, meeting and exceeding these actions will not get you onto SportsCenter, but they will get you onto Capital’s Scoreboard – which is a great place to be.

Winning is not guaranteed, but earned. The same thing goes for sales: work like an athlete – overcome like an athlete – win like an athlete.

You and I can do it – these days, we have to.