Research
Sports and Sales
02/04/2010 - With the SuperBowl coming up this weekend it was inevitable that someone was going to use a football sports analogy when discussing sales performance. Hence, I was little surprised that the first one I have seen this week only appeared today.
Monster.com released this short but interesting article about how you should be keeping score in your sales results. In the article entitled "What Football Can Teach You About Sales" the author suggest that insales, "…the score is what you sold. But why you sold is just as important. Try to maintain your own box score by keeping track of 10 prospects as they go through your sales process…" (Click for full article)
The linkage between sports and sales in easy one - both are competitive situations that require preparation, practice, and ultimately performance to be successful, and "win". Add in the transcendental experience that can come from being on a winning sports team: those close relationships developed in the heat of battle, the camaraderie, the euphoric feeling of being winners, the emotional support, and so on and so on.
How can one not feel that great tug at your hear when sports stories like Lance Armstrong's overcoming cancer are profiled (one of many links: Selling Power Magazine), especially since he credits his success to rigorous training and unwavering determination.
Many senior executives that you talk to will often attribute much of their success in business to lessons learned as a team sports player. In a discussion by Lucy Kellaway in the London Financial Times, she reported on one survey of British business leaders found that
Nearly half of the chief executives of the biggest British companies have won awards for their sporting prowess - twice as many as have any academic trophies. Most of them were captain of football or rugby at school or at college and quite a few went on to play for their county.
Many of the executives credited the teamwork learned on the playing field for later business success. It may be one reason why recruiters will often suggest to clients that they look to hire those with athletic backgrounds - these are people who have demonstrated perseverance, understand the value of preparation/practice, are usually coachable, and have that inner drive to succeed. On the flip side some have found athletes to be aggressive, almost cutthroat, and lacking in true team-oriented skills. In researching this article I couldn't find any specific academic study that conclusively answers whether hiring athletes works, but some experts suggested that former college athletes earn between 1% and 10% more than non-athletes.
Since not everyone is enamored with using sports analogies, there have been some efforts to look for motivation and guidance elsewhere (one example). Even the author of the above noted British study had concerns that sports encourage delusions of grandeur which could stifle conformity and an inability to communicate clearly:
Sportsmen and CEOs also both make a hash of the Queen's English. Each generates its own jargon and then feels compelled to borrow the jargon of the other. Sport is responsible for some of the most grating phrases in business, including ballparks, level playing fields, stepping up to the plate, bench strength, getting to first base, raising the bar and playing hardball. Footballers, meanwhile, are starting to talk like management consultants: David Beckham now says "going forward" every time he opens his mouth.
And not surprising she notes problems some women have getting ahead in the business-world are in her eyes exacerbated by the "jock culture" of boardrooms.
No doubt some managers will go overboard with those tired and often overused sports analogies such as Let's "play tough defense", or we need to "move the chains,'' or even better -- that we need to "make a big play", even throw a "Hail Mary" to win. But cutting through all of the noise, here are a couple of key suggestions that can help your team win that big game this year:
- Keep growing. Since we're on a sports kick in this article, the renown football coach Lou Holtz had a very interesting observation which remains true for teams, companies, and individuals -- - "Nothing on this earth is standing still. It's either growing or it's dying. No matter if it's a tree or a human being." Is your team still growing?
- Have a plan, work the plan. Every team that enters a game does so with a plan ready to execute. Do you have your best sales strategies ready? Have you shared them with your team? Has your team contributed their own winning tactics to the plan?
- Be a coach. Any successful sports start (or salesperson) will tell you that having a coach push them was critical to their success. Whether that person is your manager, a more senior salesperson, or even a third party, it is critical that there is a level of support and accountability in your selling activity. Do you have that in your organization?
- Practice! Practice! Practice! Role play continues to be one of the most proven ways to increase sales performance, even for the most senior, experiences members. When was your team last through a role practice scenario? And make sure you are using three people - one person to play the salesperson, one to play the prospect, and an observer to document the interaction.
- It's more than just sales. Any sale, like a sporting event, comes down to execution. Most people focus on the bigger picture or specific tactics. If you don't pay attention to details you can easily be caught off guard. Can your support structures/production teams support sales?