After the great fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather, at CPM we felt inspired to analyse the points in common between sales and boxing. Both of these careers require the right calibre of professionals who are willing to go an extra mile to win that coveted award or close a sale.
Team behind
Even though boxing and sales don’t seem to require a team effort, the result that boxers have in the ring and salespeople in their daily job is a cultivated team product, where many hours are invested in motivating, training, mentoring, coaching and developing to achieve the expected results.
As a one on one combat, as soon as the bell rings boxers are left alone to fight their opponent. However, each boxer will have a team standing behind his ring corner. The team is usually made up of the trainer, the assistant trainer and the cutman. The first two typically give advice to the boxer on what he is doing wrong as well as encouraging him if he is losing; the last one makes sure to close up any facial cuts so that the boxer can continue the fight.
In sales every rep has a team backing him/her as well. A typical sales team will be composed of a Sales Manager, Assistant Manager and the Sales Reps. As in boxing, the Manager and the Assistant will be there to guide the reps journey to success, mentoring and coaching in whatever he requires, while the other colleagues will motivate and give tips to help close sales.
Training
Boxers train hard and across a multitude of disciplines that will help them to gain speed, power and resistance, as well as dominate different boxing techniques and styles. For every 3 minute round, boxers have to invest on average 3-5 hours of daily training.
Sales professionals are no different. Top sales performers invest time training and improving their skills. They know their capabilities and are willing to work and train hard to turn their weakness into strengths. Also, salespeople are among the professionals with one of the widest skill set to adapt to different scenarios and different customer needs and personalities.
Resilience
Mental strength and toughness are the cornerstones of any athlete’s journey to success. Boxers learn how to take punches and get back up after being knocked down.
Salespeople also learn to develop resilience. By working on sales, reps learn how to deal with rejections and objections on a daily basis. Sales professionals learn not to take things personally and to develop emotional intelligence. Top sales performers have become masters in resilience and have grown a hard skin that allows them to see an opportunity after every “NO” they hear.
Salespeople and boxers are dedicated, passionate and determined professionals. At CPM we provide extensive training to our sales rep to help them to achieve their potential and become top sales performers. If you would like to be part of the sales corner of Ireland’s leading outsource sales company, have a look at the current job opportunities we have available: https://apply.workable.com/cpm-ireland/
