The picture above is of my son Joshua Johnson listening to some guidance and encouragement from me, his father. During one of his wrestling tournaments, I was sitting contemplating how Wrestling is preparing him for life and how some of those lessons are so applicable to being the best in sales.
Wrestling is one of the most challenging sports. Don't take my word for it, here is an interview with Joe Rogan about wrestlers:
Rogan: "We said it a million times, but it bears repeating. Wrestling is the greatest skill to have in MMA, because wrestling dictates where the fight takes place. On top of that, amateur wrestling training is so unbelievably grueling that the guys who get through it are the guys who rise to the top are the elite of the elite when it comes to mental toughness. That is a huge part of fighting. Mental toughness and focus and the ability to work hard to achieve goals under exceedingly insurmountable circumstances." Other Commentator: "You must embrace the grind as they say." Rogan: "That's a nice way of putting it but they go through hell. That's not a grind you know….Amateur wrestling practice is a constant exercise in over training, dehydration, and maintaining your momentum and maintaining your motivation in incredibly uncomfortable moments." Other commentator: "Anybody in high school or college who played a sport they would always see the wrestlers just running and going, and going. They start before you start and they finish way after." Rogan: "And they take great pleasure in being uncomfortable. They take great pleasure in their ability to push. And there is not a lot of sports that can say that, not a lot of sports where that is part of the badge of courage; the ability to be constantly miserable. . ."
In this blog post, I want to point out two similarities or things you can learn from wrestling to apply to sales.
Wrestling is hard, PERIOD. If you speak to any athlete who has played multiple sports, 100% of them will say that wrestling is the hardest, the training that is required and the amount of loss you go through to learn. The frequency of falling and having to get back up while you have someone actively fighting to keep you down. It is a lot. The same could be said of sales. It is tough. You have to face constant rejection to find the yes. You have a constant barrage of others "trying to take your lunch". What other sport can you be winning by points, make one mistake, and lose the entire match within seconds? In football, if you are up by five touchdowns, there is nothing the team can do to change that in the manner of 3 seconds. Not so in wrestling. You could be winning against your appoint, outscoring them, having more riding time, then you make a minor miscalculation, and next thing you know, your pinned. All that hard work is over in the blink of an eye. Sales is the same way. I've seen it many times. You have the best price, you have the best product, and you have the technical win, but then, at the last minute, a miscalculation on your part causes you to lose the deal; it's over.
Wrestling requires a ton of training. My son practices a lot. He has practice every day for 3 hours after school, 4 on Wednesdays, and Fridays are no exceptions. During the season, he has tournaments on Saturday, then has a private session with an amazing private wrestling coach on Sunday. The only days off he has during the school year is Christmas day, when school is off, the wrestling room is still open and the athletes are still training. Wrestling requires dedication and he is dedicated. Mike Tyson has a famous quote that goes, "Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face". That is why wrestling requires a ton of training, it takes both mental toughness, psychical toughness and an insane amount of indurance. Want to experience the longest 2 minutes of your life? Take on a live wrestling match for 2 minutes; you will feel like you will die. Sales requires the same amount of training, sadly it is the biggest part that is lacking in sales. Like wrestling, you can attend all the required training, but that will not make you better than your competition; you also have to train when they are not. You have to work harder and longer. Prospecting, discovery, presenting, and negotiating are just a few examples of areas requiring training. You have to be committed. You can't have the attitude that you are just not good at PowerPoint or giving persuasive speeches. You have to train off hours. You have to commit yourself to extra.
Wrestling requires mental toughness. We have established that wrestling is demanding and requires a ton of training. Sales does, too. You will only be a great wrestler by gaining mental toughness. You have to be willing to experience hours of pain, hours of pushing yourself when it would be easier to do the minimum. Imagine doing all of the wrestling training while also cutting weight. Coming up with a plan after your opponent slammed you to the mat and almost dislocated your shoulder requires mental toughness. Sales require mental toughness. The best athletes possess this mental toughness (that is why I love to hire former athletes). There are so many variables that go into sales. Take MEDDIC, for example. MEDDIC is all about qualifying your opportunity and gathering the correct information. You still have to apply what you learn to implement a solution, a strategy to pinning that opportunity down. That takes mental toughness.
Approach your sales career like you would approach one of the most demanding sports. Don't expect It to be easy. Train like your success depends on it (because it does). Practice mental toughness. This will make you an elite Sales professional.
Take Action
Commit to training. Take an honest self-assessment of where you are weak and start researching different resources to help you improve in that area.
Practice mental toughness. You can search this up, but I will get you started. Watch this:
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