Elite athletes often feel they have limited options when considering new careers after sport and wonder how their attributes may apply to a commercial career. In this article we explore four attributes common in elite athletes, and how they can be applied for success in tech focused sales roles.
Coachability
A pre-requisite of reaching an elite level in any athletic endeavour. To achieve sporting success, athletes receive and act on feedback with a growth mindset daily, often from an early age. This mindset results in small, consistent improvements which in turn increase the chances of reaching a high-performance level. Coachability is also fundamental to success in any sales/business development focused career. There is no one “degree” for sales, so companies that hire early careers sales talent put a lot of emphasis on training and development. It follows that new hires who are coachable have a much higher chance of long-term career success. Put yourself in the mindset of your early sporting years. If you focus on soaking up as much knowledge as possible, learn from high performers around you, and seek out and act-on feedback to improve – you’ll build strong foundations for career success.
Self-Discipline
As an athlete you’ll be conditioned to the rigours of training and the required discipline for many years. Success in a business development/sales career requires a very similar discipline. Developing competence requires purposeful practice, including repetitive tasks like researching and reaching out to new prospects daily. If you have the discipline to consistently perform the required tasks to build your network and develop your skillset, it’s another strong foundation and indicator of long-term success.
Teamwork
Whether you played in a team or individual sport, elite athletes have more insight than most into the benefits of teamwork. Team sports speak for themselves, and most who compete in individual sports train with others in training groups, and work with a wider team including strength and conditioning coaches, physio’s, nutritionists etc. Athletes understand that a team working in synergy, both supporting and pushing each other, benefits everyone. The same is true for companies and particularly in sales teams. Team members who offer insights, advice, general support, and raise the bar with their own standards are often well positioned to further their career development.
Resilience
Resilience (or lack of) is probably one of the biggest reasons why people don’t succeed in sales/bd focused careers. As an athlete, you’ll be able to draw on various difficult experiences in your sporting career. Difficult losses, injuries, perhaps setting a high goal and just falling short of your expectations. And you’ll have had to bounce back from these difficult moments to reach the level you did. Embarking on a business development focused career, you’ll be on a steep learning curve, make plenty of mistakes, and not every prospect will buy your product or service. Having a reservoir of resilience can make the difference to stay positive and focused on learning – long enough to reap the rewards!
The attributes discussed are just four of many that can be harnessed for success in a tech focused sales career, and in fact a wide variety of careers. To learn more about the careers we facilitate for current and ex athletes, please contact us at info@athlete-origin.com.
