What Elite Athletes Can Teach Us About Sales

Imagine this: you're standing on the edge of the track, moments before the starter’s gun fires. The air is electric. If you could step into the mind of any one of the elite runners at that precise moment, what would you see?

Well, here is what you would not see…

Their thoughts would not be on the event, the roar of the crowd, their competitors, or even the finish line.

Instead, their focus would be laser-sharp—a mental blueprint of the movements required to maximize performance in the next few seconds. They’re thinking of the now—how to strike the right balance between speed, strength, and endurance for the moments ahead. For them, there’s no room for distraction.

The Mind of a Seller

Now shift perspectives. Imagine peering into the mind of a Seller as they engage a Buyer. What do you see? I’ve asked that question of hundreds of Sellers and 99/100 they say "the sale." Their minds are focused on closing the sale.

And that’s a problem.

Elite athletes know the perils of focusing on the result at the expense of the process. It creates a state of mental stress that they call “choking.” It’s the tightening grip of anxiety, the fraying of confidence, and a cascade of self-doubt. The body may still move forward, but the performance crumbles.

Those feelings are all too familiar to most Sellers.

Athletes and Sellers navigate similar terrain. Highly competitive and all the tension that implies, but elite athletes are taught a critical lesson: you cannot cross the finish line without first mastering the steps to get there. Sellers, on the other hand, are often caught in a perpetual cycle of uncertainty. With little empirical insight (on progress though the steps) from distrusting Buyers they are riddled with questions like, “how am I going? What should I do next?”

If Sellers were performance managed, not on winning sales, but on how they engaged and grew trust with and were of value to Buyers in any given moment, how might that work? With the open and honest dialogue that creates they would learn from Buyers how they are placed and be able to explore what to do next, either to progress or to exit. How might they then feel?

The evidence of the impact of this perpetual Seller struggle is striking. Surveys reveal that 70% of Sellers admit to mental health challenges, and a staggering 89% report feeling burned out, with half of those seeking new roles; ‘silent quitting’ as the expression goes. ?What creates this disconnect? Why has sales become such difficult terrain?

A Toxic Mix

We soon understand why when we examine the nature of selling and its culture. It is a combination that I suggest creates a toxic mix. Sellers, often viewed as pushy or distrustful, typically work within environments prized more for aggressive competition than collaboration. It is often a "bro-like" culture that celebrates results and neglects the behaviors and practices that create sustainable success.

For every winner in sales, there are many more losers. And unlike athletes who refine their strategies after failure, Sellers are rarely coached to learn from their misses. They carry the weight of rejection without the toolkit to grow from it.

Consider the metrics for success in sales. Results—achievement of quotas, targets, and numbers—define everything. But what about the 60% of enterprise technology Buyers who later regret their decisions or the 93% of American Homebuyers who would rather forget their buying experience? What was the real cost of winning those sales? Any wonder the general distrust of, and antipathy towards, Sellers.

The general level of Buyer dissatisfaction suggests the current measures of sales performance are misaligned and the goals and objectives of Sellers and Buyers, are even more so.

What if, instead of celebrating “selling stuff,” we measured a Seller’s ability to empower Buyers to make sound decisions? A Buyer-centric approach, instead of the traditional Seller-centric model, might prove to be the key to transforming this landscape.

Reimagining Sales

If that is to happen, Sellers and sales leaders must fundamentally reimagine their roles by, for example, taking a leaf from the playbooks of elite athletes and their coaches.

Leadership premised on coaching and empowerment, rather than enforcing results, could transform anxious Sellers into confident performers. And the root of the issue isn’t just the competitive culture. Competition can be, and should be, healthy, just ask elite athletes.

Rather, it’s the very nature of selling itself. A system that centres on Sellers rather than Buyers, like a system centered on doctors not patients, will always fall short, breeding dysfunction in processes and practices.

However, shifting focus to the Buyer’s needs, desires, and journey—by empowering rather than pressuring them—will create sales as well as sustainable relationships.

Such a shift isn’t unprecedented. Countless Industries and organizations have redefined themselves by flipping the script.

Open Banking in the UK required banks to fundamentally change how they operated, shifting from siloed, closed systems to more transparent and open APIs that allow customers to share financial data securely with third-party applications.?The reform radically enhanced competition and innovation in the banking industry,

Patagonia transitioned from a traditional profit-driven apparel company to a values-driven organization focused on environmental sustainability and ethical practices. Even to the extent of a ?"Don't Buy This Jacket" campaign, that encouraged customers to repair and reuse rather than buy new items. This honest, less consumerist approach grew trust and loyalty with customers, driving massive brand growth. Patagonia is now considered a leader in ethical business practices, attracting customers who align with its values.

LEGO was struggling financially in the early 2000’s due to myopically sales-focused over-expansion and a product range that lacked focus. The company pivoted and returned to its core mission: fostering creativity through play. By redefining itself as a creativity-driven organization rather than a toy manufacturer, LEGO revived its brand, becoming one of the most recognized and loved toy companies globally.

The sales profession, too, can embrace a similar evolution. Imagine a practice not defined by closing deals but by empowering Buyers. In this world, Sellers would no longer chase numbers; they would guide outcomes. The competitive nature of selling would transform itself into a mission of collaboration and partnership. And much like athletes who excel not by fearing pain but by reframing it, Sellers would reimagine their task—not as moving products, but as empowering Buyers to arrive at decisions with clarity and confidence— and being rewarded for doing so.

It’s a challenge worth embracing. Would you take that first step?

?? ?? ??????????

If you would like to explore how counterintuitive approaches to selling like 'Zero-Selling' (not selling at all!) might work in your sales environment and at least double your win rate, Pick a time for a no pressure obligation-free (and selling free!) chat.

My focus is Buyer-Centric sales approaches; you will find plenty of free material in the Resources page of my website.

And, join the conversation to help reshape the perception of Sellers in the Implementing the Seller Code Group.

Finally, for an insight into how Buyer and value-focused your sales processes are, try this FREE self-assessment. There are two versions.

Individuals or Sales Teams and one especially for MSP's

If you got value from this article, please like or share so others might get value too.