How I Transferred my Competitive Edge to my Career in Sales

When I think back to my life as a college athlete and my entire childhood of pursuing a career in professional hockey, it was hard to picture myself away from the sport, let alone working a 9-5 job. Three years and close to a master's degree later, I have begun to realize how much my competitive edge helped me transition to my career in sales.

Coming off the heels of my senior season, where I had the honor of being named team captain, I was prepared to move on from the sport and start my career. The only problem was, I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I certainly didn't realize much I would miss the constant competition. Luckily, New York City called, and I found myself cold calling at Yelp as an entry-level sales employee. It was a far cry from playing in the National Hockey League, but I felt that sense of competition coming back to me and I was beginning to thrive in the environment.

In order to be successful, I knew I had to outwork every single person in the room. In hockey, I was never the goal scorer, I was more of a shot blocker. I challenged myself to lead the team in blocked shots and hits every year. At work, it started with the calls. How can I make more calls today? How can I lead the team in calls made? As I developed a cadence, the competition grew to sales. How can I lead the team, building, or company in sales? Eventually, that led to How can I best prepare myself to manage a team? Results quickly followed, and I found myself growing as a professional, as a person, and starting to appreciate the grind that is selling. Of course, there was competition with my teammates as well, and I look back on the wins and losses with colleagues fondly. There is nothing quite like operating as a team with a single goal in mind. Perhaps the biggest lesson learned is the need for a steady mindset. Although I have yet to step into a role outside of sales, I have had some extremely high moments, followed by some very low lows. If I've learned anything, it's that the best competitors maintain a happy medium throughout their process. A competitive edge can be your best friend or your worst enemy, it's important to not be too hard on yourself if you don't achieve your goals on the first try. There is always next month's target to go after.

Resiliency goes hand-in-hand with competitive edge. Unfortunately, I learned that the hard way. While playing junior hockey in Dubuque, Iowa, I had a scary, and nearly life-threatening incident where my head hit the ice, leading to convulsions and a helicopter ride to the hospital. I consider myself very lucky to walk away from that injury. Believe it or not, I was on an exercise bike two days later, desperate to get back on the ice, competing again with my teammates. If it wasn't for my resiliency, I would have stepped away from the game for much longer time. There have been moments in my career where I've questioned my ability or had some bad months, but without resiliency, I'd fall into a pit of negativity.

With my eyes set on my future in sales and marketing, I want to put myself in the position to lead. After having the chance to manage a team at Yelp for 6 months, I was exposed to the reality that not everyone has my mindset and I certainly can't assume I know what drives them without a concerted effort to understand their why. Those mini competitions I had with myself quickly began to focus on my people.

It's important that when leading, your team realizes the potential positive results rather than creating anxiety by singling out and highlighting low performers (Steinhage, Cable, Wardley, 2017).

Since joining Yelp in 2018, to my role at TeamViewer today, the best part of my career has been the people I have been exposed to and the leaders I have learned from. As I prepare myself for the next stages of my life and career, I would love to be in a position to manage and bring the best out of individuals. There is no doubt that different things drive different people, and the process begins with an understanding of the forces that propel top achievers (Perry, 2021). Although there are many lessons to come, my competitiveness and hard work has led to many successes in my career so far and I hope it continues to do so moving forward.

Works Cited:

Perry, P. M. (2021, September 20). How a great workplace drives profits. Pit & Quarry. Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.pitandquarry.com/how-a-great-workplace-drives-profits/.?

The Pros and cons of competition among employees. Harvard Business Review. (2017, July 25). Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-pros-and-cons-of-competition-among-employees.?