What Sales Reps can Learn From Conor Mcgregor

If you don't know who Conor Mcgregor is, don't worry; you will when he is in the boxing ring with the notorious Floyd Mayweather! Conor Mcgregor is the face of the UFC and one of the most talented athletes in the world. It's not the tough talk, extravagant suits, or expensive car collection that make him worth talking about, although it helps. It's the 21:3 record, aggressive fighting style, and two title belts that make him the best fighter the UFC has ever seen. In his last fight he gained weight to challenge lightweight Eddie Alvarez, only to drop him multiple times in the first few minutes of the fight and ultimately knock him out in round two. Alvarez never had a chance. Mcgregor is the only UFC fighter in history to be a two-division champion and hold two belts simultaneously.

What can we learn from him?

You may not need MMA skills like Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, muay thai, and Judo in your current sales role, but you could always use more confidence, and that is something that Mcgregor has in abundance. With his expensive suits and swagger he certainly looks confident, but it runs deeper than that. Dana White President of the UFC describes his confidence this way:

“He’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. Not only in calling the rounds in which he will win, but the mental warfare. He’s the best at mental warfare and pushing buttons and getting in your head and winning a big piece of the fight before the fight even happens.”

This is how Mcgregor describes his own confidence:

“Let them believe it’s talk,” McGregor says. “There’s a reason why I talk this way. It’s because I’m supremely confident in my abilities.”

Confidence is really important in sports, and it's easy to see which athletes have it and which don't. In the life of a sales rep confidence isn't just important, it's absolutely crucial. Without it you won't make it. The good news is that each person can control their own level of confidence. You can become more confident.

I am not talking about surface level confidence, where you have to dress the part, act the part, and use neuro-linguistic programming for a short confidence boost. While that can be effective short term... it's not a recipe for core confidence. If you want lasting core confidence it requires years of focused effort in the right areas.

We can gain core confidence with these areas of focus:

1. 100% Commitment
2. Focused Practice
3. Preparation
4. Continual Education

Mcgregor's Commitment

One thing Mcgregor is known for is his relentless obsession with his craft. Every decision he makes is based on how it will impact his fighting for better or worse. Jon Wertheim a writer for Sport Illustrated did a great article on Mcgregor and had this to say about him:

"This is not another self-absorbed athlete—not as long as he ventures into monologues about the "deep responsibility" that comes with being an Irish champion, or talks with humility about "showing up to the gym every day as a white belt."What we have instead is an athlete so singularly committed to his craft --'obsessed' is the word he uses again and again -- that any decision he faces is viewed through a prism of, Does this help my fighting? If the answer is slow in coming, the commitments fall by the wayside, not unlike so many of McGregor's recent opponents. Text messages and voice mails pile up. Clocks are merely decorative. Food and drink are important only as they pertain to fighting weight. McGregor's friends, family, and longtime girlfriend know about his organizing principles."

What we have here is not just a talented athlete, but someone that is 100% committed to being successful in his craft. Which means that everything he does is centered around his fighting. If it doesn't help him become a better fighter, he won't' be a part of it. If this isn't part of the current paradigm, it's an easy thing to change.

"Does this help my fighting?"

becomes....

Does this sharpen my skills as a Sales professional?

All of the sudden every decision you make is centered around the impact it will have on your sales career. If the decision doesn't support and benefit your career it gets discarded.

It's important to realize that we don't have to be confident in all things. The last thing you want to be is a jack of all trades and master of none. The formula for becoming more confident is very simple, but the application takes practice and requires hard work.

Focused Practice

Many great authors and athletes have studied and written about the power of practice. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the importance of deliberate practice and the 10,000 hour rule. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have talked extensively on the subject of practice and how it helped them become legends basketball. Many of you have heard of "practice makes perfect," or as some would say "perfect practice makes perfect."

Whether you're Mcgregor working through at least six rounds of five minutes sparring every single day, or Kobe Bryant shooting 1300 three pointers everyday in the off season, focused practice demands your very best every single day.

Becoming the very best doesn't just require going through the motions, it requires much more than that. You could practice all day long and not get the coaching, feedback, and improvement that you need to become confident in that skill. It's not about burning calories and sweating; it's about strategically enhancing your skill set. It's about being accountable for your results or the lack of.

The Five steps of Focused Practice:

1. Objective- Have a clear objective of what you are trying to accomplish, or skill you are trying to refine.
2. Motivation- The motivation must be there to help you overcome doubt and failure. You can't allow for discouragement. You have to push harder each practice.
3. Perfect Practice-You have to put aside time to practice/daily. This is not aimless practice going through the motions and burning calories, it's strategic and planned.
4. Feedback- There needs to be credible feedback both positive/negative. This needs to come from someone that has the ability to help you improve; a coach.
5. Improvement- There has to be incremental improvement based on the constructive feedback. If you're not incrementally getting better, you're automatically getting worse. Focus on the task until improvement is observed.
6. Confidence- The end result of constant improvement. This moves the needle towards mastery.

With this specific model of performance feedback, you can improve on any skill you are working on and continue the practice until you achieve the level of competency that you are seeking.

Sales reps have many different stages they can practice on in the sales cycle, from their first pitch to the executive presentation. If you take the time to sharpen your skills in each stage you will be a quota crusher.

Preparation

In the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey teaches us about Habit 2, which is "begin with the end in mind." The idea is that everything is created twice, first visually, and second physically. The key to is to visualize what you want the final outcome to be, and then work backwards. Reverse engineer your success until you can clearly see yourself winning or closing the next deal.

Confident people think through the next game, presentation, role, negotiation, and challenge beforehand. They spend time practicing and rehearsing for the challenges that they will have, and they prepare a plan B if things go wrong. As famous coach Joe Paterno says:

“The will to win is important, but the will to prepare to win is vital.” 

In sports you watch game film so that you can see what plays your competition might be running and how you can counter them. Confident people are forward thinking. They look at the next challenge like a chess game, and they want to know what their opposition is going to do next. The greatest example of this comes from Kobe Bryant, who started watching game film when he was only six years old. Watch a highlight video of Kobe Bryant and you will see the way he freezes defenders and creates space, just like Oscar Robertson, or the powerful pull-up jumper he modeled from Jerry West, or the post up dream shake he mastered by watching Hakeem Olajuwon. Kobe has borrowed moves from the best NBA players and made them his own.

By watching the games and taking notes, he is always trying to improve his performance. When you have over prepared you have confidence and vision, and you can see the end from the beginning.

Visualize your win before it happens. Remember that proper planning prevents poor performance.

Think about what sales moves you can borrow from Ken Krogue, Jill Konrath, Gabe Larsen and Jill Rowley?

Continual Education

This may sound odd; but it works for Mcgregor, so it should work for you!

How obsessed are you about your sales career?

If you can't answer that question, you might think about where your true passion lies. You want to be the person that consumes everything related to your profession, the person that is always reading, always studying, always trying to improve their craft in every way possible.

Can you answer the questions below? This may be one indicator of your effort into Continual Education:

1. When is the last time you read a book related to your craft or industry?
2. When is the last time you went to a trade show or event related to your craft or industry?
3. When is the last time you spent time outside of work hours to work on your craft?
4. When is the last time you shadowed the top rep in your company?
5. When is the last time you asked for constructive feedback?

It's never too late to start continuing your education and becoming better in your field.

Be obsessed with your product, be obsessed about your customers, be obsessed about your market, and contribute to it.

At the end of the day you might not get the chance to crush someone in the ring, but by following the steps to building core confidence you will be able to crush your quota, and in the sales world that's all that counts.

5 steps to improve your next sales call

3 Principles Leaders Must Follow to Build a World-Class Sales Culture

About Trevor Whiting

Trevor Whiting has 13+ years of sales experience working markets all over North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC. He recently returned from England from being the EMEA Sales director at InsideSales.com, accountable for revenue, profit, operations, growth initiatives, and client satisfaction in EMEA, LATAM, APAC, and all sales outside of North America. Trevor built the EMEA sales organization from the ground up implementing sales processes, procedures, Playbooks, and sales strategies for the London office. Prior to Insidesales.com Trevor spent 7 years with an risk consulting company managing teams on the west coast generating millions of dollars in revenue.