Salespeople are Olympic athletes

Posted on February 21, 2006 by Dave J.

If you’ve been watching the Winter Olympics, you’ve no doubt been awed and gossiped about the feats of the athletes, good and bad. Here are some lessons learned by Julia at Sales & Marketing Management Magazine:

“Salespeople always like to compare themselves to athletes when describing their profession, and nowhere does the analogy apply more than in the Winter Olympics. Here’s a few business—and life—lessons I’ve taken from watching the Olympic games thus far:”
Examples: Jacobellis, Hughes, Zhang (hmm, all women, too)

Read more: S&MM SoundOff: The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat:

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  • Julia

    LOL–I didn’t realize that I had mentioned only women athletes. One that I could have included but didn’t was Apolo Anton Ohno, as I thought he and Lindsey’s experiences were similar. I think the lesson with him could have been “Don’t shoot yourself in the foot.” In one of the early qualifying heats he was in second place–which meant he moved onto the finals–but decided to get cocky and take over the first place speed skater. Instead, he caused a collision, ruining it for himself and his competitor. He shouldn’t have let his ego get the best of him.

  • Julia

    LOL–I didn’t realize that I had mentioned only women athletes. One that I could have included but didn’t was Apolo Anton Ohno, as I thought he and Lindsey’s experiences were similar. I think the lesson with him could have been “Don’t shoot yourself in the foot.” In one of the early qualifying heats he was in second place–which meant he moved onto the finals–but decided to get cocky and take over the first place speed skater. Instead, he caused a collision, ruining it for himself and his competitor. He shouldn’t have let his ego get the best of him.