Why Realtors and Professional Athletes Have A Lot In Common

For the past twenty years, I've been in sales.  But probably the most eye-opening realization I had toward my occupation was in a four year position working with professional athletes.  I was Sr. Vice President of LGE Performance Systems in Orlando, Florida (a sport and executive training organization) and our client list was a who's who in sport:  Pete Sampras and Monica Seles in tennis, Ernie Els and Nick Faldo in golf, hockey players Mike Richter and Eric Lindros, NBA and NFL all-stars, Olympic speed-skater Dan Jansen ... and on and on.

So, what does this have to do with real estate?  Everything!

The same characteristics that professional athletes had to tap into were the ones that I wished I had earlier in my career (and my sales reps would have had as well).  Focus, Energy, Mental Toughness, Emotional Control, Confidence and Creativity.

And, the best part was that I learned that you can train yourself mentally, emotionally and physically the same way an athlete would.  You see, I'd heard since I started in business that "attitude" was an important ingredient in sales .... but no one ever taught me how to "get" one if it didn't already exist.  Now I knew how.

Sales professionals are just like athletes in many ways:

1. It all comes down to results.  Many occupations can hide by "being busy."  Real estate professionals can't.  The numbers know.
2. Knowledge is not enough.  It's easy to get information on the market, contracts, negotiation, marketing, etc.  The most successful in athletics and in real estate are those that can ACT on what they know.
3. We're always in training.  If you stand on yesterday's accomplishments, you'll get buried.  It's important that we have a constant growth and training program so we don't get left behind.

Do you treat your business like a professional athlete would ... with deliberateness and purpose?  Or, are you "winging it" like a weekend warrior?

If you'd like to know more about these "mental toughness" strategies, I'll be talking about specific steps on a January 11th, 5 PM/PT webinar.  It's a free look, join us:  www.winningsaleshabits.com/elite.html.