LET THE GAMES BEGIN

As we count down the final few hours to the opening ceremony of the Olympics all the excitement and anticipation is coming to a crescendo. I know that my family, and many of our friends, will be together tonight glued to the television screen to watch the performance and 10’s of millions of others will be doing the same. For the next few weeks the DVR will be collecting our favorite shows as we watch the competition every evening.

Think about how the athletes must be feeling, all their years of hopes and dreams coming down to what is for many only a few seconds of actual performance. 1/100^th of a second will be the deciding factor between achieving their life long goals and the disappointment of not receiving an Olympic Medal.

For some athletes this may be their last chance to shoot for their star, others will set their sights on the 2016 Games and work harder than ever with their goals in sight.

Young men and women from around the world all gathered to together with one common dream, TO WIN!

It is not by chance that sales and sports are so often linked together in speeches and books. The sales reps of the world, at least the world class sales reps, all work with the same intensity as an athlete.  The sales people of the world work with goals, like the athletes, and they know that in some cases their hopes and dreams also come down to just a few seconds of presentation.

I am so glad that I decided to become a sales rep rather than an Olympic Athlete, mainly because using the remote control isn’t an Olympic event and that would be the only thing I would be qualified for, but also because my competitions aren’t 4 years apart, they happen several times daily, every time I approach a customer or prospect.

Reps work as hard perfecting their WORLD CLASS presentations as athletes do perfecting their specialized sport. Reps are shooting for their Gold Medals, the order, as intensely as the athletes shoot for theirs.

Here is the best news of all why we should ALL feel great about our decisions to become sales reps, we have a long and winning career to look forward to. Imagine if you worked as hard as you do and at the age of 19 knew you were too old to pursue your dreams. Think about what you would need to do if after years and years of working towards one goal, one performance, one dream you had to make the decision what you will do next in life because your chosen “SPORT” doesn’t hold any future for you.

Reps always have the next competition in sight, we are always in the hunt for our Gold Medal and we know that we may not win the gold every time we compete, we will stand high on the winners blocks and receive our medals in time.

Sales and sports are very closely related, in both I don’t believe LUCK ventures into the picture. PREPARATION is, in most cases, the deciding factor.

Are there other factors involved? ABSOLUTELY, sheer physical conditioning and build play a huge part in any athletic event. I could have swam more hours and practice 10 times harder than Michael Phelps when I was his age, but I can tell you I would never have been a great swimmer even on the baby pool circut.

We may not be able to match the physical attributes of the Olympic Athletes, but we can all have competitive spirit, we can match their desire to win, and we can exceed their success rate over the years of competition that we call selling.

All my best wishes to the 2012 US Olympic Team, may each of you achieve your goals and dreams over the next few weeks and I know you will make every citizen of the United States PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

Lorin