What salespeople can learn from Max Verstappen!

Max Verstappen won the Formula One world title in Abu Dhabi on December 12th 2021. He developed his successful career in racing through hard work, training and a strong desire for success. When you look at his achievements, they are impressive. Max uses the best equipment, team and sponsors. But, in the end, it’s the driver at the wheel who uses all available to him to do a tremendous job. It’s about a strong drive for success, combined with skills, attitude, team and the ability to use new developments and insights to become a champion.

For decades I have been working with business leaders, managers and salespeople to improve sales performance and increase the motivation of their teams. This experience helped me to distinguish what successful salespeople have in common with Max to succeed year after year in their job.

So, what are these similarities? I’ve picked out the most relevant for you:

Max has a strong will to win, and I believe he will do whatever it takes (ethically) to gain success. Salespeople who have these same qualities are likely to achieve better results in sales.

Highly developed skills. We need excellent skills to do the job and continuously hone them. Although Max is one of the best, he has a coach named Brad Scanes Brad Scanes who assist him in delivering the best performance. The best salespeople emphasise developing themselves to provide consistent and sustainable high performance.

Non-complacency. Max cannot be complacent! He has a formidable rival in Lewis Hamilton. And I’m sure that Lewis will do everything to regain the title. The same happens in sales: your strongest competitors will continuously try to outperform you and get your customers. Avoid complacency and stay ahead of the pack!

Max shows a considerable amount of boldness and self-confidence. These attributes, combined with his well-developed skills, help him go the extra mile. As a top-performer, you need to stay self-confident, take well-calculated risks and try new tactics and strategies. You learn when you win, and you learn when you lose.

Use of technology. Max has a massive arsenal of technology to support his drive to succeed in racing. This technology helps him to race with little chance of failure. The use of (sales) technology is becoming a tipping point in sales success—those sales professionals who implement the best available technology gain an edge over the competition. There is a terrific amount of technology out there available for salespeople; the question is: how many salespeople are ready to adapt effective and efficiency-enhancing technology to increase success. By the way, some of this technology might cost zero but will help you make the difference.

Max and his team operate like clockwork. Observe their pitstops. These pitstops are a show of Teamwork. If done slowly, they can set the driver back in time, and a well-performed stop will win time. The fastest pitstop ever took 1.82 seconds! Salespeople work in teams. They depend on departments like sales service, marketing, logistics, to name a couple. When these departments excel in their output, they help deliver what salespeople have promised. In the end, the whole organisation wins!

Conclusion: There are many similarities in the requirements to be successful in racing and selling. Passion, skills, optimism, endurance, persistence, creativity, self-discipline, and a strong desire for success play a decisive role in both situations!

And when you lose, consider this quote from a famous man: “I never lose. I either win or learn”.

Are you a business leader or sales professional who wants to know more about the sustainable development of your (sales) organisation? Contact me here to schedule a call to discuss. It will be worth your time and effort!

Will the salesperson working for a top corporation sell for your start-up? Think twice!

The founder of a start-up approached me some time ago with a question about a sales candidate he was considering. He thought that his number one candidate with a background in software sales with one of the big corporations would bring in quite some business. He wanted to know my opinion.

Here is what I answered:

Big corporations are very often well-known. They also have a particular reputation, in many cases a good one.

• The salesperson coming from a big corporation will have to adapt to the selling environment of your start-up, which will demand lots of perseverance, effort and doing much themselves.

• Most prospects haven’t heard of your company, which means working hard to get appointments.

• Because of the lack of brand awareness, getting appointments will be challenging.

• Selling value instead of price will demand quite a lot of effort.

• Getting people to change from what they know to whom they do not know will demand skill, high sales-DNA, and perseverance.

• Getting in front of decision-makers will be a challenge due to a lack of reputation.

Are you disappointed now? Don’t be! There are a lot of good-performing people out there who would love to work in a start-up environment.

What you need is the following:

• Market the position and your company in an attractive way. Boring ads attract boring salespeople.

• Make clear that you are looking for someone who can hunt.

• Spread the news that you are looking for someone who makes a difference.

• Use a sales-specific assessment to test candidates and avoid mis-hires due to emotions and falling-in-love-with-the-candidate. A wrong choice will cost you.

• Be patient; hiring the wrong salesperson because you are losing your patience can be an expensive venture.

Want to know more? Contact me here or at +31 (0)642713033.