Football season is one of the most exciting times for sports all year round. And the culmination of the regular season and playoffs is electric. One reason people are so enamored with football is because we can learn many life lessons about hard work, perseverance, and the will to win by watching.
We want to honor that by showing how much it applies to the world of sales.
Below, we've rounded up five quotes from legendary leaders in the sport. And we want to pass them on to you, equally legendary sales leaders, to draw personal inspiration from or share with your team.
Here are five of our favorite football sales quotes for you.
1. Tom Landry
“Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence…If you’re in control, they’re in control.”
One of the most important aspects of being a successful sales leader is to have confidence in yourself, and to exude this confidence to others. This confidence is contagious. It inspires your sales team. It says, "This is a plan that will get us where we want to go."
Without this belief, everything falls apart. If a team doesn't have confidence in the person who leads them, their self-belief is sure to follow.
2. Vince Lombardi
“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
So where does that confidence we just spoke about come from? Sure, some of it may be personality driven. But it's most effective when it stems from having put in the time and effort to create plans and systems that offer a high probability of success. With that, it's easy to lead with an air of confidence, optimism, and control.
Maybe you never looked at yourself as a true leader in the past. But that’s okay, because you can learn the necessary skills to become a great leader. You can put in the work and effort, and become even better than those so-called “natural” leaders.
3. Bill Belichick
“Whatever success I've had it is because I've tried to understand the situation of the player. I think the coach's duty is to avoid complicating matters.”
A good leader knows to put the people they serve first. That comes from understanding them. When you can put yourself in the shoes of your sales agents, you can give them the right advice and direction to overcome their obstacles and thrive.
In the same way, the team succeeds when THEY think of who they are serving. In football, a player is there to serve the team, not themselves. In sales, the agent must think in terms of their prospect - their struggles, dreams, and pain points - and not themselves.
4. Tom Brady
“A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don’t ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren’t blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.”
Your most talented sales agents won’t always be your most productive sales agents. In fact, sometimes it’s the lesser talented agents that have a chip on their shoulder who put in the work to achieve success.
Whatever the case, focus on helping your sales team cultivate a better attitude – so both the most talented and lesser talented amongst them can achieve success.
5. Vince Lombardi
“After the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written and after you are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and all the pomp and fanfare has faded, the enduring things that are left are: the dedication to excellence, the dedication to victory, and the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.”
It’s great to lead your sales team to victory and enjoy success. But success is more than just making sales, and making money – it’s about dedicating yourself to your craft, always striving to be better, and by getting results by helping people find solutions, solve problems, and overcome struggles.
You can never have enough Lombardi. That's why he's on our list twice!
Use These Football Sales Quotes to Motivate and Inspire
In football, leadership plays a key role in a team's success. It's more than just entertaining to think about how football relates to sales. There are real parallels between the two. And actionable applications that can be made.
So, take these football sales quotes and use them to help you elevate your sales leadership skills. Good luck!
