YOUR WEEKLY DOSE OF ALLUVIANCE!
Competition is everywhere in the world of sales.
Competing against quota, against your peers, actual direct competitors, former colleagues and classmates.
As we explore the inner game around competition, there is a heathy version of competition and an unhealthy version. The unhealthy version looks like stress, burnout, toxic work environments, cutthroat tactics, and unethical behavior. When done right though, it can fuel and motivate us and lead to greater collaboration and growth.
The Sales Professional includes the healthy parts of competition and goes beyond it to a whole other level.
This evolved form of competition can be seen in almost all top performers across all industries. It's what sets the best of the best apart from the pack.
The Sales Professional isn't competing against a quota or their peers. They are competing against themselves.
When you're competing against yourself, you flip the script to being proactive instead of reactive. You're not letting others dictate what is expected of you. You're not feeling inadequate when someone else closes a big deal. You know what you are capable of and you're working every day to live up to that highest version of yourself.
The Sales Professional enjoys the benefits of competition with little of the downside. They are fueled to grow, learn, and be better, but they do so from a place of being connected to essence and alignment with their purpose.
It may seem like a subtle shift in mindset, but the impact can be profound. This is the inner game work: the shift from external validation to internal competition. When it's done right, competing against yourself is paradoxically a game you always win and can never win.
There are many different takes and opinions on the role of competition in sales. I'm here to tell you that it matters very little on the court. When the true Sales Professional is competing against themself, it is a different game entirely.
1. The Rising Leader Podcast:
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](https://www.alluviance.co/post/shaping-the-future-of-authentic-selling-with-chris-caldwell)
Shaping the Future of Authentic Selling
with Chris Caldwell Chris Caldwell,
Alex Kremer