Who's On Your Coaching Staff?

️ ️⚡ Today’s level up ⚡

Today’s edition explores the parallels between elite professional tennis and high-powered sales. A key difference being that many sellers are unwilling or don’t know how to invest in the right coaching staff to take their abilities to the next level. We’ll unpack how you can.

Let’s go!

Lessons from Break Point 🎾

I am not a tennis player, but I’ve really been loving the Netflix series, Break Point.

If you’re not familiar with it, the series follows the ups and downs of some of the top-emerging talent in the sport – from female greats like Ons Jabeur, Iga Świątek, and Ajla Tomljanović to male stars like Felix Auger Aliassime, Frances Tiafoe, and others.

The ten episodes go behind the scenes during the 2022 ATP 250 and Grand Slam Tour (Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, and US Open), giving the viewer a glimpse of the razor thin margins between winning and losing at the highest level, the mental challenges that come along with that ride, and what it takes to elevate to the top of the rankings.

What fascinated me the most was how every single player personally invests in not just a single coach, but a whole coaching staff, to elevate their game.

Sellers can learn a thing or two from this approach, and something we’ll dive into here.

Becoming intentional about getting better

In so many ways, professional tennis players operate as mini-businesses.

The higher they climb, the bigger their brand becomes, and the greater the need to set up a stellar support system around them. Top tennis players invest an estimated 10 – 15% of their annual earnings just for their main coach (Quora, Forbes.) Additional costs are also on them, from nutrition to mental strength to conditioning, and even travel, meals, and accommodations.

Here’s what former US Open champion Sloane Stephens said about it:

“Even though tennis is an individual sport, you also are essentially the captain and CEO of your little team, which when you’re just starting can feel like so much, especially when you’re still figuring out who you are as a young person and learning to navigate life as a professional athlete,” she added. “It’s really important to surround yourself with people you trust and who you know have your back and are all aligned on your goals.”

Novak Djokovic, one of the game’s legends, has the following people on his full-time staff this year:

• ‍Coach: Goran Ivanišević

• Strategist: Craig O’Shannessy

• Spiritual advisor: Pepe Imaz

• ‍Director, Novak Djokovic Foundation: Jelena Djokovic‍

• Physio: Ulises Badio‍

• Fitness Trainer: Marco Panichi‍

• Fitness Partner: Marko Djokovic

Granted, Djokovic has a total of $164,691,308 in career earnings (through the end of 2022) to justify paying top dollar for a staff of seven. But the key point is he’s doing what he feels he needs to elevate his craft. Something every seller can learn from.

He and Iga Świątek were two of 98 ATP players to earn over $1M last year. Using Świątek’s total earnings of $9,875,525, before taxes, I estimate she spent roughly 25% of that (~$2.5M) on her coach, her psychologist, and her statistician, three key people she relies on for every match.

Top sellers are like the elite athletes of the business world

When I jumped up from enterprise sales to strategic sales in 2018, I likened it to finally joining the English Premier League (arguably soccer’s most competitive pro league), to reference my native sport. It couldn’t get any higher than that.

And boy, did I need help.

Despite coming off an MVP year in 2018, I still needed to work on my mental game, so I hired a mindset coach.

I was also encountering new situations with Fortune 100-level brands I had never faced before, so I sought out a top sales coach in Andy Paul, based on the recommendation of my manager at the time, Sean Burke. We focused on approaches that helped me lift my win rate to 80%.

A year later, I even added a fitness coach to “my team,” pro cycling coach Shayne Gaffney, who helped me tailor Zwift workouts to improve my professional performance in sales by increasing my HRV and physical capacity through short and intense structured workouts on the bike.

Having a “staff” to help me navigate the ups and downs of high-paced strategic selling was key. Three seven-figure earning years in a row would not have happened without a strong support structure.

The number 1 thing missing for sellers

When I talk to sellers and other leaders in the elite sales performance space, like Jamal Reimer and Ian Koniak, the number one thing they ask for is more coaching.

The sad truth is it’s not coming from inside their organizations.

Unfortunately, most managers and leaders are too busy to give individuals the quality 1:1 attention they’re craving, and it’s a significant contributor to missed quotas, higher stress, lots of uncertainty, and decreased earnings.

So how can you identify a coach that works well for you and where you are on your revenue generation journey? Here are a few tips and creative ways to go about it:

Early in your career:

• Instead of an expensive coach, join a community like Pavilion.‍

• Complete self-guided learning. Chris Orlob, Kyle Asay, Nate Nasralla, and Salman Mohiuddin have great offerings.

• Leverage the 3-level framework:

→ Get mentored or coached by a top performer above you
→ Network and support others equal to you
→ Mentor or coach those a level below you

More advanced in your career (i.e., consistent $300K/year earner)

• Hire a professional coach who fits your personality and is a specialist in your field. Are you an introverted B2B2C strategic account seller focused on new business in SaaS? An extroverted B2B sales stud in hardware that managed existing accounts with an MSA in place may not be your best guide. Find someone similar who will understand you not just as a professional but as a human.

• Think beyond a coach and hire a “staff.” Who’s helping you with your mental performance? Who focuses on improving your sleep, physical well-being, and nutrition?

• You will also benefit from the 3-level framework mentioned above. Don’t skip out on learning, sharing, and helping others.
  ‍