Quarterback Retires and Teaches a Sales Lesson

Dante Culpepper recently retired from the NFL. He emailed his notice of retirement to the NFL, and sales trainer Dan Seidman wrote on his blog about the sales lesson he took from the letter. It's an important insight that's worth keeping in mind.

From Seidman's blog:

Dante Culpepper retired today from the NFL. His notice was sent by email and it has some fascinating wording in which is embedded a great selling lesson...

"I have been strongly encouraged from family, friends and league personnel to continue to be patient and wait for an inevitable injury to one of the starting quarterbacks in the league."

"I would rather shut the door to such 'opportunity' than continue to wait for one of my fellow quarterbacks to suffer a serious injury. Since I was not given a fair chance to come in and compete for a job, I would rather move on and win in other arenas of life."

There's a nice image - as soon as a competitor of mine has some traumatic disaster land on him the size of a 377-pound lineman, I get my turn.

Here's your thought, sales pro - Why wait? Why wait for something good or bad or interesting to happen? Just move on with your life. You know all those prospects that have been hanging you out to dry for months and months and more?

Move on. If you can't help someone else make a decision, you can't help them at all.

Move on. Your time is precious and you respect yourself when you treasure time enough to make decisions based on this truism.

Move on. There are great opportunities awaiting your attention.

Good luck Dante, we'll be watching to see where your toughness and talent get you more success and new adventures. And reps, start thinking about every situation you're in and whether you should move on.

Selected as one of the "Top 12 Sales Coaches in America," Dan Seidman runs the award-winning website, SalesAutopsy.com. Tthe author of Sales Autopsy, a book that teaches the top 7 ways world-class sales pros distinguish themselves from everyone else, Seidman is also a gifted speaker. Learn more at www.salesautopsy.com