Strategies Sales Leaders Learn from Sports

Key Takeaways: 

I’ve been involved in organized sports my entire life and have held nearly every role—teammate, captain, coach, official, and fan. Each experience taught me valuable lessons. 

From an early age, I learned the importance of collaboration and recognizing the unique strengths others bring to a team. I learned accountability—not only showing up for myself, but understanding that others depend on me. I learned resilience—there will always be wins and losses, good days and bad days; what matters is how you respond and move forward. Finally, I learned how to communicate effectively—when to listen, when to contribute, and when to lead. 

These lessons translate well in my professional career, so I wasn't surprised when they were put on full display during a keynote presentation at Interclean Amsterdam. Marc Lammers, author and former Olympic gold medal-winning head coach of the Dutch women’s national field hockey team, delivered a simple but powerful message to the distributors in the audience: “Winners have a plan. Losers have an excuse.” 

In business, leaders can choose to be solution-oriented and develop strategies for success, or remain passive and accept failure as a possibility. Effective leaders don’t dwell on why something can’t be done—they focus on finding a way to make it happen. They break down the data. 

Success requires ownership and continuous improvement. As Lammers noted, “The scoreboard measures results, but it’s the data that will measure success.” For distributors, whether a sale is won or lost, leaders need to be resilient. Evaluate the process, analyze the strategy, and identify opportunities for improvement. Progress—large or small—should be celebrated and used as a foundation for future sales growth. 

Leaders who consistently improve are those who prepare, adapt, and guide their teams toward success. To do that, Lammers encourages investing in training, coaching, and skills development—not only for teams, but for leaders themselves. Like elite athletes, successful leaders are committed to continuous improvement, even when they are already performing at a high level. 

Many accomplished leaders have emphasized the importance of teamwork, discipline, resilience, accountability, and lifelong learning. These aren’t just lessons from sports. These are strong leadership principles that can help jan/san professionals build successful sales teams. 

Corinne Zudonyi has been in the commercial cleaning industry for over 20 years and is proud to serve as Editor-In-Chief of Contracting Profits (the official publication of BSCAI), Facility Cleaning Decisions, and Sanitary Maintenance (the North American media partner of Interclean Amsterdam) magazines, publications that serve the professional cleaning industry. Additionally, Corinne manages CleanLink.com, the leading digital resource for the commercial cleaning industry, and she uses her industry knowledge to steer educational topics for Clean Buildings at NFMT East.

Corinne is the sole U.S. representative to serve on the international Interclean Amsterdam Innovation Jury, where she weighs in on product trends impacting commercial cleaning on a global scale. She also works closely with Healthy Green Schools & Colleges to advance healthy and sustainable cleaning in educational facilities. As a member of the CLEAN Awards Jury, through the Building Service Contractors Association International, Corinne also helps recognize cleaning contractors and their companies for outstanding service to the industry.

Corinne can commonly be found moderating industry panel discussions, presenting education, and focusing on bringing awareness and affirmation for the wonderful work that people do to keep facilities clean and building occupants safe and healthy.

Follow Corinne on LinkedIn here.