No Comparison between Landing Big Deals and Winning the Super Bowl

Contrary to the popular expression, in the world of sports, winning isn’t everything. It turns out coming in second isn’t bad either. When you come in second in a close game, you still walk away with a decent check in your pocket. When you’re used to operating in the world of sales, this lesson can be a dangerous cross over. There are a number of ways in which big deals translates to sports. Winning big deals is not one of them. In sales, there’s no prize for coming in second.

Don’t compare a big deal to winning a Super Bowl. When it comes to sports hype in America, the Super Bowl is second to none. This Sunday’s matchup between the Patriots and the Seahawks, is this weekend’s mega sports story. In the first Super Bowl, which was 49 years ago, the winners took home a $15,000 bonus. That has grown considerably, with this Sunday’s winning players pocketing $97,000 per player. The man they named the Super Bowl trophy after, coach Vince Lombardi, is famous for saying, “Winning is everything.” But the Super Bowl is hardly winner take all. Each losing player will walk away with an extra $49,000 spending cash. But in the world of sales, winning really is everything.

In business, if a company goes for the gold and glory of a big account and finishes second, what do they get? Nothing, nada, zero, zilch. There are no prizes for finishing second. Indeed, coming in second just makes you the first loser.

Let’s assume your company is competent, qualified and you have a great product or service. Perhaps your company has garnered many small deals and you have reached the top 10 in your marketplace. Now you have earned a shot to go after the grand prize, the big deal that can transform your company. But when you go for the big deals, you keep coming close and just not winning.

That is called “the glorious opportunity to finish second.”

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