Habits of High-Performing Salespeople - lessons from the New Zealand All Blacks

Feb 03, 2025

february 2025

Your mindset and approach determine your long-term success in sales. To truly thrive, you need to create habits and behaviours that inspire confidence, foster resilience, and drive results. As the best top tier men’s team in international sport for over a century, the New Zealand All Blacks have done the same. 7 Habits of High-Performing Salespeople below.

Prepare Bone Deep
Just like the All Blacks in rugby, preparation is key. Dive into every call, meeting, and proposal with thorough research and insights. Know your customer, anticipate their needs, and bring your A-game every time. In our 20 years coaching and training salespeople we estimate that 90% of salespeople DON’T prepare enough for calls and meetings. After we’ve trained them, 80% of them DO prepare fully and, guess what?, they win far more clients!
Be Where Your Feet Are
Stay present in every interaction. Give your full attention to the customer in front of you—whether on a call or in person. Let go of distractions and focus on delivering value in the moment. Too often we see salespeople rushing from one call or meeting to the next, without staying focused on the current call or meeting. Rushing leads to poor performance, poor performance leads to poor results, poor results leads to MORE TIME NEEDED. It is a false economy of time to rush!
Embrace a Winning Mindset
Winning is a habit. Visualise success, celebrate small victories, and build momentum with each step. Confidence and positivity are contagious—project them in every conversation. Clients want to work with winners, not people who project themselves as ‘losers’.
Learn Quickly from Setbacks
In sales, not every call or meeting will go your way. Treat every "no" as an opportunity to learn. Ask yourself, “What did I do right? What can I improve next time?” Then move forward with confidence. As Winston Churchill said: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
Stay Humble and Grateful
Acknowledge the privilege of serving customers and being a part of your team. Show gratitude to colleagues, support staff, and clients. Humility builds stronger relationships and trust.
Keep Growing
The best salespeople never stop learning. Commit to ongoing development—whether it’s through role-playing, feedback, or training programs. Growth fuels success. Never stop learning, I haven’t. At my above sales job at Proctor & Gamble I was told that they’d train me for 40 years if I stayed there. I took that priceless principle with me to every role in sales. I’m committed to learning more than my colleagues and my competition, every year.
Make Positivity a Habit
Avoid negativity in conversations with colleagues and clients. Celebrate wins, encourage your peers, and foster an environment where everyone feels supported. Sadly, this also means you should reduce your time exposure to negative colleagues, negative clients and negative friends.

Your journey in sales is built on resilience, growth, and the ability to adapt. By adopting these habits, you’ll set yourself apart and consistently deliver results. It starts with your mindset. Those top 2 inches are everything!

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