What Does Sales Excellence Really Look Like?

When I’m speaking to groups, I often pose the question, “What does sales excellence really look like?” Without hesitation responses come flooding in, “Hitting the numbers!” “Beating the competitors!” “Winning the big deals!” “Crushing my quota!” “Maxing my comp!”

As great as these outcomes seem, they really don’t define sales excellence–or indicate that you are excellent at selling. It might mean that you are just good enough. There’s a good market, you have a great product, you found the right customer with the right sense of urgency, and, perhaps, a little bit of luck.

I’ve started calling this, “The Good Enough Trap.”

It’s where we are doing enough to keep our jobs, to not draw management attention, to avoid a PIP. Many are struggling, working as hard as they can, finally hitting their goals–or coming close enough– at 11:59 PM on the last day of the quarter. Some are coasting, just going through the motions, spending more time on their side gig, than on the job. But they are doing enough to get by and not draw attention.

And we see the same things at the organizational level. Companies making their numbers–or not missing by much. Or using the reasoning, “We are doing the same thing as everyone else….”

The Good Enough Trap is where individually or organizationally, they are performing at a level that are acceptable. But the problem is that it’s now where near what they may be capable of achieving or their full potential. The most vivid example is our acceptance of 15-20% win rates. So many individuals and organizations are hitting their goals at 15-20% win rates–when they could and should be doing so much more! But because they are hitting their goals, they accept those low win rates, they see no reason to change.  They are dong good enough!

And it becomes comfortable. And we limit ourselves and our organizations. We continue settling for things that are far less than our potential.

Sales excellence is an individual and organizational focus on achieving our full potential.

Achieving that full potential is less about the results.   While those are still very important, they are the outcomes of the work we do to achieve these results. Sales excellence is about consistently doing the right things over time. Doing the things that enable us to achieve our full potentials, day after day, week after week, month after month.

Achieving excellence is really about two things. Mindset and behaviors.

Good enough has the mindset of, “I’m doing fine.” Excellence has the mindset of, “I can get better.” It’s a mindset of getting 1% better every day, continually improving

The behaviors underlying the good enough mindset include the focus on being busy. Doing what we have always done, perhaps focusing on becoming much more efficient.  It relies on comparisons with others, “We’re doing just the same things as everyone else.

The behaviors underlying this excellence mindset are curiosity, a commitment to continuous learning, personal accountability, embracing change and complexity, customer focus, and discipline–building the daily habits to support these behaviors.  

The difference between good enough behaviors and the excellent behaviors are profound.  Sellers ask questions with an agenda to better position their offerings in the good enough mode.  In the excellence mode, sellers ask question to understand–and to help their customers understand.  They build greater confidence, value, and trust.

There is a compounding effect in excellence.  It’s the idea of getting 1% better every day.  At the end of the year, you have multiplied the impact 37.8 times!  Those committed to excellence, don’t look for short cuts, hacks, that “magical prompt.”  They look for small improvements, constantly building on them.  They don’t make excuses.  They constantly change and adapt.

And this is why we see such profound and consistent differences between high performers.  The constant focus on excellence enables them to grow faster and more consistently than others.

This brings me to, perhaps, the most important question:  Is ‘Good Enough’ Good Enough? 

Our managers, our customers, the markets won’t reward those who are just good enough.  They reward those that are focused on continued excellence.  Just look at the highest performers in the organization, or the highest performers in a market.  They are focused on achieving their full potential.

Excellence, however, isn’t about being perfect.  It’s about learning from mistakes, constantly thinking about how to improve, constantly raising the bar on last year’s expectations.  It’s about refusing to accept the way things are, but imagining what they might be.

Excellence is about mindset.  It’s about the behaviors that support that mindset.  

Excellence is about making a choice.

Afterword:  I’ll be doing a series of post focusing on Sales and Leadership Excellence.  They are leading up to the launch of my new book, Is ‘Good Enough’ Good Enough.  I’m hugely excited about this and what it can mean for you–those who choose excellence.

Afterword:  This is also an announcement that you can start to find much of my content and many of my tools on Substack.  You can continue to subscribe here, getting posts in your email, and you can also subscribe at:  https://substack.com/@davebrock/posts

Afterword:  This is the AI generated discussion of this post.  They are actually getting deeply into the issues I discuss in my new book, Is ‘Good Enough’ Good Enough?  The only minor annoyance is they created an acronym for the Good Enough Trap–GET.  But putting that aside, this is excellent.  Enjoy