I was having a conversation with a colleague about the differences between top performers and everyone else. The conversation caused me to reflect on discussions I’ve had with 1000’s of sales people over the past year.
Clearly, there are differences in sales people and their approaches. The skills and competencies vary by market/industry, customer base, solutions, organizational strategies/priorities, geography/culture and many other things.
Various assessments will tell you there are commonalities in top performers in certain behaviors, attitudes. For example, the ability to take rejection, money motivation, risk tolerance, and so forth. We see certain commonalities in those indicators across top performers.
But one thing that seldom is mentioned, that causes top performers to really stand out to me is their attention to detail.
It’s clear in everything they do and is markedly different from everyone else.
It starts with their purposefulness, focus, and discipline.
They manage their calendars rigorously. Blocking time to get their work done, looking forward weeks, sometimes months.
They set daily goals and measure their attainment against those goals, knowing that little improvements every day create great results over the long term.
They have rigorously refined routines and processes designed to make them as impactful, effective, efficient as possible.
They understand the power of rote repetition applied with discipline and rigor. They look at every part of what they do and what drives results, understanding each detail of execution. They then apply these rigorously, but not blindly, to each similar situation.
They leverage tools and technology to amplify their impact and ability to get things done. They don’t whine or complain about CRM. They’ve already figured out how to use the tools to maximize productivity.
They ALWAYS have a sales process. If their companies haven’t defined a sales process, they’ve defined one for themselves. They know if they consistently execute on that process, they maximize their ability to win, and to win efficiently.
They don’t just plan meetings, they design meetings. They think about what they want to accomplish, they think about who needs to be involved–both from a customer perspective and from their own organizations.
They know how to get things done, both in their own organizations and with their customers.
They prepare incessantly, no detail is too small, they don’t overlook anything.
They are constantly developing themselves and their capabilities. They know to remain a top performer, they must continue to learn.
They leverage their managers to help them grow, learn, and improve.
B and C players keep looking (If they are looking at all) for the 1 or 2 things that top performers do differently. What they miss is that it isn’t 1 or 2 things. It’s the thousands of little things top performers do all the time.
Hi Dave,
Ah, how timely – a great post as ever!
The question of ‘A’ players, vs ‘B’ & ‘C’ players and what to do with each is a perennial one.
In the past year or so what I’ve found of use in exploring this subject academically and practically, is the idea that ‘A’ players are ‘integrators’ and ‘C’ players are ‘analysts’. Ideally ‘B’ players are making the effort to become integrators, even if their results aren’t quite there yet… and perhaps it’s not so much about the absolute results from one month or quarter to the next…?
This notion of integrator vs analyst is one of 7 ‘seismic shifts’ that Michael Watkins, professor of leadership and organizational change at IMD business school, describes as key milestones on the road to becoming a successful CxO.
It’s actually the second seismic shift, the first being from specialist to generalist… which, incidentally is also, in my mind and for sales people, a key shift.
Specialist in this context is about focusing on the products and solutions your company offers – in the past people specialized in knowing these, and helped clients out with understanding, selecting and applying their company’s products & services. This is still needed, but handled in a different way, and by different people – not sales people – not any more!! The rise of the internet/WWW, and consensus buying to name just 2 factors, has seen to that.
In the generalist role you are now focused on the client at a higher level of activity & outcomes, and need to be open, and get the client open, to seeing things more generally first.
Seismic shift #2 is from analyst to integrator. An analyst in the sales context is looking for reasons to not change their mindset, looking for affirmation that their long-held current mindset is still the right one. I see this behaviour and mindset/attitude in every boot camp we run…
The integrator is looking for insight, perspective, ideas, seeds of ideas etc for a way forward for the client, drawing these from all manner of sources, much more diverse than a conventional sales person ever would – the conventional sales person isn’t thinking beyond analyzing data to affirm a solution for the client drawn from the seller’s current catalog of products & services. Down that road lies discussions of price and outcomes of commoditization for one, plus less value creation for the client – heck – you as such a sales person might even be HARMING your client longer term!!
Explore these seismic shifts from Professor Watkins at http://exec.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news-knowledge/blog/the-seven-seismic-shifts-from-manager-to-business-leader
Oh, and one last thing Dave – Merry Christmas to you, your colleagues & family, if we don’t get to chat before the weekend! And thanks for all your posts and discussions in 2017.
Cheers
Martin
Martin, it’s always such a pleasure to see you add to the discussion. Thanks for this contribution. I have to look at Watkins’ work.
Best wishes to you and your family as well. We need to speak soon!