Jun 01 2007
Top 5% Achievers - What Sets Them Apart?
Last week I shared some thoughts about “Top 5%” achievers and today, I am continuing with that theme.
Three additional areas which set Top 5% (Level 3) players apart from the rest are:
Commercial Acumen: Level 3 sales professionals have high levels of strategic awareness and they can communicate comfortably with board level players i.e. the economic buyers using common language and terminology. Level 1 and 2 performers, unable to demonstrate credibility when discussing financial, commercial and political issues, are usually left behind and require assistance from a manager or director.
Competitive Courage: In order to achieve consistent levels of success in today’s environment, it is necessary to be able to pro-actively target competitors and their client base. Any individual, who lacks the guts for a fight and is not comfortable with competitive selling, will severely restrict their potential.
Being Focused On Political Activity: You can of course question the legitimacy of politics, but you cannot deny their existence. The sales professional that fails to recognise the importance that politics play in virtually every complex sale, will almost certainly consign themselves to a career at Level 1. No one ever said that we must take part in the political game, but recognising that a game is being played, whether we like or not is essential i.e. what you understand you can manage.
However, I fully appreciate that most organisations will not necessarily need to populate their sales teams with Level 3 performers, even if they could find and afford them. There will always be tasks, functions and indeed markets where Level 2 or even Level 1 salesmen and women can comfortably exceed expectations. What is important is that we ensure we have the right Level where we need it most i.e. round pegs in round holes. If an organisation is attempting to compete in a market sector where Level 3 skills are required and yet their team is predominately at Level 2 in terms of expertise, experience and development, they are unlikely to consistently win the business they need, in order to fulfil their financial ambitions.
What I can say for certain is that successful selling has become an exclusive club of highly skilled professionals where, for example, product knowledge, time management skills, objection handling and closing skills are the cost of membership, not leadership.
Frequently, I am alerted to a new site specialising in sales and marketing but rarely am I impressed. However, this week I discovered “Sales Lead Secrets” which is owned by a dynamic guy called Chris Bloor and you can check it out here
Don’t forget that from Monday I will be posting daily: On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will be featuring work by other people whose work I admire and within a couple of weeks, I will also be adding podcast interviews with some of the best known sales experts around.
I am advised that the adjudication panel have selected ten superb articles again this week on “Top 10 Sales Articles” and their choices will be revealed at 18.00 hrs GMT on Sunday here.
That’s it - have a great weekend and thank you for dropping by this week. - JF
