Are you learning from the Top Sales Performers in Your Organisation?

I find it astounding that the same sales professionals achieve the top sales results, year after year, whilst others sit back and wonder how they could achieve similar results themselves. When I work with sales teams, I ask one simple question. I ask them if they know who the top three sales people are in their organisation. The answers I get vary from I have no idea, to some people who have a pretty good idea, but they are not 100 % certain. The challenge I have with people not knowing who the top sales people in their organisations are is that they are wasting one of the top resources they have in their business. The sales people who are performing well are clearly doing something right and if the other sales people follow their lead, they too can become top performers.

All the other sales people in the organisation should be looking at the top performers daily behaviours, routines, sales systems, the relationships they have with their clients and try to discover why they are able to consistently outsell everyone else in their organisation. The top performers have a recipe for sales success, which is working and if the other sales people want to achieve similar results, they must invest the time to try to find out what is working and why it is working and then apply a similar strategy in their own sales process. I know this sounds really simplistic and it is. The challenge is that, although this is common sense, it is seldom common practice in many organisations.

Too many organisations allow one of their most valuable resources, namely their top sales performers, to never share their knowledge with the rest of the team. Achieving success in any area, especially sales is all about consistently taking the right actions every day. If someone is achieving great success as a sales person in your organisation, they have obviously discovered the recipe for sales success, which works. If the other sales people can drive their daily activity and behaviour, using a similar recipe for sales success, they will obviously achieve similar or even better results.

The top sales people in any organisation have an incredible amount of knowledge, great daily habits, the right positive mental attitude, great relationship building skills and the recipe for influencing people to see the value their product or service offers. This knowledge and skill is transferable and any sales person, who is willing to invest the time and effort into learning from the top performers, will gradually grow into a top performer themselves.

Yes these top performers do have a fantastic daily sales routine, great sales habits, the ability to build great relationships with their clients, they believe in what they have to sell and they consistently take the right actions every day, to build their sales success. These can and should be learned by anyone who wants to emulate their performance and improve their sales within the organisation. The one thing that really stands out for me with all the top performers I have observed, is that they have very definite goals and a very detailed sales plan, which includes individual daily action to help them achieve their sales goals.

Action Idea: Identify the top sales performers within your organisation. Approach them and offer to buy them lunch. Prepare a number of questions you have about their sales process and ask them these prepared questions whilst at lunch. You will be astounded how willing people are to speak about themselves and their sales success. Repeat this with all the top performers in your organisation. Identify the behaviours, sales processes and methods they use to build sustainable relationships with their clients and build your own sales process.

If the top performers will allow, try to spend a day with them and observe how they operate and discover their daily behaviours, routines and the way they interact with their clients. This will be invaluable information and will allow you to build a similar set of behaviours and routines into your day. You can become a top sales person, if you have the will and can develop the right daily sales routines and habits. The only thing stopping you from succeeding and becoming a top sales performer yourself, is your daily activities or your recipe for success, is not yet aligned with the results you want to achieve.

Invest the time to acquire the right sales recipe and success is inevitable, have clear sales goals and build a detailed sales plan, which will drive your daily activities. You are already a sales champion, once you align your behaviour and daily routine to support this, you will finally have everything you need to unleash your full sales potential.