He told me that he realized that his sales people didn’t know the full name and correct title of the key contact people in their largest
accounts!
While that may sound like an exception to you, I have since discovered that it is the rule, not the exception. The sad truth is that few sales people have
systematically collected and stored the full names and accurate titles of their key contact people. As a result, their proposals and correspondence are amateurish and they look unprofessional to their customers.
Such a simple little thing!
Yet, over and over again, it’s not the big things that separate the Top Gun performers from the pack. It’s the methodical, disciplined adherence to excellence
in the little things.
I know there are thousands of sales people who are reading this right now, thinking “I already know that.” Yet, most of them aren’t methodical and systematic
in their execution of this practice. It's not what you know that makes you into a Top Gun performer, it is what you do.
It is one thing to know what to do, it’s quite another to actually do it. That’s why the best practices are called
“practices.”
