Five Higher-Order Sales Practices that Most Salespeople Never Master

by Dave Kahle

What sets the best salespeople apart from the average? 

     For 35 years I have pursued that question.  .I’ve read over 300 sales books, authored 13 of my own, worked with over 500 sales organizations, talked with thousands of sales managers and  executives, and trained tens of thousands of B2B salespeople to sell better. 

     I believe I have an answer.  But, first, let’s define our terms. 

     The best salespeople are the top five percent in their industry.  These are the people who are so far above the mass in their performance that they will often produce about 50 percent of the sales force’s total revenue, with the other 95 percent of salespeople producing the other half.  So, for example, a salesforce of 100 will likely have about five Sales Masters among them.  A salesforce of 20 might have one.  I call them Sales Masters, or Five Percenters.

     Much of my career has involved identifying the practice of the top five percent – the Sales Masters.

     What sets them apart is not their education, their personality, their experience, their gender, their race, their age, the company they work for, the industry they work in or the product they sell.  Each of these can have some marginal impact on a salesperson’s performance, but they aren’t near the heart of the issue. 

     What separates the best from the masses is how they think about their professions and what  practices they have instilled as habits.

     How they think about their professions is a topic I’ve dealt with often, and it won’t be the subject of this post.  In this post, I’m focusing on the practices that the best methodically master and intentionally embed into their routines so that they become habits.

     Some of these practices may seem totally foreign to the mass of salespeople.  They may have never heard about that practice, and it has just never occurred to them.

     Most, however, are marginally acknowledged by many salespeople, but not given priority in their routines.  Who doesn’t know about goal setting for example? And, while every salesperson has heard somewhere about the benefits of a focused, disciplined approach to goal setting, less than five percent actually do it.  When presented with the practice at a seminar or training session, the masses will nod knowingly –“Oh yeah,  I know that” — but never do it.  The Sales Masters, at the same seminar, will show me their system of setting goals and solicit my ideas for doing it better. .

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     So, some of the five percenter habits are part of every salesperson’s lexicon, they are just not implemented with a commitment to excellence.  The difference between the Five Percenters and the rest is the degree to which these practices are implemented, refined and repeated.  The Sales Masters, than, build them into their routines and forever refine them, while the masses acknowledge them intellectually, but never make the commitment to embedding them into their routines.

     With that as background, here are five of the practices that set the Sales Masters apart from everyone else.

1. Goal Setting

Of course, everyone knows about goal setting.  Some salespeople are required to do it with their managers. They often see it as a tedious, irrelevant task. Others think it really doesn’t apply to them.  They miss one of the hidden truths about goal setting:

The purpose of setting goals is not necessarily to meet the goals!

The process of goal setting requires a person to identify the most important activities and results in his/her life.  That alone is a worthwhile exercise that would enhance every salesperson’s focus and sense of confidence.  But not only do they sort through everything to identify the highest priority, but they then put those impulses and intentions into specific written statements to which they commit.  Finally, they review their progress regularly, and often have an accountability person or system set up to regularly review progress and suggest mid-term corrections and alternative strategies.

     The Sales Masters understand that, regardless of whether or not they achieve their goals, they have implemented a system to keep them working at the highest priority tasks.  They build a system centered on goals in order to channel their behavior most effectively.

     As a result, the Sales Masters spend their time working on the highest priority tasks and invest in those things that will bring them closer to their goals.  The mass slides back into reactively responding to whatever comes their way or staying within their comfort zones.

     Because they are focused and intentional, the Sales Masters invest their time and energy where it will bring them the best results.   And it does.

2.  Ranking and Prioritizing key accounts

The sales masters understand that not all sales are equal and that not all customers should be invested in equally.  So, they develop a system to methodically rank every account – prospects as well as customers – according to their realistic potential, and then... READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE