Sitting in a meeting with a couple of sales executives for a major company recently, I was struck by what we found ourselves talking about.
Our discussion was about the sales organization in general and the results of individual people.
This is a discussion you may have been part of in your own company.
It’s a good one to have, as it gets us thinking at a deeper level about what is really happening and more importantly what could happen.
As we were discussing various people who had been classified as having high potential or being seen already as a high performer, I couldn’t help but realize we were leaving business on the table. The reason was simple. These people all had the ability to make things happen, but if all they were doing was average, they weren’t being taken out to the woodshed for a flogging.
OK, flogging might be harsh, but the principle is the same. They were being allowed to settle for less than what they were capable of delivering.
What’s the point of average if everybody is going to achieve it?
I don’t want average in my world. I want above average. In fact, I want exceptional.
When we allow average to become acceptable, then all we’ve done is lower the bar. When we lower the bar, we’re allowing ourselves to fail in achieving what is possible.
All of this got me thinking about how benchmarking people against everyone in an organization may not be one of the smartest things to do.
Maybe people should be benchmarked against others of their caliber.
Let’s now turn this to the individual person. If you’re a top performer in your company, you’ve probably more than once patted yourself on the back for a job well done. Hmmm, maybe that is the real problem.
In fact, rather than benchmarking ourselves against others in our company, maybe we should benchmark ourselves against those outside the company.
By using an outside comparison, we now allow ourselves to be exposed to greater potential.
Who are the rock-stars in your industry?
Who are the rock-stars in the business world?
Who are those you could compare yourself to?
Maybe it’s Warren Buffett. Maybe it’s Mark Cuban. My contention is you should compare yourself to the absolute best you can find.
Will you come up short? Most likely, but along the way you’ll stop settling for average and you will strive to achieve more.
Don’t forget to check out my free eBook 14 Things Great Salespeople Do that Average Salespeople Only Think About.
Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
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