If you model your behavior after a top performer, it’s amazing how you can become one, too.
I know these 10 things are going to resonate with you.
What can you start practicing today?
1. Leverage time.
Top performers protect their time. The fourth quarter is a shorter quarter anyway, due to all the holidays, so time is even more valuable.
Choose to see time as a scarcity. Instead of one hour meetings, go to 45 minute meetings. Instead of allocating 60 minutes for this activity, they’re going to allocate 50 minutes.
Top salespeople know their most valuable asset is their time, and they make sure they use it wisely.
2. Respect others’ time.
It’s not about scheduling meetings way out in advance, nor is it creating correspondence just to create correspondence. Top performers are meaningful, but also very direct, and people respect this in the fourth quarter–especially with how hectic it can get.
I just had somebody who’s trying to sell me something try to put a meeting on my calendar to discuss something we’ve already talked about. Of course I said, “No.” Now I’m kind of turned off by them! I may ultimately not do business with them because they’re wasting my time, and they’re not respecting my time.
3. Stay focused.
During the holiday period there are plenty of distractions. Naturally, I want you to enjoy the holidays for all they’re worth, for all their meaning. But when you’re in the moment working–be all there, make it happen.
This is one of the single biggest things that top performers do differently.
4. Believe in yourself.
If I know I can help someone, I have an obligation to reach out to them. I never stop believing, because I have confidence that the type of customer I’m targeting, where I’m focused, and where I’m spending my time, I can make a difference with them. Never waiver from that.
Even in the face of unexpected challenges and hiccups, the top sales performer stays confident in their skills and abilities.
5. Believe in your outcomes.
These are the solutions you provide your customers. Like believing in yourself, it’s about staying true to who you are. Don’t go on any wild goose chases.
Top performers are always updating the outcomes they achieve by keeping tabs on their customers and those outcomes they helped facilitate. You can do this too by keeping a simple two-column chart with customers on one side and outcomes on the other!
I went in-depth on this and more top performer tips with Scott Ingram recently on The Sales Hunter Podcast. Watch the episode here or search E. 48 How to Discover Your Sales Superpower anywhere you stream podcasts.
6. Leverage the holidays.
You’ve got to understand your calendar in terms of what days and times, you’re taking off, or similarly when your customers aren’t going to be there. Check your calendar to see how to leverage the holidays to your advantage in how you establish meetings.
The easiest thing to do is make sure you keep things tight. The further out you schedule things, the more likely they are canceled or moved.
7. Create bigger opportunities.
In the fourth quarter, you have the ability to have conversations with people that you don’t normally get a chance to talk to. Their calendar has shifted, so they may be answering the phone when they otherwise wouldn’t.
I’ve got a meeting like this in a couple weeks with a VP of Sales of a very large company. I don’t normally get a chance to meet with him, but it’s going to allow me to sit down, break bread together, and create bigger opportunities.
8. Build toward next year.
Top performers never take their foot off the gas. They hit their quota, or they go past their quota with one objective: to build into the next year.
They don’t want to come into the new year with an empty calendar. Instead, they want to come into the new year with all these meetings already set in place to hit the ground running.
9. Keep the routine.
I know, it’s tempting. But top performers don’t sit there and say, “Well, it’s the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend, I think I’ll just take a half day off and kind of ease back.” If that’s not your normal Monday routine, it’s time to get back to it.
10. Be grateful.
Start your day by being grateful to be able to help other people, and to help others see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible. You help others connect with other people.
Be grateful for people who have helped you. Top salespeople never forget that their success is not a sole result of just what they do. It’s a result of the team they’ve been able to create.
Read more about 7 Ways to Upgrade Your Sales Network
3 Questions that Spur Sales (and Self) Growth
Richard Contartesi shares three ways to hold yourself–or anyone–accountable, and how to coach salespeople toward constant improvement.
Catch this episode Wednesday morning.
What You Missed on Monday…
3 Ways to Make Prospecting Enjoyable
No more grumbling and procrastinating, prospecting haters!
There are ways to make this essential sales activity a pleasure. Find Monday’s episode wherever you stream podcasts.
In this special coaching session, Mark will detail 8 activities you can do right now to maximize December and ensure the first quarter is a success for you.
Find out more information at this link.
The learning possibilities are endless at The Sales Hunter University.
Choose from over a dozen masterclasses, or get them all when you become an All-Access member of The Sales Hunter University!
Copyright 2022, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
