Master These skills Now For High Performance Minus A Career Of Misery
Do you have 20 full years of sales experience or 20 years of mastery in sales? I was talking to someone in sales named Joe and he mentioned he has 20 years of selling experience. I would have probably said something similar.
But it got me thinking. Do I actually have 20 years of a job (or jobs) or 20 years of mastering a craft? Think about it. Did you spend the last 20 years improving on the margins, taking things as they come and going with the flow. OR did you proactively seek ways to improve your skills, take new risks and make forward progress? There is no right or wrong answer here. But if you want to be a higher performer, you need to do certain things that move you toward a better version of yourself.
Mastery can take a lot of forms. Here are some areas that I see that require mastery in sales and are no longer optional:
Mastering Your Emotions
A lot has been said about self awareness and emotional intelligence and how you can apply it in a sales situation. However, unless you master your own emotions, it will be almost impossible to apply it for higher levels of sales performance. Losing control over your EQ can result in quitting too early, becoming impatient, inconsistent behavior, and poor sales results.
Do this:
- When something happens, pause. Then, take a moment to understand how you are feeling and why you are feeling that way.
- Take a deep breath and respond. Sometimes that means with questions or providing guidance to a team member or direct report.
- This is like any skill. Practice it. At first, you will need to be really intentional with it.
Mastering Your Fear
Fear is what prevents us from even getting started. It prevents us from making calls, working on that presentation, speaking in front of groups or asking for money.
Part of the problem is how we define selling. The fact that we still use “selling” as a term is in some ways archaic. It helps companies define a role but is meaningless to the customer. Salespeople (especially young entrants into the profession) believe that selling is selling. But selling is really helping and guiding a customer to get what they want. Actualizing their dreams and aspirations.
Do this:
- Trash old definitions of selling and start proactively living the new reality that customers just want help in buying something.
- Develop awareness of your fear. I don’t believe in ignoring it. Because it will come back for a visit. Use it to your advantage. It also means you are doing something meaningful that can result in growth. Instead, embrace it and feel it in your body. You will find that it will become less of a foe but a friend.
- Take risks. Go big. Not risks like getting the latte instead of straight black coffee. But taking those risks that require you to go big (or bigger) and get out of your comfort zone. You can go one of two ways — all in right now or small incremental risks. Either can work.
By doing these things, you will increase your capacity for performance and teach yourself how to master fear even in the most significant situations.
Mastering Your Purpose
Purpose is the firewood that makes the fire burn bright. It leads to passion. When you align with a purpose, everything else just seems to fall into place. I am not saying that you don’t have to work smart-hard and make things happen, but it makes the journey much more enjoyable and seems less like work.
Don’t get me wrong, your purpose may change over time. That is where getting clarity as every step works for you. Always asking and answering.
Do this:
- Ask why. Then ask why again and again until you get to it. Don’t settle for surface level answers. Align and connect to a bigger purpose. Make it yours. Don’t look for answers from someone else. The answer lies within you. Just give it the time it requires and sit with yourself away from the distractions.
People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it — Simon Sinek
- Once you have a purpose defined, you will discover that you will live in your head less and put the attention on to other people (your customers) and the tasks required.
- You will also find people will flock to you and give you assistance along the way. It inspires others (your partners, customers, co-workers) and attracts them to you.
- Don’t hide it or be stingy with it. Share it with people at every turn. Not everyone will be on board but enough will.
Mastering Your Time
Time is finite. We only have so much time to make things happen. Don’t look back on the year and say, “I wish…”. It is true that salespeople only spend roughly 35% of their time selling. Hmmm. Salesperson only spends 3–4 hours actually doing selling activities. What profession are we in?
Even when we are selling, we are distracted along the way. Internal Zoom calls/meetings, social media feeds and endless scrolling, interruptions from our boss or co-workers, mundane HR training, etc.
Do this:
- Tell each minute where to go. If you don’t, you have virtually no control over your day and someone else will.
- If prospecting is your #1 priority, reflect that in your calendar. Hold it and use it religiously. If someone needs you, tell them you’re available after your prospecting time block. If you don’t make it a priority, no one else will.
- Plan the week ahead — It can be Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. It doesn’t matter. It just matters you know what lies ahead and what things you are attempting to achieve throughout the week. The key is consistency and clarity.
- Take 10–20% for creative flow. Yes, sales requires creativity — unique ways of problem solving. If we don’t sit with ourselves for 1 hour a day to get the creative flow going, when will we. When the day is done, we have other priorities that demand our attention. Companies and leaders should step up and make this mandatory.
- Do high value, high priority activities during your peak energy times. That way, you’ll be able to bring your absolute best.
- Know that there is no time like the present to achieve. Tomorrow is too late when you can do it today. Act with urgency. Don’t sit back and let the day happen to you.
Mastering Your Energy
Did you ever skip lunch or breakfast? How did you feel? Did you go to bed late the previous night only to be dead tired drinking caffeine to get you through the day. Then, the dreaded crash and burn. Maybe you had a serious argument with your partner that has zapped you of energy and focus. Some are working 10–12 hours/day or more only to feel completely exhausted and not able to be present for their family and friends.
I am not a big believer in grinding it out and burning the candle at both ends. There are plenty of ways our energy can be taken from us, many of which we have total control over.
Do this:
- Time and energy are integral to one another. Get clarity on those high value activities and execute them during peak energy times.
- Get sleep (“But I can survive on only 4 hours a night.” I just don’t know anyone who has or can sustain that)
- Blue light sucks — at night. It zaps energy, messes with our eyes and brains. Turn off the phone after 7pm.
- Eat — “Yeah, I know Andy!” But so often, I hear of salespeople not eating and they wonder why they are exhausted. I am not talking about mini Oreos or chips. Eat those things that give you sustained energy like nuts, fruits, etc. Have them available by your desk.
- Move (intermittent breaks) — If that means ritual exercise then great. If not, just get up, move around, go for a walk, stretch, breath, etc. Movement is good. Idle is not.
Although a bunch of common sense, many fail in this area. But if done consistently every day, you will find that your energy levels will no longer have peaks and valleys and that you are able to achieve more during the whole day. Not just those few hours in the morning.
Wrapping It Up
Mastery is no longer optional in sales. Most have gotten by in sales and that is why we see under performance so prevalent in sales today. Hard skills can always be learned and frankly, are changing. Look at what COVID did to us. Sales leaders had to learn how to lead effectively over Zoom. Salespeople had to learn the nuances of how to sell remotely.
But the people skills — not just how we behave with other people but mastering the inner game. These are the requirements if we want to be a “sales leader” in today’s modern selling environment. Starting with ourselves is time well spent. Once we master these things, our external world changes for the better. We see more success, more impact on others, more happiness and fulfillment. Don’t you deserve that and doesn’t the people that you are serving?
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Andy Carlton helps salespeople and sales teams become high performers. He has the accolades to prove it: over $60M in contracts, part of one of the fastest growing companies in the country as cited by INC Magazine, for 4 consecutive years, launched a marketing SaaS platform that was awarded Cisco Innovation Award, and sold to some of the most prominent CEO’s for the first e-commerce startup in commercial internet history. Andy’s mission is clear: to remove the mistakes of the overworked and stressed-out sales culture and replace it with one based on intention and healthy motivation. This has led to top performers who love what they do and get the highest results without brutal sales training tactics nor 12-hour daily grinds.
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