BEHAVIORS THAT PREVENT SALES PROFESSIONALS FROM BEING IN THE TOP 1%

Open Letter: Behaviors that prevent sales professionals from being in the top 1%

It’s interesting to see how average sales professionals love to stay average and how the top 1% of sales professionals love to always be part of the best in their field.

For so many years I have been studying sales professionals and analyzing their sales behaviors.

To summarize my research, here is a true story of an average sales professional’s mindset and the top 1% sales professional’s mindset.

I was recently asked by an owner of one of the top real estate firms to work with one of his real estate brokers who he saw as a potential high performer.

I will start with my conclusion on this real estate broker after working with him for a few weeks. My conclusion was that he will remain average. He will have some sporadic success and maybe in a few years wonder why he isn’t doing as great as his peers.

How did I come up with such a conclusion?

In the beginning, just like every sales professional who decides to work with me, he was excited to start his sales growth development and he was extremely happy to hear that his real estate manager, who is the owner of the real estate firm, saw something in him.

During our first encounters, I asked him a few questions to get a better sense of why he decided to be a real estate broker. I quickly realized that his “purpose” was not clearly defined, secondly he had poor sales behaviors.

I decided to work with him as he was eager to learn and improve. But quickly his true self appeared. He was looking for quick success, quick gratification with the least effort possible.

We had planned a weekly one hour session and the work that would be required from him which he agreed to.

Quickly, I realized that he wasn’t doing the work, he was making up excuses on how busy he was and he even canceled a meeting because he had to pick up his new luxury car.

So, I asked him, how does your new car make you feel?

He responded with: it makes me feel great, it makes me feel like others see me as someone successful.

So then I asked him, how much are you paying to feel all of these things. He said 990$ monthly.

This sales professional’s behavior and mindset is something I see with so many average sales professionals. They are always looking for shortcuts to do the least possible work or self improvement work to achieve success.

When you ask these individuals to invest only 500$ per month on their sales skills which will propel them to the top 1%, they say it’s too expensive. Isn’t that interesting, when they’re ready to invest 1000$ every month for a vehicle and not self improvement.

What is this sales professional looking for? Very simple answer; he wants to feel great immediately, which will make him feel like a million bucks and will make people see him as a success which will certainly make him sign new clients, right?

Welcome to lala land!

I see this thinking all the time. 

On the other spectrum, the top 1% of sales professionals I work with have a totally different philosophy. They first invest 1000$ in self improvement, put a lot of time and effort in learning and improving their behaviors and once they feel they’ve reached their goals, they compensate themselves with a very nice car.

Next time a sales coach, leadership coach or any other coaching professional mentions his cost, before answering it’s too expensive or asking them to lower their price, compare their price to your monthly car payment and ask yourself, which of the two payments will help you reach your business and personal goals, which one one will help you to grow, which one will help you be a better sales professional, better leader, which one will give you the tools and knowledge to help you when you are facing challenges, which one over time doesn’t rust and cause you headaches but instead when practiced daily will only bring you more gratification, rewards, accolades and money.

Once you’ve answered that question. Will you invest in instant gratification which will demand little effort and little return or will you invest in something that will demand much more of you which in return will provide you with tremendous value and return.

Successful people understand that it takes time, discipline, knowledge and a winning process to be successful and that is the only way to be part of the 1%.

If you are looking for instant gratification, I can’t help you. If you are looking to maximize your potential just like any great athlete, I can help you.

Domenic Presutti is a high-performance sales mentor and coach to successful sales leaders and professionals. He is an author, creator of the 10X10 Sales Legend Growth Scale^TM and creator of the 8-Step Sales Legend Journey^TM, the only high-performance sales training program that creates sales legends. He works closely with sales leaders and professionals across industries worldwide and has more than 15 years of experience in sales managerial roles, mentorship and coaching to unleash the true power and potential of sales leaders and professionals for the greater good of their organizations, communities or for everyone they wish to influence positively. You may contact him directly at 1-866-489-2199 or via email at [email protected].