Superior Performance…

Ever wonder what goes into attaining a level of superior performance? 

In the Business-2-Business sales profession I coach the “4 As”.  Leveraged these myself as a producer. 

A is for Approach.  As Yogi Berra said: 

If you don’t know where you're going, when you get there, you'll be lost. 

Applied to sales this includes a “Territory Plan” combined with a repeatable selling process.  These comprise the “What” we’re going to do and the “How” we’re going to do it.  Thankfully, if we don’t know have these we can be coached to develop them. 

A is for Activity.  B2B selling is a “contact sport”.  Maintaining a high level of contacts (verb) with our contacts (noun) can overcome all kinds of deficiencies in other areas and lead to superior performance.  Thankfully, an approach to activity can also be coached. 

A is for Ability.  I define ability as a combination of knowledge and skill.  Experience can help, but not required (even “junior” salespeople can and are successful).  Regarding knowledge, I believe our prospects expect us to be experts on our products; experts on current technology; and experts in comparing/contrasting our offering to that of our competitors.  Selling skills is a broader topic and outside of today’s scope.  Fortunately, the primary elements of ability can be coached. 

And finally, A is for Attitude.  Of the 4 As, this one is all on us.  In the sales profession not everyone can do this for a living.  Others have also commented on the futility of trying to change someone’s inherent attitude: 

What Great Managers Know: 

·         People don’t change that much. 

·         Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out. 

·         Try to draw out what was left in. 

·         That is hard enough. 

Marcus Buckingham 

OK, I submit for your consideration that 3 of my 4 As can be improved with coaching.  Thus, I suggest the key to superior performance (with attitude duly noted) in sales, or for that matter any other pursuit, is coaching.  Almost every person I can think of that achieved a superior level of performance had another person in their life that made a significant impact.  A parent; teacher; coach; mentor; manager; client; sibling; spouse… coaching comes from an almost limitless number of sources. 

Take one example; professional golfers.  Often looked upon as an “individual sport”, if we dig deeper with any of the superior performers (e.g. Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Scottie Scheffler) we find that every one of them had multiple coaches covering their swing; putting; physical fitness;  competitive mindset; the works. 

The sales profession is no different.  Often confused as an individual job filled by “lone wolves”, attaining a superior level of performance, is best approached by what it is; an individual sport AND a team sport.  Hmmm… maybe I should consider And as a 5^th A? 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.