Leveraging ‘Super Performers’ to Increase Sales

Why is it that within every sales team there are some ‘super performers’ who are able to deliver two or three times more than their average peer? This question came to mind recently while I was leading a programme to up-skill a large global B2B sales team. I decided to explore what it was that made some teams more successful than others.

I shared the challenge with some leading experts and the consensus was that this was a common trait. Furthermore, it seems that less than 10% of any given sales team fit into the high-performance group.

For B2B companies engaged in selling ‘solutions’, even if a mix of products or services, successful selling often means identifying the very broad challenges and requirements of globally dispersed customers. Such engagements are often complex, involving a broad mix of solutions across differing geographies, and involving many different people on both supplier and customer sides.

Success in these engagements reveals sales people who have the ability deliver two, three, even four times more than their average peers. So, it begs the question, what are these super performers doing?

When you start to look into high performing groups, the first thing you notice is that they do not see what they are doing as ‘sales’. They simply see their customer interactions as a means of meeting the challenges faced by their customers. Delving deeper, there are three characteristics on display:

1. They are intensely curious and seek a much deeper understanding of their customers than many of their peers. They compare one customer with another, and one market with another. By doing this they enter into customer discussions with unique insights that are used to develop these conversations further, and beyond the obvious needs.
2. They enter customer discussions with an extensive map of customer engagement activity that is relevant to their services. They are also fully aware of the products and services they can offer, and which third parties they can leverage to solve customer challenges.
3. These super performers also possess excellent social skills. They positively engage with clients at every level. They are adept at opening, managing and concluding conversations and meetings. Such meetings are generally cordial and collaborative where all parties are engaged in working through how best to address client challenges. A significant element of the discussion also surrounds the value that a client will glean from solving their challenges.

These observations are far from scientific. However, we will continue to explore the theory so that we may strive to unlock the potential for more sales teams to avail themselves of these successful techniques.

The one thing we do know for certain is that this approach works and delivers exceptional sales performance.