Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 45. How to Overachieve

Dave Kurlan

Baseline Selling

One of the questions I get asked most often is "What does it take to succeed?" In response to that question, I wrote the Top Seven Factors that impact your ability to overachieve in sales. I present them here:

1. Goals. I'm talking about "raise the bar, stretch, out of the comfort zone, more than the typical 15 percent increase in sales"–type goals here. You must raise your expectations in order to celebrate superior performance. Don't forget two things: (1) that a forecast and plan come from the goals, not the other way around, and (2) goals are derived not from your company but from your income requirements, based on the bills that accompany life's desires and obligations.

2. Motivation. This is the combination of goals and incentives. In essence, do you have a strong enough desire and commitment to do whatever it takes—every day—to reach the goals? When you don't, it's your job to motivate yourself by knowing the real reasons why you're doing this selling stuff. I'm not talking income requirements or gross sales here, I'm talking planes, boats, cars, big houses, vacation homes, golf trips, world travel, home theaters, fantasy camps, exclusive events, and so forth. As sales experts since the 1950s have said, the only difference between successful salespeople and their unsuccessful counterparts is that the successful salespeople choose to do the things they don't want to do.

3. Managing the Pipeline. A Visual Pipeline makes it significantly ...