In order for there to be a top one percent there has to be a bottom ninety nine percent clawing their way up. Those in that in between area are constantly tearing their way to the top and falling back down, at least until they improve above their competitors. Being in the top one percent of sales is a dream for many people. What they rarely realize is that they need to work on sales process improvement before they can climb their way any further up. This doesn’t mean just improving skills, but may mean revising their whole sales process , such as how they go out and prospect, how they give a pitch, right down to small things like what they hand a potential client, their business card or a book.
While it isn’t all about the sales skills, moving toward becoming the best sales person should start with assessing sales skills. Think about all the conventional things that may have been learned. When that has been listed out, think about the unconventional things that have been learned. Corporate training seminars often have sales skills mixed into the rest of the training. These can be picked out and listed separately. When that is done, also look at the current sales process that is being used. List the order, write down where the order sometimes gets mixed up. The salesperson looking at these things might also want to consider what habits they have that affect the sales process. What attitude the sales person has also plays a large part in the process, so this is another point that needs evaluation.
The next part is to learn from everyone and everything possible. A good sales person is always looking for new things to learn. One way for the salesperson to learn constantly is to get a coach who can help them out with weekly or bi-weekly lesson plans and reading lists. This person can only take it so far though, and there may be several coaches over a number of years before a sales person can even see themselves looking at the higher tiers of sales.