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What Separates Top Sales Reps from The Bad Ones

What Separates Top Sales Reps from The Bad Ones

How to copy the traits of sales reps that outperform the rest

July 30, 2024

Good Morning! The Olympic Games kicked off this past weekend, and just like everyone else, we now have the perfect excuse to ignore our work and binge-watch sports we never cared about before. We also discovered our new favorite athlete, Ni Xia Lian—a 61-year-old table tennis athlete who just won her first match yesterday. Clear tomorrow’s schedule… we’ll be watching the GOAT play. 🏓

In today’s Follow Up:

What makes top reps great ☕️
A sales objection tip of the day 🧠
Sales advice from the CRO of Brex 💳️
Sales jobs, job market & a meme 😂
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What Makes Top Sales Reps Great

Some salespeople just have the ‘thing’.

The natural traits that make them great at selling, and outperform everyone else on their team.

And while every sales rep has their own style, method, or way of doing things, the highest performing sales reps tend to have some similarities.

Steve W. Martin is a professor at the University of Southern California, where he teaches sales strategies. In 2015, he conducted a study of over 800 sales reps to answer the question: What separates top-performing sales reps from underperforming sales reps?

Here’s what he found:

Sophisticated Talkers 🗣️

It turns out, top-performing sales reps talk like smart people.

The study found:

Top salespeople communicate at an 11-13th grade level.
Underperforming reps communicate at 8-9th grade level

But it’s also important to note that what really sets top performers apart is their ability to match a customer's communication level.

If you’re selling software to data scientists, your language will be much different than someone selling media placements to marketing departments.

Top reps build credibility by speaking the language of their customers.

Overachievers 🏆️

It’s probably not a surprise that top sales reps are extremely focused on achievements.

The study found that 84% of top performers have a high achievement orientation. They’re obsessed with setting goals and measuring themselves against those goals.

They also tend to be highly competitive and take advantage of the resources they have. The study showed that 52% of high performers say they are power users of their CRM tech, vs. just 31% of underperformers.

Turns out updating Salesforce might actually make you a better rep. 👀

Dominance 💪

Now, don’t take this one the wrong way.

High performing sales reps aren’t dictators looking to dominate their prospects. They use influence and situational dominance to take control of conversations.

The key to this trait is using ‘relaxed dominance’.

The best performing sales reps scored 20% higher on situational dominance tests vs their underperforming teammates.

Top sales reps use relaxed dominance to persuade with their expertise and opinions.

Self Pessimism 😧

While almost all sales reps identify as optimistic, the best feel a bit different.

The study found that 90% of salespeople describe themselves as optimists, but 2/3 of top performers have pessimistic tendencies.

And these pessimistic tendencies drive them to ask tougher questions because they feel like there’s always a chance they’ll lose the deal.

A bit of paranoia is actually a good thing - when used right.

The TLDR:

Sophisticated talking: High performing sales reps talk at the same level as their prospects. The more sophisticated the product, the more sophisticated the language.
Overachievers: Top reps like to set goals and constantly measure themselves against those goals.
Dominance: Control conversations with influence and confidence.
Self pessimism: While almost every rep says they’re optimistic, the best are secretly pessimistic.

Which trait do you think is most important?

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Sales Tip of The Day 💡

When you give pricing to a prospect and they object with: “That sounds expensive” - try responding with “Interesting. Expensive compared to what?”

When something seems expensive, it’s because it is being compared to something else. Whether it’s another solution, the way they already do it, or how much they think they can do it for themselves.

An old Honda for $40K is expensive, but a Ferrari for $40K is cheap.