Are you a One Percenter? by Michael Hoffman, CSP* People have got to be weird to be in sales! No other job will put you in a situation where on average, 8 out of 10 presentations will result in rejection. Give me a job where I have to deal with demanding clientele that don’t spend enough money, cubicles that are too small and wrap up the entire experience with the pressure of heavy deadlines! Whoo hoo… that’s for me. I know there are people making a darn good living here. I see those around me hitting the sales numbers that I wish I were doing on a consistent basis. How ‘bout me? Somebody give me the magic. Give me that “thing” that will make all my efforts fall into place. What can I do this year that will make this year different from all the others? All right, all right, I’ll give it to ya. But it’s not what you think. What I have for you today is not a “sales” tactic or a technique. I’m not going to tell you the golden words or the power phrase that will close every deal. But I will share with you the one thing that separates every top producer in every company I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with from every other sales person on the payroll. It’s the approach that makes them the best of best…a One Percenter. But first, let’s make sure were talking the same language. Who and what is a One Percenter? A One Percenter is constantly learning from those around them, adapting what they see to their own world and are people who apply what they’ve learned quickly. They are people of action. One Percenters are the ones that will constantly rise to the top of the project or task at hand. The ones that when the mere mortal would run or complain about poor circumstances or challenges, they somehow make it work or are able to turn it around when most would have used those same challenges as the excuse to quit. One Percenters are different. In sales there are One Percenters too. You probably know their names. They are the ones that win most of the sales contests; their numbers are always in the top three…you know the “lucky ones.” One Percenter’s are sales people who are doing and saying the right things at the right time “on purpose”! At first glance most might say that a One Percenter is born with the “gift” (that sales personality!), or perhaps they’re lucky because of the territory they have or their client base is the cause for their success. But first glances are not always correct. Most One Percenters who are consistently reaching their goals aren’t just lucky. If it were luck, they wouldn’t be consistent. Duh. Most likely, they are approaching their jobs with systems and processes, tactics and techniques that can be defined and duplicated. “Sales” is a skill set, not a trait. “Sales” is sales. If you identify needs and fulfill needs, you’re a salesperson. I discovered that One Percenters are everywhere and in every industry. I can learn from them all. When I started my business as a sales trainer and speaker I thought my life experience and success in selling almost everything would be my greatest contribution to those I spoke to. But I was wrong. When I worked with a client for the first time, I’d talk to some of the top sales people in an organization that I would be working with to get an idea of their products, their world and what they did to be successful. The normal procedure was a phone call but if I could swing it I’d arrive a day early and I’d gather a few top dogs and I’d buy them a burger. During lunch I tried to be as targeted as possible in the areas we talked about like time management, prospecting, building value, handling objections etc. I tried to help them think it through and be as specific as possible in their answers. What did they say, what did they do that they thought worked. It was fun. I could fill pages of tips and techniques that I had never tried or that I used to do and have let slipped through the cracks in my busy schedule. For example I remember my lunch with David Thomas the Lexus Guy. He sold more Lexus cars per year than anyone in the country and he had a 99% repeat referral business. Now I didn’t sell cars but I’d still like a 99% repeat referral business so that’s what we talked about at lunch. He said that his secret to success was time management and prospecting. The idea that jumped out at me was how he scheduled his day. He called it his paycheck time. From 9:00am to 11:00am Monday through Thursday he did NOTHING ELSE but set up appointments for after lunch that day at 1:30, 3:30 and 4:30. He dedicated that time every day because that was where he made his paycheck. He had his schedule of how he handled customer service problems, follow up and paperwork all around his “paycheck time”, nothing else but prospecting and appointment setting during 9:00 and 11:00am. Now before you start saying “Well I can’t do that, I’m at the mercy of my boss, my clients demands, my deadlines. I could never dedicate that time to calling.” I was thinking the same thing too. But as he talked I was noticing that there was reason for his madness. He listened to his clients and they told him what time was best to reach them and get a positive response to his request for a visit. He didn’t tell them and hope that it fit their schedule. He had a prospect list that was based on something. He didn’t just call anyone that he hoped would be interested. He started with a list of people that had bought a car from him three years ago, why, because he’s found that statistically people by a new car every three years and he wants to be on the front of their minds when they do. I get it. I don’t sell cars but I wasn’t putting that much thought and target into my prospecting. Was there a “golden time” for me to call my customers and get a more positive response for appointments? Did I have a more focused group of people to call that would be more interested in my services? Did I dedicate a certain time consistently for prospecting based on observed success or was my productivity based on whatever fire happened to be in front of me. (And it was!) David changed the way I looked at prospecting and he didn’t even know he did. We were just swapping sales stories and I got gold. Because of that lunch, my pipeline changed dramatically. Those ideas became the source of my consistency of business. The rollercoaster ride most speakers have in this business went away for me and I’ve never had a year in the last ten where business hasn’t grown by at least 20%. I listened to a One Percenter, I was open to learning what he had to say, smart enough to adapt what I heard to my situation, and picked the techniques I liked the most and implemented them immediately. I monitored them, tweaked them until they worked for me. I can attribute that lunch to thousands of dollars in my pocket. But you know what I found to be interesting. During that lunch, David was taking notes too. I called him on it and he said that he was always looking for new ideas to keep him sharp. Over the last ten years of working with One Percenters I’ve seen it happen over and over again. They’re always Learning, Adapting and Applying tips and techniques from around them. I want you to do something that will change your career this year. I want you to take a salesperson, a One Percenter, out to lunch, pay for it and take copious notes. I want you to sit at the feet of a person whose doing the numbers that you wish you were doing and swap sales techniques! It can be someone in your industry, even your own company, but I want you to really listen, take the best ideas, adapt them to your world and do something different. Are you a One Percenter? If “Sales” is a skill set and not a trait that we are born with, then that means we can get better at the craft of sales. By approaching our career as salespeople “on purpose”, constantly learning from others, adapting what they are doing to our own situations, and looking for the tips and techniques we can apply immediately to have impact on our results, we can become…One Percenters. *CSP = Certified Speaking Professional

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