Your Sales Potential in a Meritocratic Environment

If you're in sales you're part of a meritocracy. What that means is that you're going to succeed or fail based on your abilities, your attributes, your work ethic, and your traits. Those are the things that are going to determine whether you go up or down in a stacked ranking.

Nature doesn't give everyone the same gifts. Some people are gifted by having intelligence and intellect, while other people have a great sense of humor. Some people are liked by everyone, and some people are gifted with rapport-building skills that allow them to connect with people immediately. Then, there are people who have traits like confidence, or who don’t get intimidated. I don't know what your specific gifts are, but start by thinking about them.

How to Move Up in the Meritocracy?  

In The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need I started building a competency model for modern salespeople today. This includes the following:

Self-discipline: If you don't have self-discipline, you're going to have a very difficult time in a meritocracy. People who are disciplined are going to make a lot more money, and those who aren’t disciplined are going to make less. Sales is a job that comes with a lot of autonomy. Discipline lets you handle that.

Optimism: People always ask me, “How do you deal with being rejected?” My answer is that when a potential client says no, they’re not rejecting you. They’re rejecting a meeting. They didn't say, “I hate you, I'll never buy from you, but I'd buy from somebody else.” That doesn't happen.

Caring: In a new world where AI seeps into everything, caring is going to be a superpower. If you want to have better relationships, this is the time to do it because a whole bunch of people are going to try to automate relationships. You can’t do that and succeed.

Resourcefulness: In a meritocracy, you have to be resourceful. People are not going to tell you what to do, and resourcefulness is the ability to figure it out on your own most of the time.

Initiative: Moving up in the meritocracy means taking initiative. You don't wait for anybody to tell you what to do. If you do, you're probably going to be going down in the meritocracy.

Communication: Most of the time, we think about communication as our ability to talk to people, but it’s really about listening. When we ask questions, we have to be intent and listen to our clients. If you do that, you'll have clients that like you a lot because they'll feel heard and be comfortable buying from you.

Accountability: Most people don't understand accountability. No one should ever have to ask you about your work, be it a sales leader or be it a client. You have to be accountable no matter what. If somebody doesn't say anything about something, it's still your responsibility.

Authenticity: Just be yourself. A poseur is somebody that looks the part, but lacks the attributes they need to get things done. They’re more focused on appearances than actions. When I played rock n’ roll from age 15 to 26, I saw a lot of guys putting on leather jackets and makeup, but they couldn’t play. They wanted the guitar, they wanted the pretty girl, but they were poseurs so their music rockstar life didn’t work out.

Confidence: Your confidence gives your clients confidence in you. Your comfort level with your ideas, your outcomes, and your deal instill confidence in the buyer. That's something that you have to do.

Courage: Courage means that when you have conflict, you're okay. It means that I can have this conflict with you from time to time, because we’re fighting for the best outcomes. But it also means understanding that the best outcomes may come from diplomacy and patience.

Diplomacy: Diplomacy means being able to resolve or prevent conflict by using many of the above skills already mentioned. This is even more important in modern sales where your deal might involve a large number of people from different departments on the buyer’s side.

Curiosity: If you're not interested in the world, if you're not interested in how it works, if you're not interested in business, if you're not interested in your clients, that makes it very hard to go up the meritocracy.

Hunger: If you came to me and you said, “Anthony I want to work for you,” the first thing I would ask you about is your hunger. I will not hire anybody who’s not already hungry. I don't want to have to motivate you. I want you to have self-discipline to do what is necessary. I want you to want things. If you don't want something better for yourself, and if you don't want to have a higher status than other salespeople, then it's very hard for me to take you seriously.

Closing: You have to be able to get commitments. Don’t worry about the last step of closing, that comes later. You have a whole list of commitments that you need to go through in a deal before you close, starting with earning the client’s time.

Differentiating: You must stand out. People should say, “That's a better salesperson. They have a better approach and taught me more things about this decision than anybody else.” If you get that done you're going to be moving up.

Negotiating: This is asking for something instead of granting a concession. Don't run to your sales manager and tell them, “I need to give them this concession to win this deal.” If you're going to give a client the concession, you have to get something from them in exchange. Both sides of a deal must be equal to have a win-win.

Business Acumen: You have to understand how business works for both your company and your clients’. This means you need to do your research on their industry and challenges. Business acumen gives you the ability to see things your clients can’t.

Leadership: You have to lead your clients. You have to be in control of the process and demonstrate the value you bring to the sales conversation.

How to Improve These Sales Traits?

What I would tell you to do is find one or two traits on this list that would most improve your results. Then, work on them. Don't work on anything else until that becomes second nature to you. There's lots of attributes here, so pick the ones that will help you move up the meritocracy. Do good work, and I'll see you back here tomorrow.