Consistency in sales is highly underrated. There’s so much to be said about the ability to show up every day and do the mundane things that don’t feel like they’re leading anywhere, until… they do. This kind of behavior shows everybody that you can be counted on. Your leaders, your coworkers, and especially your customers.
Years ago, my manager complimented me when he said, “I know you won’t get outworked.” While a little dubious (I didn’t want to be expected to be a workaholic), I understood where it came from. He knew he could trust that I'd put in the effort and that no major details would be missed, but that’s only part of the formula for sales success.
Well over a hundred years ago, OG sales philosopher Arthur Sheldon (H/T to my good friend Todd Caponi) coined the acronym AREA.
Ability: the knowledge, skill, and judgment to know what should be done
Reliability: the character, trustworthiness, and ethics to make others believe in you
Endurance: the physical and mental capacity to keep going and perform consistently
Action: actually doing the things you know need to be done.
To me, consistency is Reliability and Endurance, with a dash of Action as well, because it requires the willpower and integrity to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, especially when it’s hard.
What people often miss about Ability is the judgment part. Companies are more than happy to throw skills training at the problem. What about knowing which skills to use? When? How? With Whom? Why do they work?
Over two-plus decades in sales, those are the questions reps are always left to figure out for themselves. Few do. Even fewer can articulate those answers with enough specificity to actually communicate them to the rest of their teams.
I’ve heard it said that “before you climb the ladder of success, make sure it’s leaning up against the right wall.” AI is making it very easy to climb quickly.
When everybody is trying to do more, and AI tools make it easier, the real key to success is wall selection.
The successful veteran reps on your team know which wall matters most, though they usually don’t know how to exactly articulate it. They’ll tell you the key to their success is their tenure and their relationships. Your rookies don’t have two decades to hang around and develop relationships by chance. You have to dig deeper with those veterans and encourage them to get more specific about the answers to those questions above.
What does a great relationship look like? Is it getting your call returned? Is it knowing what it will take to get that call returned? Is it knowing the names of their kids? Or knowing what those kids are planning for their lives and working toward?
What did it take to start a relationship like that? What did you lean into? What might it take today, given a drastically different environment? Recalling the specifics is valuable, but not as much as the out-loud thoughts and the debate about what things look like moving forward.
All it takes is a long lunch, and the willingness to do the same kind of discovery intensity you’d bring to a huge deal. It’s asking the extra questions, and not taking anything less than a specific answer. It’s working through the tension that happens when someone doesn’t want to get any more specific, but understands that’s the best way to be helpful.
Most sellers are luckier than they’ll ever admit, but it doesn’t need to be that way. You can articulate, name, and teach those behaviors. They live inside the heads of your top performers.
This Week
My family and I got away for a few days before the kids go back to school tomorrow. We were in the Hocking Hills of Southeastern Ohio, and for all intents and purposes, off the grid.
I didn’t take my computer with me, and even deleted the Instagram and LinkedIn apps from my phone (so yes, I lost all my LinkedIn games streaks too).
Between the feeling that I need to be tied to LinkedIn and the time trap Instagram can easily become, I’m not in a hurry to add them back.
While we were there, Laurah and I celebrated 19 years of marriage together, which is shocking because we’re way too young for that to be the case!
The Shoutout
No formal post to call out this week (see above), but I’m shouting out my kids today. Not just for being such awesome travel companions, but when they caught me shooting video on Friday, they both jumped in to offer help (and some well-meaning criticism) with lighting. My son acted as videographer and director, framing the shot and even fixing the lighting afterward. I hope he knows what he signed up for!
Cheers,
JB
P.S. Want to dig into the minds of your top performers? Hit reply. Let’s chat.
