It’s 2024 and the B2B sales landscape is fierce.
Some markets (ahem, tech) are moving at breakneck speed. And more and more organizations want a piece of the pie.
So naturally, the pressure falls on sales leaders and salespeople to perform at a high level. Step up or step out.
And that’s just baseline performance. But what about high-achievers — the types that are reading this article — who want to level-up their sales game to get ahead?
What can these sales professionals be doing to capture more of the market? How can they crush their numbers this month and this quarter? And what are some tangible takeaways they can sink their teeth into?
If that’s you — you’re in good hands today. I’m sharing six practical strategies and tactics that will change your life… IF you put them to work.
Now, I’m not going to share things like: how to overcome objections, or learn how to negotiate, or learn how to build relationships. While these are all important in sales, they won’t move the needle quite like these three game-changers…
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1. Grind While Others Live Lavishly
This is something I learned early on. Celebrate when others (especially your competitors) are off dining at Michelen star restaurants, traveling the world, and doing anything but working. Why? Because you’re working and they aren’t!
You might be inclined to feel jealous, but instead you should celebrate the fact that they’re paying a steep opportunity cost to enjoy those luxuries. Not to mention they are probably going deeper into debt, spending money they don’t have. Think of it like this — you are busy building a home, brick by brick, while your competition is busy digging a hole.
Sure, there will come a time to enjoy the fruits of your labor, but you have to delay gratification to really get ahead in sales. Keep your head down and grind. You can take that advice to the bank.
2. Meet With a Mentor
Notice I said “Meet with a mentor” and not “Find a mentor.” That’s because it’s not hard to find someone who’s willing to mentor you. That’s setting the bar too low. It’s all about what happens after you find this person. I recommend nurturing that relationship like your life depends on it, and meet every chance you get.
According to Harvard Business Review, “The evidence is clear: 75% of executives credit their success to mentors and recent research shows that 90% of employees with a career mentor are happy at work.”
Find a sales mentor if possible — someone who works the phones to close big deals. But it wouldn’t hurt to have a mentor who isn’t in sales, so long as they are successful. After all, success is 80% mindset, 20% skill, and 100% action. (Don’t worry, the math checks out.) My point is that a top-performer in any field can teach you what it takes to play in the big leagues.
3. Fine-Tune Your Tonality
My sales numbers shot through the roof the day I realized it’s not so much what I said, but how I said it. Communication is key! In fact, it’s one of the biggest levers that salespeople can pull. And the holy grail of communication is tonality. If you don’t know what tonality is, I suggest you read my article titled How to Master Tonality in Sales. In it I discuss how to control the pitch, speed, rhythm, and volume of your voice to draw-in your prospects so they hang on your every word.
Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. So you should have plenty of product knowledge (know what you’re selling inside and out!). And you should always do your homework on your prospects. Then, the three of these strategies simultaneously at work will supercharge your success. Everyone else will be playing checkers while you’re playing chess.
Three Bonus Tips for Next-Level Success
Like the approaches I highlight above, these are all personally tested and approved. While these ones do seem more obvious, trust me, hardly anybody is doing them. If you incorporate these tactics into your daily life, you WILL become unstoppable.
1. Get in the Gym
When I say “hardly anybody is doing it,” I mean it. According to Statista, only 20% of Americans work out or exercise regularly. That’s only 1 out of 5 people! There are endless studies that prove regular exercise increases alertness, focus, and self-esteem. And bonus — you’ll live longer (on average) and look better. Set aside 30 minutes to an hour each day to hit the gym. I promise it will help you in your sales career.
2. Read Daily
Reading is like a cheat code for getting ahead in business and sales. I read at least 3-4 books every month. And Inc.com says that reading just 1.5 books per month can help you move into the upper-echelon of business professionals (think C-suite). They say that most CEOs read a book per week. That’s 52 books in a year. Can you imagine reading 52 of the best books on sales and personal development? Where would that take you in your career and in life? I recommend giving it a try. If you don’t like the results, just stop reading. Easy enough.
3. Stop and Breathe
Deep breaths! The science is clear on this as well. A study by UC Berkley found that intentional breath work opens up neural networks and gives us “access to a powerful tool for regulating our responses to stress.”
So I recommend doing three 10 minute box-breathing sessions per day. Box breathing is simple: 4 second inhale, 4 second hold, 4 second exhale, 4 second hold. And repeat! This will put you in a peak mental state. You’ll experience less adrenaline coursing through your veins (lower cortisol levels), better focus, and overall better performance.
Box breathing also works wonders for people with sales anxiety. It takes the edge off and allows you to think and speak clearly. So if you want to get ahead in sales, you can absolutely breathe your way to success.
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Final Words
The best-laid path for getting ahead in sales is hard work (see point #1). Work harder than your boss and you’ll rise to the top in no time at all. You also have to seek and meet with a mentor, work on your tonality, exercise regularly, read daily, and work on your breathing. These strategies and tactics are all basically FREE to do. And by tomorrow at this time you can have each of these in motion.
So there you have it. You’ve been given the keys to success. Now it’s up to you if you want to open the door and step through, or go on with business as usual. (You can lead a salesperson to water, but you can’t make them drink!) That said, if you’ve read this far, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have a growth mindset and you’re up for the challenge. So it’s time to make it happen. You’ve got this.
Until next time…
Johnny-Lee Reinoso