Tweet

The Science of Achievement Applied to Sales Success

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: After reading Malcolm Gladwell's book, I found that his findings really resonated with what I had seen in my own observations of thousands of sales people and the qualities that translate into success. It serves to highlight the need for assessments and for sales training.

The Science of Achievement Applied to Sales Success

Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.

I finally read Malcolm Gladwell's great book,Outliers: The Story of Success, where he relates the histories of some wildly successful and unsuccessful stars and common folk, and the underlying reasons for their achievements.

He concludes that while they were all talented, it wasn't the talent alone that made them successful as much as it was the opportunities of timing, parenting, location and the time and desire to practice and perfect their various skills. He showed how intelligence only mattered up to a point, and only if it was practical intelligence; people skills, problem solving skills, and the ability to advocate for one's self.

As powerful as all that was, there was one paragraph that stood out for me. Regardless of their career path, those who were THE MOST SUCCESSFUL had two things in common:

1. 10,000 hours of "practice"
2. 10 years to perfect their skills.

The 10,000 hours/10 years discovery is not a surprise to me. If I think back to the many sports and business biographies I read over the years, the subjects share as a common theme this single minded focus on that one thing they loved to do more than anything and the days, weeks and months that were consumed in the pursuit of perfecting their craft. I have always suggested that it took about 750 hours of practice to become effective at selling - to learn, understand, internalize, own and apply the teachings of sales. But that only gets you to the top 26%. To become the best of the best, 10,000 hours and 10 years sounds about right. It was certainly the case for me, and most of the great salespeople I know today. At 10,000 hours you don't have to think about it - at all - and you can recognize anything and everything that is taking place around you and properly respond to it.

Many salespeople have been in sales for ten plus years and aren't the best of the best. They're not even in the top 26%. I will use science to explain this. If we go back and look atObjective Management Group'sdata on the 500,000 salespeoplethat have been assessed so far, we find that 22% are not trainable (no incentive to change) and another 10% shouldn't even be in sales. So that leaves 42% unaccounted for. What about them? I dug through the data and found that:

24% have been in sales for less than 5 years.

21 % have been in sales for between 5-9 years.

Of the 55% that have been in sales for at least 10 years, only 20% are in the top 26%. That means 80% of the ten year group, despite their 10,000 hours, have not become remarkable. The data shows that they have not been an example of sales best practices for their time in sales. Their weaknesses and skill gaps are well documented and certainly part of the problem. Here are ten possible explanations for why that is so:

1. lack of commitment to sales success
2. they didn't practice (the rule, not the exception)
3. lack of training (especially in small businesses)
4. low expectations
5. lack of single minded pursuit of sales excellence
6. not exposed to best practices, including having a formal, structured sales process
7. lack of accountability (less than 15% of sales managers hold salespeople accountable)
8. didn't work where there was a strong sales culture (very common)
9. ineffective sales coaching (84% of sales managers just plain suck!)
10. not aware that the world of selling has changed so dramatically in the past 5 years

How many of your salespeople are consumed in the pursuit of perfecting their sales effectiveness and what have you done about it? How many of these steps have you taken to develop a sales force with more of the top 26% and fewer of the bottom 74%?

• evaluated the sales force
• created a formal, structured, best practices sales process
• developed a best-practices sales recruiting process
• created a staged, criteria based pipeline
• developed metrics to keep the pipeline filled, moving and drive revenue
• close the skill gaps
• overcome the weaknesses
• develop sales management's ability to coach and hold salespeople accountable
• use of sales 2.0 tools
• ongoing sales training
• update the compensation plan
• use of incentives
• update selection criteria
• improve ability to on board new salespeople

These are just some of the areas in which your salespeople, systems and processes can be improved rather than simply hoping that everyone will know what they're supposed to do and get it done.

Related Articles
  How to Increase Sales Using a Goal Achievement Mentality Instead of a Goal Setting One
  Marketing - Art or Science?
  How to Get Your Sales Team to Reach The Highest Level of Sales Achievement
  How can you find the best of the best in sales?
  Mad Science Franchise Highlight
  Your Sales People Will Miss Quota - Unless You Give Them This...
  To Be Successful, Stop Buying Your Own Excuses
  How Buyers Make Decisions (Part 2)
  Extraordinary Time Management Separates Extraordinary Performances from Everyone Else
  How to Exercise Your Right to choose your thoughts-The Science of Results Oriented Thinking
  The Science of Selling - Rules versus Data
  Getting Rich Is An Exact Science
  Is Your Sales Training Demonstrating 20/80 or 80/20?
  You Need to Close the Knowing-Doing Gap
  The Entrepreneurial Sales Person
  Not Motivating This Way, Then Your Not Motivating
  Success Demands You Must Go Where You’ve Never Gone Before by Doing What You’ve Never Done Before
  Sales Success Begins with Defining What You Value To Better Understand What Motivates You
  Pursuit of "Good to Great", Level Five Leadership
  The Need to Achieve

Article Tags: dave kurlan, sales, sales assessments, sales science



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
Landmark forum - I took the Landmark Forum and the whole curriculum. It had a tremendous impact on my life and my relationships. Specifically in the relation of business - I took the Forum 10 years ago. Within a year I was out of $25k of debt, bought first rental property and got to 4 within 3 years. I excelled in my Sales and management role with my employer during the same period becoming a sales leader in a $6 billion national company. Coached Junior Achievement, sharing my experiences. Continued to follow dreams and focused on creating opportunity- left company to continue to pursue real estate with a homebuilder and became an owner/partner. Continue to pursue opportunities that has brought me together with a network of entrepreneurs. Living the dream. Landmark assisted with making personal commitment and realizing the strength of your word. We all know what we are capable of - what stands in our way is action. Take it today!
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert
Re: Books for Business Owners - Hi DougSchadle, Thanks for sharing your favorite business book with us! A good book I'm reading now is "Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed" by Brian Tracy as it was a birthday gift from a friend. Tracy's book is helpful in identifying what's important in your life and then setting an action plan to achieve it.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The Importance of Master Data Management (MDM)

Getting The Media Attention You Deserve

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.