Is Mastery a Must?

If you’ve been in sales for awhile and have hit your numbers on a consistent basis selling into a highly-competitive market, odds are you have good selling skills. Probably very good.

So, why the question asked in this title? Aren’t good skills or very good skills enough?

Most of the time they are. From my work with a couple of thousand salespeople and relationship managers give or take, I’ve personally seen a bell-curve distribution of selling skills. It ranges from awful to awesome. So, having good to very good skills places you in the upper half. Usually.

One reason I’m couching this is because other factors can be in play. Besides skills, quota assignment and territory (or account) assignment can have a major impact. Some organizations hand out quotas that are ridiculously hard and others give out numbers that are super easy to hit.

Another factor is how we rank of our own selling skills. Without going down a rabbit hole, let’s just say that ego protection can cause most of us to see ourselves as way above average.

But, here’s the main reason I ask the question. I believe we’ve hit an inflection point in our profession.

In ordinary times, good enough is usually good enough. In an expanding market, there’s always demand for “good enough”. I just don’t think we’re in ordinary times. And I’m not sure if we’re ever coming back.

Artificial Intelligence is changing things at a pace that’s a little unsettling. It’s taking over tasks you wouldn’t expect would be taken over unless you were a science-fiction aficionado. 

Decisions are starting to be made about the role of salespeople. What jobs do we keep? What tasks in those jobs will we have them do?

And, of course, the toughest question of all - who do we keep? I believe we’re at the tip of the spear and that those decisions are only going to accelerate until it touches every one of us.

Decision making has always been about comparisons. Whether a client is choosing what software to use or the bosses are deciding what people to keep.

So, I worry about our profession and the people I know in it. It be easy to say, “Embrace the technology. It’s no different than all the other technological changes we’ve seen to our profession over the years. Same thing.”

But, I’d be lying to you because I believe this is different. When the experts, the ones who have invented this, aren’t sure where AI is heading, how could we possible know?

With that said, what do we do? Ignore it and keep our head down? Fight it? Sit and wait? Learn all we can about AI and use it where you can?

Definitely try and stay up to speed on AI and use it where you can. Start doing that in the background.

In the foreground, my advice is the same as it’s been for a number of years. And, that advice is based on experiencing the ups and downs, the booms and busts, the frantic hiring and layoffs so common in the tech industry.

My advice is to become an expert at the selling skills most critical to your success. Master them. Don’t settle for good or even very good. Strive to be the best (or one of the best) where you work. Not just in goal achievement, because other factors can affect quota performance. Of course strive for that, but be the best at specific key selling skills.

Master listening skills. Don’t settle for being a good listener. Become known in your circle as the best listener.

Master questioning skills. Be the one who is able to pull important information out of your clients and prospects that your competitors (and others on your sales team) can not.

Master strategy. Be the best at coming up with creative solutions to problems you’ve uncovered from that masterful questioning & listening. Be the best at setting up the competition and countering their moves.

So, yes my strategy in these uncertain times is to master the key skills needed in your profession.

Will it be enough to keep you gainfully employed and earning a good income? Near term, definitely. Long-term, nobody really knows.

Have a great week!

Bob

P.S. Shameless plug. I’m going to roll out a low-cost, high-value mini-course on mastering active listening I think you’ll like. It’s something I’ve taught in lots of selling classes and in one-on-ones. I’m making sure it provides the step-by-step to go from good to great and from great to mastery. Let me know if you’d like to be part of the inaugural class for yourself or to set up something with your team. [email protected]