Do you realize that you’re training your customers how to do business with you? Are you thinking about the path your relationship is started on?

How likely are they to refer their friends if the buying process is so difficult, even if the solution overdelivers on your promises?

This is what I am discussing today on the podcast with Larry and Liz.

Consultative selling is about an exchange of ideas, not the reciting of a few well crafted lines.

On today’s podcast episode, I talk about how top performers don’t just sell, they create the environment to buy.

For years, we’ve been lied to.

We’ve been told “leaders are readers.”

That’s only a partial truth.

There’s a difference between knowing what to do and actually executing, and that’s where real leadership lives.

“How you do anything is how you do everything.”

Have you ever thought about it this way? Would your results change if you did? This is what we are talking about today on the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast.

Top salespeople start by thinking about what needs to happen. Most other sellers just start asking for directions.

This is an important umbrella concept to recognize, and that’s what today’s episode of the Rethink The Way You Sell podcast is all about.

Everybody who performs at a high level has some means of evaluating their current performance.

It’s important to know what’s actually going on in real time so you can identify where you’re strong and where you have some room to improve, and that’s what I’m talking about on today’s episode of the podcast.

If we go back to Covey, and Habit #1, being proactive means taking responsibility for your outcomes. You’re the captain of your ship.

But you can only control what you can control.

You need to recognize when things are outside of your control, and adjust your mindset accordingly. Trying to overreach that sphere of influence won’t do you any favors.

The very best salespeople know that the buck stops with them when it comes to revenue results. Sure, there are other important aspects of the revenue cycle, but ultimately the seller is judged on a revenue number, and it’s a binary outcome.

Season 2 of the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast is all about intangibles, and Mike Hook wrote a killer LinkedIn post about intangibles that I just needed to speak with him about.

In the post, Mike shared the dirty little secret for how high performers get things done (it’s actually seven little secrets).

It takes about 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to master a skill.

How often do you actually practice your sales craft?

No, really… I don’t mean the hours you spend at work, and it’s a stretch to even count webinars and podcasts. I mean dedicated practice. Making sales calls, writing email copy, talking shop… That’s the normal stuff that you end up getting credit for.

One of my favorite aspects of having a podcast is getting to talk to really smart people about a specific area of their genius.

Luigi Prestinenzi is one of those people, and this is one of those conversations.

To top performers, selling is not just a job to help pay the bills, or a side hustle to make a quick buck. It’s who they are and how they identify.

At any given moment, can you affirmatively state that what you’re currently doing is helping you achieve your larger goals?

The great Jim Collins said that if you have more than three priorities, you have no priorities.

Quite frankly, living it out is the easy part. The real work happens when you sit down and think about what you believe and why.

In the last episode of the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast, I talked about how the very best salespeople are purpose-driven. In today’s episode, Larry Levine is challenging you to think about what your purpose is.

Top performers are aligned between who they are, what they do, and why they do it. You'll never meet a very high performer who isn't driven by something purposeful.

Andy Paul is one of the world’s foremost experts on sales and sales enablement. His new book, Sell Without Selling Out, is an instant best seller.

On today’s episode, Andy joins me to tap about the different between persuasion and influence.

What is the first trait that I can identify about top performers that separates them from everybody else?

They're proud to call themselves salespeople.

I’ve long said that there’s only about a 5% difference between mediocrity and superstardom. In Season 2 of the Rethink The Way You Sell Podcast, we’re going to dig into that 5% and identify what separates top-performing sales pros from the rest.

Bonus episode!

The early feedback I’ve been getting about the new show is humbling and I wanted to take the opportunity to respond.

I’ve also recently appreciated some things that were holding me back, and given that this is a season about belief, I thought it was more than appropriate to cap it off with a personal story.

Thanks for being here with me. Season two is coming very soon!