What it takes to be #1..... in sales

Selling is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't sell once in a while; you don't use the sales process once in a while; you use the sales process all the time.

Selling is a habit. There is no room for second place. There is only one place on this team, and that's first place. I have finished second before, and I don't ever want to finish second again. It is and always has been sales rep zeal to be first in anything we do, and to sell, and to sell, and to sell.

Every time a sales rep goes to ply his trade he's got to sell from the ground up — from the soles of his feet right up to the top of his head. Every inch of them must sell. Some reps sell with their heads. That's O.K. You've got to be smart to be #1 in this business. But more importantly, you've got to sell with your heart, with every single fiber of your body. If you're lucky enough to find a rep with a lot of head and a lot of heart, they are never going to finish second.

Running a sales team is no different than running any other kind of organization — an army, a political party or a football team. The principles are the same. The object is to win — to beat the competition. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is. It is a reality of life that reps are competitive and the most competitive companies draw the most competitive reps.

That's why you are here — to compete. To know the features and benefits of each of product solution. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules — but to win. And in truth, I've never known a rep worth their salt who in the long run, deep down in their heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline.

There is something in good reps that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head competition. I don't say these things because I believe in the "brute" nature of telecom. But I firmly believe that any rep's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that they holds dear, is that moment when they have worked their heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted at the end of the month — over quota."