Top Guns of Sales
Learning from the best instructors to ensure your handful of leaders and reps are the best sales-fighter pilots in the world
I feel the need. The need for…
I still remember the first time I saw Top Gun 35 years ago. It was epic.
Side note - only Tom Cruise has aged better than me - just ask my own Penny Benjamin…or don’t actually…don’t.
So no surprise that after watching Top Gun - Maverick with my family I had to make this week’s newsletter an ode to Top Gun - sales edition.
I mean - look at the parallels with some key phrases we’ve all heard on the sales floor (or haven’t but technically could):
“Your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash”
“Talk to me Goose”
“Remember boys - no points for second place”
“In case some of you are wondering who the best is, they are up here on this plaque”
“This is what I call a target-rich environment”
“Damn, this kid is good!”
Alright - these might be a stretch (ha), now - back to business.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
Pipedrive shares the top traits of high performing sales reps.
Harvard Business Review argues that The Top Sales teams have these 5 things in common…
AND… resurfaced and polished snippets to help ensure your handful of leaders and reps are the best sales-fighter pilots in the world.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
Top 11 Traits of High-Performers
Pipedrive has a good read on top traits of high performing sales reps. While some skills are innate, the best salespeople actually focus on developing skills that will result in more productivity and closed deals.
Taken from their state of sales report here are the top traits:
They’re critical thinkers
They’re empathetic
They’re good listeners
They’re ambitious
They have a hunger to learn
They love what they do
They know when to walk away
They possess problem-solving skills
They’re happy to collaborate
They’re focused
They’re optimistic
Top Sales Teams Have These 5 Things in Common
What separates high-performing sales organizations from average and underperforming sales organizations?
Harvard Business Review (Steve Martin) conducted an extensive 42-part survey with 786 sales professionals. Participants were asked to share their opinions on their sales organization and personal details about their own quota performance.
Highly encourage you all to read the study yourself, but here are the top 5 commonalities in bulleted form:
1. High-performing sales organizations rated the quality of their sales organization higher than average and underperforming organizations.
2. High-performing sales organizations employ a more structured sales process.
3. High-performing sales organizations hold their team members to a higher level of accountability.
4. High-performing sales organizations are not afraid to aggressively raise year-over-year annual quotas.
5. High-performing sales organizations are quicker to terminate underperforming salespeople.
Check out the full article HERE
STRETCH SNIPPETS
😬 Crash and Burn eh Mav? Revenue.io shares Top 10 ways you’re accidentally ruining your sales calls. [infographic]
✍️ Morgan Ingram pens (types) a great thread to new sales reps with his Top 6 Tips to start out your new sales role. Definitely worth sharing with your newer reps and flight school.
✈️ What does it take to be in the Top 1% as a salesperson? If anyone should know, it’s Scott Ingram - host of the Sales Success Stories where he interviews the top 1% of sales professionals. Join Jeremey Donovan as he interviews Scott -and learn what he’s learned. Your own mini-Top Gun Instructor if you will.
❌ Jason Lemkin gives us the 21 Top Excuses for not closing a deal.
🗣 Call sign Copper shows us the flight path on the Top 11 Sales Objections and How to Respond to each. A great read on obstacles and how to overcome them in deal cycles.
🖐 Throwing it back to a guest post on Stretch VP by Lianne Gong (Recruiter at Gong) on the Top 5 Traits of a First Time Sales Leader
🔝 Courtesy of Josh Roth and SDR Defenders - study Top traits for successful SDRs according to today's sales leaders.
🧠 Mindset
Special feature from Joseph Lalonde on the Top Leadership Lessons from Top Gun. Enjoy!
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
Are you a VP, Director, thought leader, or content producer in the SaaS space? We’d love to have you contribute. Just reply to this email and I’ll be in touch.
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