#835 You Have No Competition

Here is what I love about being in business and selling.  So many people suck!  Seriously, if you can show up on time, return a phone call or an email in less than a day and send prices, samples, referrals or whatever you said you would, when you said you would, you have already left 80% of your competitors in the dust. 

How many times have you called a service provider of some kind and been disappointed?  Have you ever waited for a salesperson or contractor who didn’t show up? How many unreturned calls for services have you placed in your lifetime?

This week alone I had two painters that I had to call more than once to get an estimate.  Needless to say neither of them will get the business.

I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO CHASE YOU TO GIVE YOU MY MONEY!

Maybe these guys are in the painting hall of fame and so busy my little job doesn’t matter.  Maybe they are trust fund babies who paint homes as an existential exercise to stay in touch with the common folk or maybe they’re just the bulk end of the Pareto principle as I suggested in the beginning; the guys who allow me to say, “Show up and you’re already running in the top 20%.”

If Vilfredo Pareto and I are to be believed, and there really is an 80/20 rule, and it really does apply to business and sales, then what’s left for us twenty percenters?  While it is true that there are many refinements understood by the crème de la crème, and learning them should be a lifelong pursuit, here are a few essentials you can put in to action as you make your assent into the top 20% of the top 20%.

-Written Goals

-A plan to achieve them

-Grit

-Regular Industry training

-Constant Sales/people skill training and refinement

What outcome influencer have I missed; bad luck?  I don’t think so, it really is this simple. 

Own your sales gene…