In Sales, the Cream Always Floats to the Top

Articles, Selling,

As salespeople, are we not always looking for ways to stand out from our competitors? The cream floats to the top and coffee grounds … well we all know where those end up.

You gotta’ love the odds!

This should be child’s play. Why? At least 80% of your competitors are either not that effective, not that well trained, or they are just not that good. On top of that, they may be either too lazy or incapable of competing and you are neither. Correct? Hell, this isn’t even a fair fight!

The top 20% of salespeople, the cream, will display the following qualities …

  • Visibility – Today’s sales model is as much about being found as it is about finding others. This means being active on the social networks and displaying quality engagements with others. 
  • Knowledgeable – Having solid product knowledge has always been a critical factor. It used to be that you could only demonstrate this aptitude during a presentation. Now, providing client education is a key component in the sales process and this often done way before you ever even meet the client. In fact, they may not even be on your radar. 
  • Creativity – Top producers consistently display creativity. They are constantly on the lookout for that special edge, those things that make them stand apart from others. It’s like they want to be that one pair of red socks in a drawer that is filled with white. 
  • Dependability – There is no social media magic behind dependability. You either are or you are not. Being dependable also includes urgency and the demonstrated ability to follow-up and follow-through. 
  • Responsiveness – The same goes for responsiveness and this seems to be a lost art. If you are in sales, and you cannot respond to any email or phone message within 24 hours (and that is too late), you need to find yourself another career. In my opinion, sales is a 24/7 job and I have secured (and kept) many accounts by being accessible on weekends and evenings. 
  • Honesty – Being honest is more than telling the truth. It is saying “I don’t know but, I will find out” rather than b.s.’ing your way through it. 

The 80 % of your competitors will display “none of the above”.

Combine activity with productivity!

You can either approach something with precision accuracy or you can run around like Chicken Little. One of the keys to this is by becoming active (and productive) where you will find:

  • Very few people who are competing with you for visibility

Take LinkedIn groups for example (you can really apply these tips  to just about anything on social media). If you go to any group, you will find that there will be only a very small percentage of group members who are actually contributing to that group. I would guess less than 5% on average (based on my observations). As for the rest, maybe they just want the group badge to display on their profile. You can be a member of up to 50 groups so let the badges begin!

That being said, more is not always better and 50 groups is a lot to manage and to be effective with each. Instead, I would strongly suggest that you choose 10 groups where you can crush your competition. You do this by being active and visible in a quality way.

“Probably 95% of the members of LinkedIn groups are not active therefore, the cream (aka you), will immediately float to the top!”

Of course, there may be other reasons for belonging but not engaging …

  • You are an information gatherer. You like to stay up on the latest news and discussions even if you are not comfortable in participating in that process.
  • There will come a day when you will jump in. That day has not yet arrived and it may never arrive.
  • You have not yet found the time to delete the groups that you don’t visit or you are afraid that you might miss out on something important  if you do.
  • You don’t fully comprehend the incredible opportunity that LinkedIn groups provide!

That’s your call but, now what about the benefits of contributing to these groups? Let’s first go back to that 5% contribution rating. This is important! This means that in a group of 500, only 25 people will be active and only 25 people will be visible. Cream floats to the top.

  • If you are smart, you are in groups where your prospects can also be found. This means that you can demonstrate your expertise to 500 people and only compete with 24 others for visibility.
  • Your name, and your headline, will follow (be displayed as a part of) your group contributions including the optional group email digest that most folks will probably receive weekly. Your headline might be your title and your company name, the skills that you offer, a benefit statement (what you do for clients), or any combination of all of these. This is repetitive advertising and keeps you top-of-mind.
  • Start a discussion or like or comment or share on one. You remain visible and you are engaging (developing relationships) at the same time.
  • As groups on LinkedIn are connection agnostic, you are able to engage with others who are not even any degree connected to your network. You can even private message them!

When you really think this through it becomes painfully obvious how very easy it is to really stand out. Additionally, since the noise level (competing discussions) is so low, you can, and should, concentrate on initiating and building quality relationships via quality conversation vs. mindless quantity shares.

How about you? What are you doing to ensure that you are found floating at the top of the cup instead of languishing with the rest of the grounds at the bottom?

IBMThis post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Craig M. Jamieson

Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services
Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!
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