The Seven Essential Sales Habits

Have you read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear? I reckon that this is a must-read for salespeople and leaders alike. The book is littered with gold nuggets, but the insight that hit home for me was this:

Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.

For example, your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. For salespeople, your results are a lagging measure of your sales habits.

Borrowing an idea from Dr David Covey (author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People), I have created a list of the seven essential sales habits, based on my work with top sales professionals over the past 18 years.

Warning! These habits are not "sexy". On the surface, they may even seem boring. That's the point. Top performers have made a habit of doing the mundane things that average performers shirk on. Their success is not down to any one habit, but running all of the habits together over an extended period.

Like compounding interest, over time these habits pay massive returns.

Here they are:

Habit one // planning

Top performers set stretchy goals and break them down into focused action plans. They work out who they are going to call and when they will call them. Every day they review the plan for the previous day and make a new plan for the day ahead.

Habit two // prospecting

Prospecting, in all its forms, is all about implementing the call plan. Top performers have a high calling cadence — focusing on quantity AND quality. They work out how many calls they need to make each day to achieve their goals. Then they get to work.

Habit three // courage

Elite sports psychologist David Galbraith says unlocking your potential starts with harnessing fear through courageous action. Fear is hard-wired and essential for survival — we can’t change the emotion, but we can choose our response. Courage, he argues, is a habit.

Habit four // preparation

Preparation is what happens before a sales meeting. It enhances your credibility, boosts your confidence, and sets you up for success. Top performers don't leave anything to chance. Average performers wing it.

Habit five // closing

Top performers close every time. If it’s too early in the process for the final sale, they close for the next step. Techniques may vary, but their habit is solid. By being prepared and following their process, they make closing easy and natural.

Habit six // follow up

For top performers, following up is all about credibility and integrity. It's about closing the loop from one conversation to the next and doing what you say you're going to do. Following up is not just a habit — it's part of their DNA.

Habit seven // reporting

Average performers run blind. They go from week to week, not knowing how they are tracking. Top performers always have their finger on the pulse. They want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly in real time so that they can do more of what is working and less of what is not.

Habit seven (reporting) then rolls into habit one (planning). The cycle repeats, momentum builds, results compound.

How many of the sales habits have you and your team mastered? Click here to take the Sales Habit Health Check. Onwards & upwards!

Mark Windust is an influential Thought Leader in the areas of Sales Strategy, Sales Leadership and Sales Performance. Since launching his consulting practice in 2007, Mark has worked with 1000's of business leaders, salespeople and entrepreneurs’ to help them transform their sales results.