The Best Salespeople in 2021 Did These 5 Things Well, According to Data

A unique slice of data.

For our 2022 State of Sales Report, we surveyed 7,000 salespeople across the world. Part of that survey included asking each seller how they performed in 2021 against their quota.

From that, we identified top-performing sellers, defined as salespeople who hit 150% of quota in 2021. And then, we compared that group to what the other sellers told us in the survey, to see what the top performers did differently.

The results? More profound than we thought, as there were five clear disparities between the actions of top-performing sales reps and everyone else. They were:

1. Top-performing sellers are 32% more likely to put their buyers first.

Here’s really where it starts. The data is clear – sellers who put their buyers’ needs first, and work to build lasting relationships with them, are the elite performers.

In other words, doing good leads to doing well. A victory for integrity.

How do you put the buyer first? That was the focus of our 2021 State of Sales Report – there, we identified five areas:

1. Learn, then define.
2. Share regularly.
3. Solve, don’t sell.
4. Deliver value.
5. Earn trust.

You can read more about what it means to be buyer-first here.

2. Top-performing sellers do twice as much research as everyone else.

How can you be buyer-first, if you don’t know your buyer?

You can’t. Elite sellers understand that – so they put the time into researching the people they are aiming to serve.

This applies at all stages of the sales funnel: 

• Prospecting, so you can deliver a personalized, relevant message.
• Consideration, so you deeply understand your buyer’s needs and tailor the best solution for them. 
• Post-sale, so you stay on top of their changing business, so your solution continues to provide value.

Research is the ultimate lonely work – it’s not always fun and it doesn’t always seem like it’s worth it. The data is clear – it is.

3. Top-performing sellers are 13% more likely to multithread. 

For context, multithreading is building relationships with multiple stakeholders within an account, instead of just having one champion.

Why does this matter?

At all times, the more people you get excited about a deal, the more likely it is to close and the more secure it is. Additionally, multithreading often leads to bigger deals that span many departments, which also provides even more value to the buyer.

But it’s particularly important now as we’re in a Great Reshuffle where job-switching is at an all-time high. Reason being: if you are relying on just one champion, it’s more likely than ever that the champion will switch jobs – and then you have to start from scratch with that account.

Therefore, to guard against that risk, it’s critical to get multiple people involved and excited about your deal. Top performers did an outstanding job of that in 2021.

4. Top-performing sellers also use sales technology 13% more often.

Elite reps understand that sales tools are the ultimate force multiplier. And so, they invest time in understanding how to best use the sales tools at their disposal, so they can use them to do their jobs more efficiently.

We know – any new sales tool requires some time to master. The data is clear – make that time, as having your technology working for you will pay off.

5. Top-performing sellers have stronger relationships with their marketing departments.

This one can feel a bit out of your control, but elite sales reps are twice as likely to describe the leads they get from marketing as “excellent”, compared to those who aren’t.

What can you do here?

A few things. First off, this is the era of social marketing – and, if you have a LinkedIn profile, you can be a social marketer. Meaning, put the time in to build out your own brand on LinkedIn, and bolster whatever marketing efforts your team is already doing on the platform.

Second – make it a priority to connect with marketing. A marketer is writing this piece right now and I can tell you – we want to hear from sales. We want to hear about what you’re hearing in the market, what messages are resonating, which titles are most open to our product, etc.

As all winning organizations know, sales and marketing need to have a tight bond to win long-term. Do what you can to tighten that bond (while being a good partner about it) – and, additionally, don’t be afraid to get into the marketing fun as well.

The takeaway – great salespeople are made, not born.

The most inspiring part of this story?

None of these traits are innate. All of them are learned skills, and while some might learn some of them quicker than others, everyone can get stronger at all of them.

What this means to sales leaders – focus your training on these areas, and you’ll see results. These are the skills elite performers are uniquely good at, and so if your team gets strong in these areas, you’ll have a team of elite performers.

What this means for sales pros – similar. Perhaps your organization invests in training in these areas, perhaps not. Either way – you can take it on yourself to improve in these five areas.

We want to help with this. So, over the next five weeks, we’ll have blogs featuring advice from some of the best sellers in the world on how they tackle these five areas. Subscribe to our blog to see get all five.