A couple of years ago, Tiger Woods was the undisputed Number 1 on the professional golf circuit, and earned the highest amount of money!
Ranked Number 1, he averaged throughout the year a score per round of 67 and a few decimal points.
Across the calendar year, he earned an average of $124,000 per competitive round. I don't know about you but my rounds normally cost me money!
Ranked 100 on the same criteria, Woody Austen was just a little different.
Scoring an average of somewhere in the region of 69 and a few decimal points strikes per round, he earned approximately $4500 dollars per competitive round.
The difference in money earned is massive, but the difference in terms of physical score is minimal in percentage terms, 2 and a bit percent!
So, we can learn from this very easily that by increasing performance, even a tiny bit, and doing it consistently, can have a massive impact on your earnings.
No surprises here, but how can we increase performance, even minutely?
Simple, and the best place to start is at the beginning by getting the basics right, just as Tiger Woods does.
Have a well formed outcome for each and every time you engage with a customer. If you do not have a clear picture of where you are going, how will you know when you have arrived?
Have a structured, planned approach, every time.
Be there on time, every time, and be equipped with the right material/tools/information, every time.
Deliver what you promise, every time.
Follow up by doing what you said you were going to do, when you said you were doing to do it, every time.
Sell to your customers in the way that they want to be sold to, every time.
And you know those horrible tasks you face on a regular basis? Last minute proposals, reports, stats for the boss or even your expenses claims? Always leaving them to the last minute, or procrastinating to the limit?
Here'a an exercise for you.
On a piece of paper draw a vertical and horizontal axis.
Along the horizontal axis plot the hours of day from 6 in the morning to 12 at night.
On the vertical axis put "Energy Levels" starting at 0 and going up to a maximum of 10.
Taking the vertical axis as 0-10 of your energy level, and the horizontal axis as times throughout the working day, just plot a curve that represents how you feel in terms of how your energy levels vary throughout the day.
Do you see a steep rise throughout the morning, and a slump shortly after lunch? Another rise towards the end of the day perhaps?
Whatever your curve looks like, just identify the times of day when you are at peak energy, this is the time that it is best to do everything that you find difficult, dull, boring or urgent, as you are best suited, mentally, to perform at peak levels during these times.
Wonder how you can increase your peak levels (without drugs!)?
Try changing the 0900 to 0800, and map along the horizontal axis like before. You will reach peak energy levels earlier and faster, and will have gained an hour of uninterrupted time early in the day to deal with the mush.
You should also see that you maintain a longer period of peak performance, and although the downturn towards the end of the day is perhaps steeper, are your clients really going to be worried about your after hours performance levels?
Tiger Woods is never late, never has the wrong clubs, always has a well formed outcome, always deals with the mush, and he performs at peak when he needs to, every time.
You can do to, but do you?
What would it mean to you, your organisation, your family and your bank balance if you increased your performance by just a few percent, or even more?
Sean McPheat is the Managing Director of MTD Sales Training, a leading UK sales training and consulting company. Sean is regarded as one of the leading authorities in sales training and has been featured on CNN, ITV, BBC and Arena magazine to name but a few. Please feel free to download 20 FREE Audio Sales Seminars at http://www.mtdsalestraining.com/freecourse.htm For further details on MTD's range of sales training courses and programmes visit http://www.mtdsalestraining.com