The Secret that Top Performers Know

Posted: June 25, 2013 | Categories: Sales, Self-Improvement

 In his book, “Five Secrets I Learned from Millionaires”, author Paul Evans talks about “Winning in the margins.”  It is based on the concept that profitable activity works best when done with consistency, and the most incremental difference can add up to big success.

Here is what I mean.  We all know that one of the best ways to increase our sales by 20% is to increase our number of direct conversations with qualified prospects by 20%.  For example, let’s say you had 20 calls on your prospect list today, and you decided to increase it to 24.  Assuming 240 work days per year, that would amount to an additional 960 calls per year.  The law or averages tells us that this would result in 100 additional face-to-face visits.  Assuming a 25% closing ratio, that would result in 25 new clients per year – just by taking a few more minutes per day to do 4 extra dials.  That’s winning in the margins.

How about thank-you cards?  As a professional, you could probably think of at least 2 or 3 people per day who deserve a thank you.  If you committed each day to writing at least 2 thank-you notes, that would result in almost 500 per year.  How’s that for strengthening relationships?

Let’s talk about perseverance in calling on prospects.  Did you know that the probability of doing business with a prospect increases by 60% after the 5^th contact?  But what do most people do?  They quit after one or two contacts.  If we chose to persevere and go past five, we are winning in the margins.

In the 1920’s, Gentleman Jim Corbett received national fame for becoming a champion prizefighter.  Towards the end of his career, he was asked the secret of his success.  He said, “You have to be willing to fight one more round.”

Are you willing to “fight one more round?”  If so, identify that special activity or habit that is working for you, and do a little bit more each day.  Win in the margins.  Good luck!

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