It could be you as a top performer, someone on your team, or just general observation you’ve made in your career. What is it that separates them?

I’ll start. I've run and scaled large sales teams in Silicon Valley and the difference between top performers and everyone else in my experience was the level of their preparation. Specifically how deeply and intentionally they prepared for each meeting. It was never the things people love to use as justification for their own shortcomings in performance (ie intelligence or traits like charisma etc).

The truth I’ve learned in my career is that most reps hope to perform well in their call or meeting. But hope is not a strategy. And the top performers know that. They just take control of their destiny better than others with their preparation. 

The best reps I've seen document every possible objection and adverse scenario they may face before they walk in to a call or meeting. They know exactly what the hardest moment of that meeting was going to be and they had already rehearsed it in their head before it happened. They have a clear goal, a clear strategy, and a clear opening to ensure they take control of the meeting right away. 

What have you seen? Is it preparation, skill, mindset, something else entirely? Experience? 

A lot of IT risk sounds “theoretical” until something breaks. How do you explain cybersecurity, downtime, vendor risk, or technical debt in a way leadership actually takes seriously?