The Secret to High Performance: Your North Star

Read time: 3 mins

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I’ve been in Sales for >10 years.

I’ve been an Entrepreneur [god I hate that word, gives me the ick] for >19 months.

I’ve run this newsletter for a year [today is The Pipeline Posts 1st birthday] 🎂 🎉

All those things are HUGE achievements in my eyes.

But Chris, you haven’t mentioned revenue? Or commish? Or promotions? Well, they’re outcomes of how I live my life and the decisions I make.

And to make great decisions (most of the time) you need guiding principles and a north star.

Today, I will share the 10 commandments I live my life and career by. And the North Star I go back to when decisions get hard to make.

Let’s dive in.

#1 - Proud to be a Seller

To become great at something, first you have to accept that is who you want to be.

The easiest way is to make that part of your identity. In society nowadays we are so afraid of what everyone else thinks of us we forget to accept ourselves.

It took me 3 years to tell my dad I wasn’t a consultant, or a business developer, I work in Sales and I love it.

Now, I tell everyone I’m Chris, I’m a dad and I work in Sales. That’s WHO I am and I’m not ashamed in anyway of that.

#2 - Play to Win [Taking Part Doesn’t Count]

Shoot me now if you like but if you believe taking part is all that counts I strongly disagree with you.

Here’s why…

If taking part is ‘‘good enough’' then there is no room for failure. Without failure there is no room for improvement and reflection.

I always play to win and if I fail [which I do daily] then so be it. I’ve taught myself to be unapologetic about that.

#3 - Hard Workers get Richer than Talented People

Whatever Sales job I’ve done I’ve picked up quite fast.

And I used to think, oh you’re just naturally talented at Sales, this is easy [arrogant, right?]

Well, I got the bump on the head I needed early in my career. I made it to the top of the leaderboard for 12 straight months as an AE.

Then, I stopped working hard everyday. I dropped off and got overtaken by someone I previously believed wasn’t as good as me.

And it was true, they weren’t as good but guess what? They were working 3x harder than me.

Talent only takes you so far. The combo of talent and graft is where the magic happens.

#4 - High Performance Takes Multiple Routes

I’m better on the phone than I am at writing emails.

So I do MORE of that every single day. Sure, I work on emails and I send them but my goal is to maintain high performance everyday as a business owner.

I play to my strengths. I’ve come to learn that’s exactly what everyone should be doing. There is no one way to high performance. We are all individual and need to walk our own path.

Play to your strengths. Sod what everyone else says.

#5 - The Riches are in the Repetitions

I used to want more, more, more. New responsibilities, new roles, new pressures to face. Sure, they’re tempting.

But I’ve been calling and prospecting for 10 years. Now I have a business teaching folks how to do it.

Repeating those actions has made me really good at that one specific topic.

In the sporting world this is called ‘‘world class basics’’.

It’s better to be incredible at the basics than average at everything else. After all, scoring a goal from 1 yard is the same as scoring from 50.

#6 - If you can’t Prospect, you shouldn’t be an AE

The concept here is simple.

If I can’t do the ‘‘basics’’ really really well I haven’t won the right to do other things.

This keeps me grounded and focused on the task in front of me. Delivering that one thing really well even when I don't want to is all that matters.

#7 - Meetings Ain’t Money

This one is very SDR related.

But whats the point of booking meetings?

Seriously. What’s the point?

For me it’s simple - to close more revenue.

This principle reminds me that I need to think in the following order;

Team then Self…

#8 - Maybes ARE Money

Most people don’t want your stuff right now.

But that doesn’t mean they never will. In fact 30% of people will want your stuff at some point in the future.

If I’ve started a conversation I continue it on a 1-1 basis. It's weird not to. Imagine you spoke to someone and then got stuck in a uatomated sequence. That's not good enough.

There are 3 answers in sales. Yes, Not right now and No. It’s not a yes or a no. The best sales people know this and build relationships for the long term.

#9 - KPIs are for LOSERS. Time is the real Gold.

Today is the only Friday 12th April 2024 you will EVER get.

My point? It should be used wisely.

Is doing a few KPIs the best way to use your time? Is it going to get you to your goal? If so, do it but I reckon a lot of you don’t hit goal by doing them.

So stop living your sales life doing things that don’t count.

Instead, deal in time because its the only currency that matters.

#10 - Free Stuff makes you Rich AF

Sales success is about building trust with as many people as you can. Period.

Trust starts the process.

Free things build MASSIVE trust, fast.

Sure, this is an upfront investment of effort from you but I promise you’ll be top of the leaderboard if you do this.

#North Star - Family > Fortune

So there you have it. My 10 commandments or guiding principles for how I pursue a high performance life.

Work is one thing I value in my life and sometimes it competes with other things I also care about.

To make sure I always stay on track [or as often as possible] I have a north star.

You know…for those hard moments. E.g. I could sign another client for £25k but it would mean I need to work evenings and not put my son to bed.

My North Star keeps me on track with my number 1 priority.

It helps me make better decisions for ME.

At the end of the day, if my grand kids ask me for one piece of life advice on my death bed I won’t be talking about building a business or making sales.

Build your principles, folks.

Then live an unapologetic life by them.

Cheers, Chris

PS. My next Masterclass will be ‘‘How I Book Outbound Meetings on LinkedIn’’. You can save your seat here. [313/500 taken].

Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 more ways I can help you in 2024:

1. Outbound Team Training - Make Outbound a 7-Figure Revenue Channel with my bespoke Outbound Training Programmes (2 bookings max per month).

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