The 7 Principles of a Top Performer

Permit me to begin with a conclusion I have come to after 28 years of studying and pursuing what makes the most unlikely person with the most unlikely circumstance come up with outstanding results, while some who are more likely and in the most favourable circumstance are coming up with the worse results. Why? It is because of goals. The single greatest strategy any individual can learn about achieving excellence in life is to learn how to identify and achieve the goals that will add the greatest value to your personal, family and business life. Many people immerse themselves in knowledge, learning everything about life instead of who they want to become.

This is my belief and my experience; that every individual is capable of achieving outstanding results far and away from where they are today.

If there is one area where all the experts agree on the number one principle for excellence of any kind, this would be it;

First Principle: Clarity

The problem most people struggle with is making up their mind on what they want. They always seem to know what they don’t want.

I am totally convinced that the best thing you as a salesperson can do for yourself in launching a career, in kick-starting a dying career or even taking a good career to another level is, first, the power to focus on something remarkably special to you and second, to decide on and consistently do 2 things that make the most significant difference in your results. To have what I refer to as daily clarity on these two points is non-negotiable.

Most people believe that clarity means being clear on your limits rather than your goals and potential. You must always see yourself as you can be, by taking your daily goals and working through them by mentally going through every detail of your performanec with clarity. Here is a question for you: If the first law of the universe is order why would the first law of excellence be any different?

Second Principle: The Power of Belief

This is what separates the Top Performer from others. They are like the stubborn caveman who persisted he could create fire even though most scoffed and laughed. Top Performers are the people who refuse to believe what they are taught to see. They believe in their idea and their ability to pull it off.

I remember when I lived in Springfield Illinois, the home of Abraham Lincoln, and once in a while I would visit his home and just sit on a bench in his backyard, which is now a museum, and wonder where he got the courage to do what he did. It was not because he was looking to be re-elected or to win friends. Lincoln looked beyond the world of circumstance and went to his inner world of power. His belief in the emancipation would not be the most popular decision. In fact, it cost him his life but Lincoln held to his belief. Here is his most famous quote. He said:

“To believe only in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all. To believe in the unseen is a triumph and a blessing.”

Many days will be unproductive if you listen to opinions of the cheapest commodity.

Answer the following question. Give it some serious thought and write it out. Do you often give up believing in yourself because you are overwhelmed by the power of conditions and circumstances?

Third Principle: The Power of Expectation

Those who achieve excellence understand that expectation has a language all its own. Even unconscious assumptions are evident in the words you use.

Think of this: how can two people pursuing the same goal and using the same verbiage come up with opposite results?

Your expectations influence your results more than you really know. It affects your income, your production, and your relationships and in some aspects, it does influence your health. Every result in your life has a connection to your expectations.

Have you ever heard it said that a burning desire is the pre-requisite to excellence? So many people fall short because they expect less than what they desire. There was a lack of congruence between their desire and expectation.

While I do believe the single greatest skill is your ability to set and achieve meaningful goals, my experience has taught me that the bridge between your goal and your action is in your power to expect what you want.

Fourth Principle: The Power of Choice and Development of Character

Now we come to what I refer to as the anchors of the Top Performers - two anchors that shape the character of the personal and business life of Top Performers: They have the power to choose and the power to act like everyone else. The difference is that they exercise this gift with discipline.

Whenever I read or hear that we are free to choose our attitudes, I am always reminded of what Victor Frankl said, “The last of human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstance.” Say it aloud. This is exactly what Top Performers do - they recognize and exercise this freedom to choose and to act daily.

I love Stephen Covey’s way of defining the personality ethic and the character ethic as ‘People trying so hard to enhance their personality with the erroneous belief that it will improve results while the Top Performer knows that you build character by making the tough choices’.

This is where you are going to cross a line into a productive and wonderful way of living or forever fight the push and pull of circumstance. Character sees people first, profit second. Character does right things no matter what the circumstances are.

Fifth Principle: Know Thyself

Your ability to identify and implement the habits of Top Performers can move your business and your life to a higher level of excellence, income and relationships.

This principle I refer to as Know Thyself is the most effective tool I have found to take the parts needed for success and put them into a complete picture to generate the results you want.

This simple but powerful concept is called the stickperson which was originated by Dr. Thurman Fleet at the Concept Therapy Institute in Dallas Forth Worth.

You have heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words and this picture is worth a thousand words.

Out of Confusion comes Order

To bring order and understanding to your mind, you must have an image to work with. Since your mind is the unseen part of your personality, you must engage your imagination to build this image. This can be accomplished with…

The Stickperson

The stickperson concept is used in all our seminars to graphically illustrate the three basic parts of the human personality.

The stickperson, like all other ideas presented in our seminars, is extremely simple. Do not allow the apparent simplicity to deceive you, for the stickperson concept can reveal to you a wonderful world of power, possibility and promise.

The seminars are built upon the premise that you have a power within you that is far superior to any condition or circumstance around you. With FREE WILL, your thoughts direct this power to whatever results you choose in this lifetime.

The stickperson concept is used in all our seminars to graphically illustrate the three basic parts of the human personality.

The stickperson, like all other ideas presented in our seminars, is extremely simple. Do not allow the apparent simplicity to deceive you, for the stickperson concept can reveal to you a wonderful world of power, possibility and promise.

The seminars are built upon the premise that you have a power within you that is far superior to any condition or circumstance around you. With FREE WILL, your thoughts direct this power to whatever results you choose in this lifetime.

Sixth Principle: The Power of Influence

This is without question, where the Top Performers stand out from the crowd.

When you go back through the history of selling and search out where it all begins, you will find the very first organized module designed to teach salespeople the secrets of the masters you will find the formula A.I.D.A., which means,

Attention – Interest – Desire - Action

Once mastered, these four steps would put you in the big leagues of Top Performers.

The next module was the “hot button” sales formula, where you would focus on a need; create a benefit that would fill this need and you make the sale.

The next module was to focus on the 4 questions the prospect’s mind must go through and this can happen in a minute or an hour. The questions the prospect must have answered are

What is it?

What will it do for me?

Who has used it?

How much is it?

Top Performers know that the one on one with their prospect is, in the deepest sense, a connection where they are nurturing the soul and, to be a lifetime Top Performer, you must be committed to this kind of connection to completely generate the atmosphere of safety and certainty that your prospect must experience.

Seventh Principle: Effective Persuasion

We will focus on the invisible side of effective persuasion. You have heard it said that what we are sometimes speaks so loud, that people can’t hear what we are saying. While many try using this statement only in negative terms, it also can be used in positive terms where your belief and confidence in yourself, your company and your product are so strong that people are convinced because you are convinced.
“TO BE CONVINCING, I MUST BE CONVINCED.”

Let’s examine here what is taking place when a sale is being made.

Top Performers are strong originators of an idea and they are able to transfer their idea to the mind of another person in an effective manner. Consider how the following definition fits the Top Performers in selling.

These Top Performers become great persuaders because they have learned the major components to effective communication.

You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hope rise to the stars. It is the sparkle in your eye. It is the swing in your step, the grip of your hand, that irresistible surge of your will and your energy to execute your idea.

Enthusiasts are fighters. They have fortitude – they have staying qualities. Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it there are alibis.

This poem was Henry Ford’s fireplace motto and I use it because it is so important to be excited and have passion in what you sell.

It has been said that more sales have been lost through a lack of enthusiasm than for any other reason. Remember, the word enthusiasm, comes from the Latin word Entheos which means “the spirit within” - when you come from this place in your life you are connected to the Top Performer.