Imagine for a moment that it is your first day in a new sales organization and your sales manager tells you to forget about Quota – block it out of your mind. You may think they’re out of their mind. How can anyone possibly lead a sales organization or manage their individual sales effectively without focusing on Quota?

After all, in the world of outside sales, you either meet your Quota or eventually you’ll be outside the door looking to meet some other sales force’s quota.

But what if I told you that’s the first step toward exponential revenue growth. Sales success is not about running after quota each month or year. Success comes from a Process; proven steps to meet benchmarked competency levels and a focus on the essential elements and powerful routines that maximize your sales effectiveness week in and week out.

Let’s first define what we mean by a “core competency.” We will then introduce the 3 Core Competencies, and spend our time understanding how they can dramatically increase your success.

The term Core Competencies refers to those essential elements in the sales process that most directly impact your success. These elements are controllable and measurable, and sales professionals can be trained to be proficient in these areas. Unfortunately, many sales organizations and individuals lose focus – distracted by peripheral activities or sophisticated systems that track dozens of different activities when only a handful really matters.

Without a foundation built upon these essential elements or Core Competencies, and because of all the distractions and roadblocks an organization is susceptible to today, results can be mediocre or less.

Take a look at the following list of actions that are common in a sales process, and select the items that you believe are absolutely essential to your success.

- Closing Sales
- Developing Prospect Lists
- Setting new Business Appointments
- Running 1st Appointments
- Working Sales Prospects through the Sales Pipeline
- Post-Sale Marketing
- Developing Referrals
- Reporting and Paperwork
- Documenting Testimonials

Now many of these tasks are important, but they are not all Core Competencies. Yes, it is important and useful to ask for referrals and develop testimonials from satisfied customers, but your success hinges mostly on the mastery of – and attention to – the (3) Core Competencies.

One simple way to determine whether a routine or task is truly a core competency is to ask what activities are directly related to sales revenue. After all, sales revenue is how we sales people measure success. That’s our scorecard at the end of the month.

We can do that through a series of questions around each element listed above.

Question #1:
Is it an essential component to the sales mission or is it just an ingredient in the recipe?

Consider a golfer’s essential competencies from tee-off to last putt. Is the core competency the ball – or the club? Or is it the golf swing and putting stroke?

Question #2:
Can it be measured routinely and accurately with a napkin, pencil, and calculator?

Can you set a realistic performance benchmark tied to revenue goals? You know you have achieved this when you can tell a new hire in the sales organization the (3) simple numbers that will guarantee monthly sales success.