My recent podcast, “How to visualise”, has certainly resonated with the Enterprise Sales community. Many found it a practical exercise; some of you commented it was a reminder to take back ownership of your own careers and a few of you have fully embraced the value of daily visualisation to create your next job opportunities.

This quote from performance psychologist Dr Michael Gervais, has refined my ability to embrace and teach visualisation:

“The visualisation process needs to be as real as possible… not just vision but all senses if possible. It requires a disciplined approach of embodying and experiencing life-like images.”

Knowing the best route for your next large enterprise deal or career trajectory is tough at the best of times. Then add in the after-effects of the pandemic, little face-to-face contact, and pressure to over-deliver in the day job. The life of a sales professional can be really difficult.

I recently explored outside our field to gain some inspiration and insights. I read the book The Outstanding Actor, by Ken Rea, Professor of Theatre at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, which outlines how to overachieve in this field. The book has three themes that we can learn from:

· Embrace the learning of your craft and always get better

· Know your values and build your character

· Always be at peak condition, ready to perform

This final one struck me. Sir Laurence Olivier, who was the outstanding actor of his generation, was still having weekly voice lessons at aged 68.

He was ready for his next performance, even if not always sure when it would come to him.

He was considered very gifted. Yet on further inspection of his back story, he was extremely hard working, always rehearsing, deliberately practising and refining his relentless work ethic at the Old Vic and his pioneering work at the National Theatre.

His dedication, scholarship, determination, practice and sheer grit is what made him one of the greatest actors – if not the greatest – of the twentieth-century. This sounds like ‘the talent code’, rather than a gift from God, as highlighted by author Daniel Coyle in his exceptional book, The Talent Code – Greatness isn't born. It's grown:

“Although talent feels and looks predestined, in fact we have a good deal of control over what skills we develop, and we have more potential than we might ever presume to guess.”

There are many parallels with acting in enterprise sales such as long periods of work before consistently producing the ultimately exceptional performance. Recently, I have noted from a number of my clients that they are at the peak of their sales career, the more experienced they are. They are adding greater value to customers, having a broader impact, and closing larger deals than ever before. This is best summed up by Rob Howes, co-founder of ESC, who in his day job is an overachieving Strategic Account Manager at Collibra:

“I could not have closed this significant deal at any other stage of my career. It is as if I needed all those previous experiences and engagements to bring this together.” ...As one of Britain’s most decorated Olympians, Sir Chris Hoy, said to author of the stellar book - In The Zone, Clyde Brolin:

“People think champions are a different breed, but we all underestimate what we’re capable of…”

Why not raise the level of ambition of the size of your next deal? You will be surprised at what can be achieved.

Our purpose at Enterprise Sales Club is to enable SaaS Sales Professionals to achieve their potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learnings.

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