The Top 1%: Part 4

Credit: Bill Gillespie

"Don't Think No Negative Thoughts" - Willie Nelson

I've been sharing observations on the Top 1%. What makes them different? How is it they're mostly immune to market trends, economic factors and competition? How do they do what they do?

In the first segment I spoke to goals & planning. Parts Two and Three addressed expectations and how they view clients respectively. Today I want to take a swing at service design and limitations. How do the best of the best think about problem solving?

In a word, "No Limits." I guess that's two words. In any case, they think about the perfect solution regardless of what their employer knows how to do.

The Top 1% get into their client's heads. They learn to see the world their clients live and work in. They also get a picture of the world they would like to live in.

While the other 99% deliver bids and call it selling, the Top 1% go to work on solutions. How can they invent answers that allow them to deliver the world the client wants to live in? How can they solve the problems that really matter to customers?

Let me share a working example!

You're with a client. They want an automated project handoff solution. They want to place orders without phone calls or transactional email messages. They want prices the same way. Perhaps they want a detail that doesn't live in your off-the-shelf or current solution.

The 99% take an IT person with them to client discovery. They do this so the expert can manage expectations. This person from inside their company, will tell the client what is possible.

The Top 1% manage this differently. If they take an expert with them, it's to listen. They understand that this is a sales call. The expert is there to learn what is needed, not to share what they believe is possible.

The Top 1% understand this inescapable truth. "Everything is Possible." The client will be able to afford it or they won't. Cost will drive their decision. The vision of the IT person won't limit anything.

The Top 1% describe the world the client lives in. They contrast that with the world they want to live in. They position themselves and their employer as the bridge that can get them there. The cost is simply the budget for this business lifestyle improvement.

Clients love the Top 1%. They show up with solutions. They don't show up with inside people telling them that what they want can't be done.

It seems brash but it shouldn't. The Top 1% don't accept the limits of coworkers or environments. These limitations belong to others. The Top 1% solve complex problems, write more profitable business and grow their separation from the 99% daily.

Unfortunately, the Top 1% create pressure. As shared a segment or two ago, they don't have comfort zones. Consequently, they don't understand them in others. They're totally focused on being the best solution for the people that write checks for services.

The Top 1% look at the business and clients they want and ask, "why not me?"

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.