Inside the Mind of Ultra-High Achievers (Part 1 of 3)

Summary

The Advanced Selling Podcast: Inside the Mind of Ultra-High Achievers (Part 1 of 3) – Summary

Release Date: November 25, 2024

Hosts:

• Bill Caskey – B2B Sales Trainer and Business Strategist
• Bryan Neale – B2B Sales Trainer and Business Strategist

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Introduction

In the premiere episode of their three-part series titled "Inside the Mind of Ultra-High Achievers," Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale delve into the unique mindset and behaviors that set ultra-high achievers apart from their peers in the sales industry. The hosts begin with light-hearted banter, celebrating their 18th year of podcasting and discussing their LinkedIn group and upcoming workshops.

Notable Quote:
Bryan Neale highlights their longevity and community impact:
"We've got the Insider program... It's a two-hour business planning session and we're going to use AI as part of this session." [01:38]

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Defining Ultra-High Achievers

Bill and Bryan outline the characteristics that distinguish ultra-high achievers from regular high performers. They emphasize that these individuals do not measure their success against averages or peers but instead focus on their own potential and exponential growth.

Key Characteristics Discussed:

1. Outcome-Oriented Thinking:
   Ultra-high achievers envision outcomes on an exponential scale rather than incremental improvements. They disregard average benchmarks entirely, setting sights much higher.

   Notable Quote:
   Bill Caskey explains:
   "Ultra high achievement people have no visibility to the average whatsoever. They strictly measure themselves against their own potential performance." [08:45]

2. Extreme Objectivity and Detachment:
   These individuals assess deals and opportunities with unparalleled objectivity, detaching emotionally to make the best decisions for their clients and their own growth.

   Notable Quote:
   A participant in Bryan's program shares:
   "Detachment and objectively looking at things from an unemotional standpoint... It's totally detached from the outcome." [12:46]

3. Unconventional Thinking:
   Ultra-high achievers constantly seek innovative and unconventional methods to advance their sales strategies, often pioneering new approaches that others might deem risky or unnecessary.

   Notable Quote:
   Bill describes their approach:
   "They think unconventionally. They would host their own TV show... they are unafraid of taking risks." [18:48]

4. Purpose-Driven Motivation:
   Unlike many who are driven by financial gains, ultra-high achievers are primarily motivated by the purpose behind their work. They focus on delivering exceptional value and serving as many customers as possible.

   Notable Quote:
   Bill asserts:
   "They are more motivated by the purpose of their business life... focused on serving the customer at the highest, best possible value." [19:50]

5. Process Over Outcome:
   These achievers obsess over the processes that lead to success rather than just the outcomes. They revel in strategizing, engineering solutions, and continuously improving their methods.

   Notable Quote:
   Bryan adds:
   "They obsess over the process to get there more so than the outcome. They love the deal strategy stuff." [20:12]

6. Extreme Ownership and Accountability:
   Ultra-high achievers take full responsibility for their results, embodying extreme ownership. They do not rely on others to achieve their goals but instead take proactive steps to architect their own success.

   Notable Quote:
   Bryan emphasizes:
   "If you want to be a high achiever, ultra high, I think you have to take extreme ownership of everything." [14:43]

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Real-World Examples and Stories

The hosts share relatable anecdotes to illustrate the traits of ultra-high achievers. Bryan narrates a story about his wife's well-intentioned but misguided efforts to assist the local waste management crew, humorously highlighting the challenges of changing established behaviors—a metaphor for shifting mindsets in sales.

Notable Quote:
Bryan reflects on the situation:
"It's funny how I told her... They're taking money out of my pile." [05:17]

Additionally, Bill discusses a client who demonstrated extreme ownership by persisting with a YouTube video series despite initial resistance from his VP of Sales. This persistence eventually led to the VP's approval, showcasing the power of dedication and innovative thinking.

Notable Quote:
Bill shares the client's journey:
"He went out, paid a designer to design a thumbnail... And it was really good. Now his VP of sales says, 'Okay, let's do that.'" [16:47]

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Mindset Shifts for Aspiring Achievers

Bill and Bryan discuss the necessary mindset shifts required to transition from average performance to ultra-high achievement. They emphasize the importance of self-measurement, purpose-driven actions, and embracing unconventional strategies.

Key Takeaways:

• Shift Focus to Personal Potential:
  Don’t let external benchmarks define your success. Instead, continuously push your own boundaries.

• Embrace Objective Decision-Making:
  Make decisions based on data and objective analysis rather than emotions or preconceived notions.

• Innovate Continuously:
  Always seek new methods and tools, such as leveraging AI, to stay ahead in the sales game.

• Prioritize Purpose Over Profit:
  Let the purpose behind your work drive your actions, which in turn leads to sustainable success.

• Take Ownership of Outcomes:
  Own every aspect of your work and its results, ensuring proactive steps towards your goals.

Notable Quote:
Bryan encapsulates the essence:
"How one thinks determines how one acts. If you want to be an Ultra High Achiever, you've got to change your thinking." [21:33]

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Conclusion and Teaser for Next Episode

The episode concludes with a promise to delve deeper into the actions and language of ultra-high achievers in the subsequent episodes. Bill and Bryan encourage listeners to adopt the discussed mindsets to elevate their sales performance and achieve unprecedented success.

Closing Quote:
Bryan wraps up:
"We'll catch you next week and we'll do the to-do part. What do ultra High achievers do differently." [21:49]

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Additional Resources Mentioned:

• Insider Program:
  A subscription-based group offering exclusive workshops and business planning sessions, including the upcoming AI-integrated session on December 6th.

• Personal Business Planning Workshop:
  Scheduled for December 6th, focusing on leveraging AI for business growth. Members receive a discount on the registration fee.

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Final Thoughts

This episode sets the foundation for understanding the exceptional traits of ultra-high achievers in the sales domain. By dissecting their unique thought processes and behaviors, Bill and Bryan provide valuable insights for sales professionals aiming to transcend conventional success and achieve extraordinary results.

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For more information and to join the Insider Program, visit AdvancedSellingPodcast.com/Insider.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome, everybody, to the Advanced Selling Podcast, the longest running sales training podcast in the history of podcasts. My name is Brian Neal.

[B]

I'm impressed. It's been a few weeks since we've recorded and you remembered every last word on the script. It's a script.

[A]

How long has it been? This is our. We have to look up the exact date of our first episode. I feel like it's in November.

[B]

September. It was.

[A]

It is September. So we're a couple months past our 17th. Correct or 18th.

[B]

18Th.

[A]

It was 18th year of podcasting. And me tell people that they don't believe you. We've got a big LinkedIn group on.

[B]

Remarkable.

[A]

It really is.

[B]

You can stand me and I can stand you for 18 years.

[A]

Let's talk. We do. We do get along just fine, I think. I love it. It's fun and we hope you enjoy it too. We got the Insider program. By the way, this is a great time of year to look in the mirror and say, what am I going to do next year for.

[B]

Yeah, can I make a plug for the Insider? Really quickly, on December 6th, we're doing our personal business planning workshop. And it's a public workshop. It's open to public, but there's a fee. But if you want to get a discount at 1/12 off, join Insider. If you want to. You can join for December or join for a month and then let it go. I think you're going to find that you like it. But if you want to get access to that for 40, $47, I think it's a great value. It's a, it's a two hour business planning session and we're going to, we're going to use AI as part of this session, which is something new this year. So if you, if you haven't joined, join and everybody there gets access to that. So that's my pitch.

[A]

So members, you're in already. Non members. What do they do again?

[B]

Go to advance selling podcast dot com. That's a good point. Slash Insider and it'll take you right there and you can check it out and then you can buy it. You can enroll there, register there.

[A]

That's fantastic. That's really, really great. And that's worth. I'm telling you, if you have, if you want someone to facilitate your business planning session, with which all of you should, and then get some feedback from people in the group and Bill, that's good. High recommendation.

[B]

All right, so I got a quick, funny story. I got to make sure my wife's not listening in. I don't try.

[A]

You're in a different space.

[B]

We'll whisper. You know how sometimes when you tell people the way things are, they refuse to believe it. And I know we face this in our training, you know, we will say, well, here's how to do it. And they'll say, well, but that's not the way I've always done it. The way I've always done it is this way. And I'm. I'm frustrated, I'm struggling, but I'm going to stick to what I've always done.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's a, it's a lifelong thing. We all do it. It's called strongholds. In the Bible, we have strongholds. We just, we just latch onto a belief and we. I don't care. You could show me how my belief is wrong. I'm not going to look at it. La la la la la la. I'm just not going to look and listen. So in the fall in Indiana, Midwest, we have a lot of leaves that, you know, shut off the trees. And I said, shed off the trees. And usually in the fall between, in October, November, the garbage disposal people, the waste management people will pick up an extra eight or ten bags of leaves per. Per Monday or whenever your day is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So very nice, generous and all that. So a couple weeks ago, I raked and got stuff ready and There was like 10 bags out there. And I came home midday the next day, and somebody had tried to stuff all these bags into our two blue large containers on wheels.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's like, who did that? What the hell? And I thought, well, maybe the garbage guy came by and tried to stuff it in and he wouldn't take it. I didn't understand. I said to Jane, what's going on? She goes, oh, I. I stuffed it in because they, they want you to stuff those into the containers. I'm like, well, you have 10 bags. There's no way you're going to get 10 of those. You get two maybe in. So now you've got six sitting out and two. She goes, well, I just, you know, cut a brother a break. I mean, these guys, you know, work hard, and if we can just help them a little bit, it's okay. So I'm all for cutting brothers breaks. Yeah. So next week I have some more leaves, probably eight bags. And I came home at lunch and all the bags were gone, but the garbage in the cans were not taken out, which tells me there's a different crew. Yes, the crew is not the same. It's a crew just for landscape Trash.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So I told her. I told her that that night. I said, you know, you don't have to stuff bags anymore because it's a whole different crew. And she goes, well, I don't know about that. I said, well, I do, because I came home, bags gone, cart container still there. Something's going on. Unless we had somebody steal the bags of leaves. So. So we finally sorted that out. Well, this week, I put out. Put out about eight or 10 bags again. And I come back, you know, midday, and the cans are still there, but they've been stuffed. Goes out and stuffs these damn things. And she goes, cut a bright. You know, come on, these guys. I'm like, it's a different crew. And then I said, you know that you're taking their livelihood away because they get paid for bag. I know they do. It's a commission.

[A]

Brother out.

[B]

Help a brother out. Yeah, help him make some more money. You're taking $4 or whatever it is a dollar, and you're putting it in somebody else's pocket. I said, cut a brother. Oh, she did not like that. But isn't that funny how I told her. She knew it. She goes, well, you better call Republic or better. I'm like, oh, I. I know. So what do you do? I mean, you just laugh. You just smile.

[A]

Oh, I'm laughing with you. Oh, it's funny. That is funny. And it's just like, there's no, like, changing the mind there. You know, there's no evidence. And even still, like, well, we still want to stuff them in the trash can. Even if there's a second.

[B]

I said, if you go out there and look the next time. And these guys that are actually taking the bags, I bet they look at the containers and just shake their head.

[A]

Exactly like, what are they doing?

[B]

What are they doing to me? They took money out of my pile.

[A]

Mercy.

[B]

They're all moping around.

[A]

What happened then? Christmas. Why? Well, you know, hold a second. Car. They stuffed the bags. No. Who's been stuffing the bags? You stuff the bags. No, no. Why do I stuff the bag?

[B]

Perfect.

[A]

Seinfeld. No more stuffing the bag. Don't stuff the bags.

[B]

I'll be playing this episode mad at you, too.

[A]

So that's okay because I'm with you. I believe you. I. Reasonable deduction tells me there's two crews. I trust you inherently, and there's no reason to stuff the bags anymore.

[B]

She goes, why are you so obsessed with this? I'm like.

[A]

And now we podcasted about it. Exactly seven minutes in, I told Her.

[B]

I said this will be a podcast episode. You go, oh, whatever.

[A]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[B]

Okay, okay, let's get, let's get to it.

[A]

So Bill came up with a topic that is fantastic. So we're gonna talk today about the, call it the Ultra High Achiever. We're not, we're gonna go through and talk about people who sort of write their own rules, who break their own records, who are what some might say untouchable people in their own league, people on an island, people on your sales team. Like. Well, you know, we all, you know, there's 15 of us, but Bill's, he's got his own thing. And Bill triples the next closest person we thought we'd talk about what those people in a three episode series, how do they think differently than even regular, what I'd call regular high achievers? What do they do differently? And then episode three, what do they say differently? What's their language like? And you mentioned something before we started, which is we're not sure that people really think that there's that much difference. You know, they think, I think you said, Bill, they're doing the same thing I'm doing, they're doing more of it or they've been doing it longer or they got a better territory or something like that.

[B]

Have better relationships.

[A]

Yes. Or they get better favors from operations or that, you know, they always, they always get their deals pricing better. They, they, they.

[B]

Well, you and I have both worked with these people and you could name them on a couple of hands. This is not a frequent thing, but it's, you know, if we say the 8020 rule, if you take that down, it's probably the 490 rule or whatever where the 4% do what the 60% do. And so we've got some experience at that. We've each written down a handful of things. So why don't we do think first as you said? For sure.

[A]

Yeah. I'll just say what might be the obvious, but maybe it isn't. That's why we're doing this. They, they think about outcomes in an exponential way. And so what I mean by that is most people compare themselves to the average. So most people measure themselves in a group of salespeople to the mean or the average. I find that ultra high achieving people have no, no visibility to the average whatsoever. They, they strictly measure themselves against their own potential performance which tends to always be exponential relative to other people. And just simply put, if the average revenue in a 10 person sales team is a million dollars, this person doesn't Even consider a million dollars in revenue at all. They don't even think about it. They think.

[B]

They don't use that as the baseline.

[A]

No, but someone who's on a team of, of 10 salespeople where the average of all sales territories is a million, does a million too. Feels like they're doing great because they're 20% ahead of the average and probably in second or third place and they get a nice little commission and bonus and they feel good about themselves and that sort of thing. High, ultra high achievement people. It's not even in their, in their wherewithal, not even in their DNA to think anything close to average.

[B]

So in lieu of, of having a baseline that is either everybody else or average or even quota, what's the, what's the solution there? How should I be. I've got an idea, but I want to hear yours. How should I be thinking about my goal differently?

[A]

Yeah. I think it's one, it's a, it's a measurement against the self. First of all, it's my own potential. I'm looking at my own potential now. I'm using some data like past experience and what I've done in the past, but I'm always looking to increase that. And the other thing is, this is a trade. I see. So God bless my Indiana Hoosiers football team. I mean, I've been an IU fan since I remember, since I was a kid and we're 10 and oh, and if you listen to their coach, Coach Signetti talk about. He talks a lot about how they play and their toughness and resilience, but he also says, the last thing. He says it's one of their team models is never satisfied. Never satisfied. They're not satisfied at 10 and oh, Nick Saban was not satisfied with the national championship. Bill Belichick was not satisfied with the fourth Super Bowl. They're never satisfied. I think ultra high achievement people are wired that way.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm wondering how much sometimes we ultra high achievers will look at the possibilities or the potential of a territory instead of what I did last year or what everybody.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Good. Yeah.

[B]

It's the possibility thinking that we don't usually engage in. Like when we do this business planning session here in a few weeks. That is one of the questions I'm going to ask is, okay, forget about past, forget about present. What's possible in your market territory, in your business? What if you, you know, just take all the shackles off of priors and just look at what's possible and Not. Well, if we got 100% of every deal. No, that's not. That's. That's unlikely. But I think we should deal more in the possibilities there.

[A]

I love that. Yeah, I would agree. I would absolutely endorse that, too. That they're not. They're not. They're never. They're never looking, like backwards or down, and they're also not. So this might be another thinking thing. I also feel that ultra high achievers are extremely objective. Extremely objective. Way more so than average achievers or above average achievers, especially in sales. And what I mean by that is they're objective about the deals that they should be working on and deals that they shouldn't. They're really good at that. They're good discerners. They are really good at knowing when a client should take a certain action or buy a certain quantity of stuff for certain reasons.

[B]

I think that's number two. I think you've used. You've kind of used your allotment here.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But I think that's number two. I just had a lady in one of my programs. We were talking, she's been in about 12 weeks, and I said, what. What are some things that you take out? And she said, detachment and objectively looking at things from an unemotional standpoint and being able to say, well, we can go down this road, but that ain't going to get us where we want to be. This road might be better. Let's talk about it. Let's ask the customer, which road do we want to. It's like, it's. Rather than keep it a secret from the customer or prospect, why don't we say, look, we've got two different avenues we can go down. Which one do you think we should go down? Totally detached from the outcome, getting input from all areas. I love that one.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And she has been successful at doing some investment brokerage, investment capital. And it's because she's not emotionally tied up in knots over the outcome.

[A]

So much better subjective.

[B]

Okay, can I do one?

[A]

Yeah, sure.

[B]

Okay. I think. Yeah, you've got seven. I think you did seven. Six or seven. I think there's an extreme ownership of the outcomes. And this. These all kind of, you know, kind of lay over each other or overlay each other. They don't lay over. They overlay anyway. And it's the idea that if it is to be, it is up to me. I think Dale Carnegie or Zig Ziglar said that. And if we are going to triple our business, our income, nobody's going to help you do it because quite frankly, they may not know how. Your VP of marketing and sales may not know how to get you from a million of revenue to 10 million of revenue. They will look at that and say, oh, slow down, Brian. I mean, come on, just go for 1.5. They don't know how. So you're going to have to be the architect of that destiny. And the way to do that is to take ownership of everything. Of everything. You know Oprah Winfrey, we've talked about her before. While she's not one of. One of my favorite people, generally, she's an awesome businesswoman.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She doesn't let anything go out of that Harpo Studios, unless she sees it.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

The color's not right on the magazine or her hair colors off. It doesn't go. And so she takes extreme ownership and everything. And I think we all need to be. If you want to be a high achiever, ultra high, I think you have to do that.

[A]

I also contrast this to the above average performer, the person again, in a sales team of 40, who's number five, who's feeling pretty good, not number one. And how they look at the same thing that way. And there's no doubt there's this really big cliff drop off of extreme accountability. Yeah. Extreme ownership, as you said, you know, that you just don't hear from the ultra high achievement people. They just, just not wired that way where even a number four, you know, like, you know. Well, yeah, yeah, dig it. Number one, you know, I got. You lost that big deal because the pricing was.

[B]

Because they screwed me.

[A]

They did. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. I've got a, I've got a client who I wouldn't call him an ultra high achiever, but he's, he's getting, he's moving in that direction. And he wanted to do a video series on YouTube. And his VP of Sales said, no, I don't want you to do that. I want you to want you to be making cold calls. So we said to him, look, I'm not giving up on it. I'm going to go back to the drawing board. I'm going to bring you the full idea. I'm going to shoot a sample video. I'm going to edit it. I'm going to show you exactly what it could look like. And the VP is like, okay, that's fine. So he went out, he paid a designer to design a thumbnail. He didn't build a set, but he got his set, right. He got it. He bought a microphone for 30 bucks. And he had a $50 fiverr. Dude, edit this down. And it was really good. Now he shows it to his VP of sales and his VP of sales. Oh, okay, I see what you're doing. Yeah, let's do that. Why don't all of our people. And so sometimes when it takes extreme ownership, if you're not getting what you want, you probably haven't presented it properly, and you're going to have to go back to a drawing board and present it with a little Riz and a little, you know, jack it up, juice it up. So that's the idea.

[A]

Little Riz, your grandpa Bill dropping the. You don't even have a kid that age anyway.

[B]

I know what it means, but I.

[A]

Know because it's like your. Your kids are a little older now. See, my kids are into the Riz. I mean, geez, showing me up here. I gotta get my game straight.

[B]

Gotta get your game face.

[A]

Nice drip there. Nice Pacer strip. You know what that is? Close. Like drip.

[B]

That's like, oh, Pacer drip. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, Mr. Fox, I get to go back.

[A]

Okay, let's see. I will say on this one, they. They think about, maybe, I don't want to repeat. They think about un. They think unconventionally. They think unconventionally. And so what unconventionally to me means here is they. They're constantly looking for new ways to do things without being prompted, told, or taught. So an easy example, and I think you're going to talk about this in your business planning session in the Insider, you said is the leverage of use of AI, how to teach themselves how to use AI and to think. Okay, I'm going to. I'm in this territory. I want to see. I see this expansive stuff. I'm thinking a big broad number here. And now I'm going to think, what tool can I go to harness that I don't know, or that my competitors don't have and that sort of thing. And they go and find it. So they, they think unconventionally. They would. They would host their own TV show. It's an unconventional thought, right? You know what I mean? They would, they would. They would think very, very differently. They would, they would. They would host a competitive summit with their competitors. Most people like, oh, you can't do that. It's like, why my, my competitors, I know one of these people, one of these high ultra people, he is so good with his competitors, and they're not. But they're not trading secrets. But you have respect. They talk about, you know, neutral, generic things in their industry. He's like a leader and a really respected competitor that way. So that, that's, they.

[B]

That's so good. That's. That's unconventional.

[A]

Right?

[B]

The, the example was you're a pioneer. You say, oh, wait a minute, TikTok. I don't use TikTok. My kids do. But is this where the market's going? Should I, should we have a TikTok channel? I mean, they are unafraid. And Gary Vaynerchuk talks about this a lot. They're unafraid of saying, I don't know, let's give it a go. Right. All we can do is it's not like we're having to build a TikTok studio. I mean, it's just. But they are willing to take risks in those unconventional ways of thinking. I love that I've got one here that. I don't know how you feel about this, but I've seen it too many times. So it's a trend to me where the ultra high achiever is kind of not motivated by the financial impact. They're more motivated by the purpose of their business life. And they're, they're focused on serving the customer at the highest, best possible value and they're focused on serving as many customers as they can and they're doing group trainings instead of one to one. They're focused so much on the purpose behind the business and not so much on the spoils of the business. And that's not everybody. But it feels to me like when you are driven by purpose, nothing's hard. There's no fear. There's no like, oh, what are they gonna think of me? It's like, I don't care. I don't care what they think because I'm, I'm on purpose for this. What do you think about that?

[A]

100 agree. 100 agree. They. And I add, I'm gonna. Where I thought you were going, which is not. I love where you went. They very rarely do hear these people talk about their commission check and stuff. They love. They feel very comfortable in their own skin with what they've achieved. But the other part of this is they obsess over the process to get there more so than the outcome. They love the deal strategy stuff. They love the engineering of a, of a, of a solution for a customer. They love pulling an outside resources that aren't there and doing unique things. They love. It's the love of the hunt and the, the just the process, the in between part way more than the outcome. That's really good. It's Very true.

[B]

Yeah, it's what's. It's behind it's backstage stuff. It's not things you'll see, it's them in the evening hours by a candlelight.

[A]

With soft music and a Ouija board.

[B]

Less of noir is planning out their day and it's a blank piece of paper that they fill up with brainstorming and ideas and iterations and they. They ruminate on things and they ask questions and they document and they draw that stuff the average achiever just doesn't do. No, like, I gotta watch Netflix. I don't have time for that.

[A]

All right, and we can talk about this later. I.

[B]

The.

[A]

One of the questions I have let's talk about in the next episode in the doing is do Pete, do the average people not do it? Cause they don't want to or they don't know how or both. Let's talk about that in the doing thing. I'm just interested in that.

[B]

So when you do know to do but don't do. Totally.

[A]

Exactly. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[B]

Okay. All right. I think that's enough for today. There. There's. We could go in a lot of different directions with this, but just suffice it to say that how one thinks determines how one acts. And if you want to be an Ultra High Achiever, you've got to change your thinking. And that's what we tried to give you today. There's several others become self aware, which actually you already did. But we'll. We'll catch you next week and we'll do the to do part. What do ultra High achievers do differently?

[A]

All right, see you next time.

[B]

Okay, bye.