Every sales leader wants to know: what separates the good from the great? According to Mark Hunter and Meridith Elliott Powell, it all comes down to preparation. Top performers aren’t born; they’re built through habits, mindset, and relentless focus on finding an edge.
Why Preparation Changes Everything
Preparation is more than just doing your homework before a call. It’s about maximizing your chances of a meaningful, productive outcome. Meridith compares it to sports: athletes warm up, visualize, and condition themselves so that when game time comes, they’re ready for anything. Top salespeople do the same.
You can’t just “wing it” and expect consistent results. In today’s marketplace, buyers expect expertise, insight, and effort. It’s the little things like knowing the acronyms, understanding the customer’s industry, even anticipating objections that set the best apart.
“If you have the mindset that something is going to come out of it, something will.” —Mark Hunter
Mindset Comes First
How you show up matters. Mark says the mindset you bring to the call shapes the outcome. Top performers don’t just hope for success, they visualize it. They picture the call flowing smoothly, the energy matching, the conversation turning into a partnership. This doesn’t happen by accident.
They prepare well in advance, not just scrambling two minutes before the meeting. That means research, notes, and a list of probing questions that drive toward value.
Great Questions, Not Great Presentations
Average sellers prepare product pitches. Top performers prepare questions.
“The best presentation ever made is the presentation never given.” —Mark Hunter
What that means: when you truly know your material and your customer, you don’t need a script. You can adapt, guide the conversation, and follow the customer wherever they need to go.
Top performers don’t hide behind easy questions. They dig deeper, ask about challenges, and aren’t afraid to tackle tough issues. This sparks real conversations that lead to lasting relationships and bigger opportunities.
Research, Personalization, and Objection-Handling
Preparation starts with research, as in annual reports, LinkedIn profiles, even competitors. But it doesn’t stop there. Meridith emphasizes that your job is to make educated guesses on where you can best help the customer, and then validate them in conversation.
Top performers also anticipate and prepare for objections, knowing that resistance is part of every qualified sale. They can pivot in real-time and provide relevant stories for any scenario because they’ve practiced mentally before they ever pick up the phone.
“Sales deals are won on tiny little bits of information, tiny little specifics.” —Meridith Elliott Powell
Ruthless with Time, Relentless with Follow Up
Pipeline management is another hallmark of preparation. Top sellers are honest with themselves. If a deal is stuck, they remove it—no matter how much they might want it to stay. This focus lets them invest time where it counts.
They never run out of value to add, or follow-up strategies to try. Calling just to “check in” isn’t in their playbook. Every interaction is about moving the deal forward or establishing trust for the future.
Preparation: It’s a Lifestyle
For top performers, preparation isn’t an event. It’s a routine. From the moment they wake up, their schedule, habits, and visualization rituals are designed to put them in the best possible position to win. After a call, they debrief, adjust, and prepare for the next step.
“The most valuable resource you have is your own time, and you need to use it incredibly well.” —Mark Hunter
Recommended Reading
Sell the Way You Buy by David Premier gets a shout-out on this episode. Both Mark Hunter and Meridith Elliott Powell agree: understanding why customers buy puts you in the best possible position to help them.
Lightning Round: Top 10 Lessons from the First Quarter
- Track your win-loss ratio. Are you getting in front of the right people?
- Build urgency in your calls. Find reasons why a decision matters to the customer now.
- Analyze why customers said yes. Pay attention to what worked.
- Identify decision makers early. There are more people at the table than ever before.
- Measure your referral activity. Know how many you gave and received, and from where.
- Review your follow-up process. Where are deals falling out?
- Spot time-wasters. Be honest about what’s not working.
- Optimize your day’s start and finish. Tiny shifts can free up more customer time.
- Track marketplace changes. Compare this quarter to the last. Watch for shifts.
- Check your mindset. Stay out of the negative. Rally with peers who push you higher.
Question: Roy from Phoenix AZ “My manager says I need to prepare more, but honestly my best calls have been when I just go in natural and conversational — am I wrong?”
Book: Sell the Way You Buy by David Priemer