The best sales reps sell the easiest products to sell

Diving into one of the biggest paradoxes in sales

To know me is to know that I am a beaten and battered Mets/Jets fan. My Jets have had it worse; the Mets are on an upward trajectory with Stevie Cohen at the helm.

The Jets are in the middle of the most disappointing season of my lifetime. Why? They're dysfunctional AF.

Even Aaron Rodgers, one of the best quarterbacks ever, couldn't fix it. The Jets are where good talent dies because the environment is not conducive to success.

Take Sam Darnold—second overall pick in 2019, undeniable talent. But with a bad O-line, no weapons, and poor coaching, he went 13-25 and was traded for peanuts.

Fast-forward to 2024: Darnold has led the Vikings to an 8-2 record, is looking at a huge payday, and is one of the NFL's best quarterbacks this year.

It's the same story with Geno Smith—Jets washout turned Pro Bowler in Seattle.

This consistently happens in the NFL across the league:

The bottom line? You can be the most talented person in the world, but you must be set up for success to win every time, or else it’s a losing battle.

I see this same pattern in GTM and early-stage sales.

The best GTM professionals do 1 thing better than anyone else - they put themselves in positions to win. They hit on as many of these 11 traits as possible, but generally, they make it as easy as they can on themselves.

When you're selling the top product with tons of inbound leads, the rest takes care of itself.

Look at how many talented salespeople miss quota simply because it's impossible to hit. As Collin Cadmus points out:

"But their salespeople aren't significantly better"—exactly. Often, they're equally talented, if not more.

Are those folks hitting 10% of quota at the organization that has overhired bad at sales? Not at all—it’s an unfortunate situation they’re in.

The best reps go where products are easiest to sell, which means heavy inbound (the company has invested in marketing BEFORE sales), active buyer demand (a hot space with a true need for what you sell), and market leadership (not fighting for third place).

They're skilled enough to identify these organizations.

They're skilled enough to pass these brutal interviews (these roles are rare and highly sought after).

As Alex Hormozi notes:

Level 4 salespeople chase the top opportunities where selling barely feels like selling. Imagine being in sales at OpenAI right now—companies are creating entire budgets for your products, and they can try them before buying, and everyone loves you.

Here's the anti-take:

What outdated thinking.

The best reps aren't at ADP/Oracle/PTC/John McMahon tree. IYKYK - they're too salesy, pushy, not cerebral, etc.

Unfortunately, you don’t get credit for powering through a tough sales environment. You almost get slightly penalized because people might think less of your decision-making ability in that you even joined it in the first place.

Today's top reps are at OpenAI/Anthropic/Stripe circa 2018. They sell the easiest products because they can.

And because you get your next job many times from the people you work with at your current job, all you need is one person to say yes to you into one of these career-changing opportunities, making the future a lot easier.

You have an easier time selling (which makes it enjoyable), you can get pulled into the next wave of great companies (because people hire from their networks first), and you can speak to the success you had at the company (because you were set up for it).

Keep grinding till you get into these opportunities, and watch your career take off.