--- title: The Only Way to Judge Your Success in Sales | The Sales Blog description: "The Gist: You might measure your success in sales by your income or how often you make President’s Club, two good measures. Another way is to track the number and value of your won deals. But the best way to judge your success is by the difference you made for your clients, the mother of […]" image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_1845834313.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! Learn more](https://www.thesalesblog.com/authority) [![Iannarino The Sales Blog](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/2021%20Website/Images/ai-logo-web.svg) ](https://www.thesalesblog.com) - WIN AT SALES - The Sales Environment - [ Sales is broken ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/sales-is-broken) - [ Modern sales ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/revenue-growth-blueprint) - Sales Resources - [ Blog ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog) - [ Podcast ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/the-anthony-iannarino-show) - [ Live Training Events ](https://events.thesalesblog.com) - [ Modern Sales Methodologies for Enterprises ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/modern-sales-metholodogies) [![View Events](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/b2e09c31-23bf-4ae9-b840-9ce632f62111.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/b2e09c31-23bf-4ae9-b840-9ce632f62111) ###### Live Training Events ### Upcoming training events & workshops [![Sales Accelerator Training](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/cda2541c-e77c-44de-9752-0a68716d50e9.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/cda2541c-e77c-44de-9752-0a68716d50e9) ###### Online Training Platform ### Sales Accelerator [![Revenue Growth Blueprint](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/b2913e6b-029b-4079-96bb-20e4ad251bc6.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/b2913e6b-029b-4079-96bb-20e4ad251bc6) ###### #1 Resource ### Revenue Growth Blueprint - [ BLOG ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog) - [ SPEAKING ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/speaking) - SALES TRAINING - [ Sales Accelerator + Monthly Webinars Bundle ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/sales-training-events-bundle) - [ For Individual Reps ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/individuals) - [ For Teams ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/sales-accelerator) - [ Events & Other Programs ](https://events.thesalesblog.com) - [ Hire Anthony to Speak ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/speaking) - [ Modern Sales Methodologies for Enterprises ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/modern-sales-metholodogies) - [ EVENTS ](https://events.thesalesblog.com) - [ BOOKS ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/books) - [ ABOUT ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/anthony-iannarino) - [ CONTACT ](https://www.thesalesblog.com/contact) - Hit Sales Targets [![View Events](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/b2e09c31-23bf-4ae9-b840-9ce632f62111.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/b2e09c31-23bf-4ae9-b840-9ce632f62111) ###### LIVE TRAINING EVENTS ### Upcoming virtual training events & in-person workshops ###### Improve your win rates [![Speaking](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/2a02e2ae-517f-42dc-a8db-40ef42615279.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/2a02e2ae-517f-42dc-a8db-40ef42615279) ###### Keynotes & Workshops ### Hire Anthony to Speak @ Your Event # The Only Way to Judge Your Success in Sales ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) May 1, 2021 ### The Gist: - You might measure your success in sales by your income or how often you make President’s Club, two good measures. - Another way is to track the number and value of your won deals. - But the best way to judge your success is by the difference you made for your clients, the mother of all the other measures. The best way to judge your [success in sales](https://thesalesblog.com/2020/08/31/a-daily-checklist-for-success-in-sales/) is not the number of zeros on your paycheck or how many times you were awarded a trip to President’s Club, although both might offer evidence of your success. Likewise, success may or may not be directly related to the number of deals you won, or the size and nature of those deals, or even to your overall win rate. No, I have another measure in mind, one that arguably leads to all the stacked rankings, performance bonuses, and won deals: how you helped your clients improve their results. This approach aligns with the principles found in the best B2B sales books, which often emphasize the importance of client success as a measure of a salesperson's effectiveness. ![your attentions and your success](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_1860525319.jpg?width=940&height=400&name=shutterstock_1860525319.jpg) ## Your Intentions and Your Success There is nothing wrong with wanting to [win your dream client’s business](https://thesalesblog.com/2021/02/07/insight-based-selling-how-to-change-your-clients-mind-as-a-consultative-salesperson/). In fact, it’s healthy to want to win, especially when so many salespeople simply go through the motions, never giving themselves over to their craft. Nor is it a bad thing to want to make money, a surplus of which can provide more choices and more opportunities to contribute. But to truly increase your likelihood of achieving success in sales, take a long look at your intentions. In many of my posts, you’ll find a recurring theme of “[the sales conversation](https://thesalesblog.com/2021/04/10/powerful-ways-to-use-questions-in-the-sales-conversation/),” a term that describes the conversations we have with clients and prospects that result in an opportunity and potentially being awarded their business. To make those conversations valuable and effective, you need to distance yourself from early conversations about your company and your solutions, making room for conversations about your client, their challenges, and their results. We often track these conversations in our CRMs by listing the client’s name, some reference to the solution they need, and the potential revenue. But the opportunity belongs to your prospective client, as they are the ones who are gain from the opportunity, while you and your company are paid for helping them generate the better results. This is the essence of a successful sales way—focusing on client outcomes rather than just the sale. ## Who Wins? There is no reason to treat sales like almsgiving, an act of altruistic sacrifice to help someone in need. It’s also not a self-oriented pursuit to engage in without any thought or care for the other party. There is a healthy balance of interests here, and fortunately, the nature of winning deals means being client-focused, an idea that returns us to the sales way. If your outcome is winning your client’s business, the only way to achieve it is by creating value for them in the sales conversation. The more you help the decision-makers, decision-shapers, and the stakeholders who are trying to improve their results, the more you [create a preference to buy](https://thesalesblog.com/2019/09/24/9-powerful-ways-to-help-your-clients-and-create-a-preference/) from you and to work with your company. The value of your solution is only available to your clients after they decide to buy from you. The greater your intention to help your clients improve their results, the more you present yourself as someone worth doing business with in the future. Intentions are seen and felt, even if you don’t know how others perceive you. If your only intention is to win, you can easily get in your own way by projecting that you just want the deal, something very different from wanting your prospective client to succeed. ![How to be consultative](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_1842727198.jpg?width=940&height=400&name=shutterstock_1842727198.jpg) [No more pushy sales tactics. *The Lost Art of Closing* shows you how to proactively lead your customer and close your sales. ![The Lost Art of Closing](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/book-cover-tlac-Jun-14-2021-02-23-20-87-AM.jpg) ](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735211698/) ## What Makes One Consultative To be truly consultative, you have to help your clients make the right decision for their business. You have to provide them good counsel, even when your advice requires your client to do something that they would rather avoid. When the outcome they need is important to their results, you have to ensure that they do what is necessary, even if it means a number of [uncomfortable conversations](https://thesalesblog.com/2021/03/08/important-sales-conversations-rules-and-why-you-need-to-be-proactive/)—and even if it means walking away because what your client wants from you isn’t going to produce the result they need. The long game is harder to play, but it’s the only game worth playing. It is easy to engage in difficult conversations when your intention is to help your client do what they need to do, not what they would prefer to do. In B2B sales, you can sell successfully by providing your prospective client by providing your solution, as well as by replacing a current supplier who is unable or unwilling to help them with the better results they need. What makes you consultative, however, is convincing them to do what is in their best interest, even though they would prefer to do otherwise. ![How you succeed](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_1389853826.jpg?width=940&height=400&name=shutterstock_1389853826.jpg) ## How You Succeed The way that you succeed is by ensuring that your client succeeds. This can be confusing because your client can’t produce better results until they buy and execute your solution, making it seem as if you have to succeed before your client succeeds. Think of it this way: you enable your client’s future success throughout the sales conversation, the only vehicle for you to create the value your clients need to be able to make a good decision, select the right solution, execute it, and realize the better results. You create their [future success](https://thesalesblog.com/2021/04/06/how-you-compete-in-sales-is-key-to-your-success/) before you succeed in winning their business and before they begin executing on your advice. A modern sales approach better enables you to be other-oriented and client-focused, so the best thing you can do improve your results is to sell with the intention of helping your clients succeed. No matter how big the deal (or your payday from it), the way you should judge your success in sales is by the difference you made in your client’s results. ### Do Good Work: - Accept that there is nothing wrong with earning money or collecting trips to the President’s Club. - Recognize that all good things come to you only because you have helped others with an outcome that they couldn’t generate without you. - Focus on creating better results for your clients so you can create better results for yourself. [![](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/eat-their-lunch-cover2-Jun-14-2021-02-23-19-80-AM.jpg) ](https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Their-Lunch-Customers-Competition/dp/0525537627) ##### Essential Reading! ### Get my 3rd book: Eat Their Lunch "The first ever playbook for B2B salespeople on how to win clients and customers who are already being serviced by your competition." [Buy Now](https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Their-Lunch-Customers-Competition/dp/0525537627) ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [Success](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/success) [2021](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2021) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on May 1, 2021 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. You can email Anthony at [iannarino@gmail.com](mailto:iannarino@gmail.com) [Follow me on my website](https://www.thesalesblog.com/anthony-iannarino) [Follow me on Facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/thesalesblog) [Follow me on LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/iannarino/) [Follow me on Twitter ](http://www.twitter.com/iannarino) [![AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27.jpg?width=400&height=400&name=AISA-square-ad-SKOs-26-27.jpg)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/authority) [![ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1.jpg?width=318&height=179&name=ai-cold-calling-video-sidebar-offer-1.jpg)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/free-cold-calling-video) ![salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover (1)](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover%20(1).jpg?width=768&height=994&name=salescall-planner-ebook-v3-1-cover%20(1).jpg) ### Free Sales eBook: Sales Call Planner Planning your sales call improves the likelihood of making a successful call, and it demonstrates to your dream client your professionalism. [![DOWNLOAD EBOOK](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/c9f553be-fbba-4813-9199-95c1603472e7.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/c9f553be-fbba-4813-9199-95c1603472e7) ## Are You Ready To Solve Your Sales Challenges? ![Anthony-Solve-Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Anthony-Solve-Sales.png?width=290&height=221&name=Anthony-Solve-Sales.png) Hi, I’m Anthony. I help sales teams make the changes needed to create more opportunities & crush their sales targets. What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2024-08-13T10:41:58 AM", "datePublished" : "2021-05-01 14:09:49", "description" : "The Gist: You might measure your success in sales by your income or how often you make President’s Club, two good measures. Another way is to track the number and value of your won deals. But the best way to judge your success is by the difference you made for your clients, the mother of […]", "headline" : "The Only Way to Judge Your Success in Sales", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 16, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/2922376/Image/favicon.ico", "width" : 16 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/the-only-way-to-judge-your-success-in-sales", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "name" : "The Only Way to Judge Your Success in Sales", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 24, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/2922376/TSB/images/TSB%20Logo%20Dark.svg", "width" : 228 }, "name" : "The Sales Blog" } } ```