And how to close the gap in your own sales function, and build your own high performance sales team.
In B2B sales, high performance sales teams will consistently outpace an “average but busy” sales function – in revenue, profit, deal size, and speed to close.
And here’s the truth most leaders miss: the difference isn’t always talent. It’s process, discipline, and how consistently those behaviours are executed.
A high performance sales team treats selling like a professional sport – refining its playbook weekly, measuring what matters, and building competitive advantage with every deal cycle.
As a sales improvement consultancy working with CEOs, CROs, and Sales Leaders, I’ve seen these patterns repeat across industries. This article unpacks the exact habits, disciplines, and strategies that set high-performance sales teams apart from average ones – plus a practical roadmap to start making the shift in your own business.
1. They Start with Absolute Clarity on Who They Sell To
Every top-tier rep can describe their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), buying triggers, and qualification criteria in detail – without guessing.
Why it matters: Clear targeting means less wasted time on poor-fit leads and more wins from the right prospects.
Action step for sales leaders: Audit your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) development. If your team can’t recite it with confidence, you have a clarity problem.
2. They Qualify Harder Than They Close
High performers are ruthless about disqualifying deals that don’t meet strict criteria.
Counter-intuitive truth: They actually sell more by chasing fewer deals.
Action step: Introduce a formal qualification framework (like MEDDIC, BANT sales qualification framework, or CHAMP) and make it part of your CRM hygiene.
3. They Treat Pipeline Hygiene Like a Surgeon Treats Sterility
Every opportunity is documented with next steps, a decision date, and a named decision-maker. No ghost deals lurking for months.
Action step: Implement a “no next step, no pipeline” rule in your sales process. You can discover more about how to really clean up your sales crm on our free webinar – Fix Your Leaky Sales Pipeline
4. They Make Sales Meetings Cost-Positive
Pipeline reviews aren’t passive data readings – they’re active deal-strategy sessions.
Action step: Redesign your weekly sales meetings to include role-playing, objection handling, and sales performance improvement training.
5. They Keep Playbooks Alive
High-performance teams update their sales playbooks weekly with fresh insights from calls, wins, and losses.
Action step: Assign a “playbook champion” to capture and update best practices in real time.
6. They Sell the Problem Before the Product
Every conversation anchors in the buyer’s pain economics – what the problem is costing them – before solutions are pitched.
Action step: Train your team in value-based selling training so they lead with a quantified cost-of-inaction statement in every sales conversation.
7. They Hunt in Packs
For complex B2B deals, sales isn’t a solo sport. They bring SDRs, AEs, engineers, and customer success into the pursuit early.
Action step: Build a standard “deal squad” structure for strategic opportunities.
8. They Treat Objections as Buying Signals
“Too expensive” or “Not right now” are moments to reframe and deepen the conversation – not dead ends.
Action step: Create an objection handling in B2B sales library and rehearse responses in every team meeting.
9. They Coach Daily, Not Quarterly
Leaders are in the field, on calls, and reviewing deals daily – reinforcing habits before they drift.
Action step: Invest in sales coaching for leaders to embed coaching into daily workflows, not just quarterly reviews.
10. They Make Metrics Personal
Each rep knows their conversion rates, deal velocity, and average deal size – and where they rank in the team.
Action step: Share individual and team metrics weekly. Celebrate top performance and address gaps fast. This is one of the first areas we cover in the Sales Insights Audit
11. They Win by Design, Not Luck
Every pipeline stage has exit criteria, and every deal has a written mutual close plan with the buyer.
Action step: Introduce “mutual action plans” into your closing process.
12. They Protect Price Like Profit Depends on It
Because it does. Discounting is rare, controlled, and tied to strategic concessions – never panic.
Action step: Require leader approval for all discounts over a set threshold.
The Hard Truth for Sales Leaders
Most average sales teams know some of these principles.
Very few execute all of them with discipline and consistency.
If you really want to see the gap between what a sales team KNOWS and what they DO consistently – look at the profit margin!
That’s why high-performance teams widen the gap quarter after quarter – while others work harder but not smarter.
How to Start Moving from Average to High-Performance
If you’re leading an average-performance sales team, here’s your first move:
- Pick one discipline from the list above. Make it non-negotiable for 90 days.
- Embed it into daily workflows, not just training slides.
- Measure it weekly – and share the results to build momentum.
Change one lever at a time, and you’ll see exponential gains without overwhelming your team. high performance sales teams are built on one great sales habit after another…consistently embedding new sales habits and behaviours until they become unbeatable.
Next Steps for B2B Sales Leaders Who Want a High-Performance Sales Function
I’ve compiled 100 proven, actionable strategies to boost sales performance, close rates, and margins in my free guide:
Download: 100 Ways to Improve Sales in Your B2B Sales Team
If you want to shortcut the trial-and-error and design your own high-performance sales machine, we can map it together:
Book Your Sales Improvement Call
About Morton Kyle Limited
For over 20 years, we’ve helped CEOs, CROs, and Sales Leaders turn underperforming sales functions into revenue powerhouses, and ultimately, high performance sales teams. Our mantra: Sales improvement isn’t magic – it’s method.
Hi, welcome to Morton Kyle Limited.
As Founder and Lead Consultant, I’ve spent the last 30+ years in the trenches of sales—fixing broken pipelines, rebuilding underperforming teams, and helping businesses close more deals at higher margins.
I’ve worked with global brands, challenger firms, and fast-growth sales teams, helping them:
✔ Fix underperforming pipelines – turning ghosted leads into closed deals.
✔ Increase win rates – without discounting or chasing bad-fit prospects.
✔ Build sales systems that actually work – so you don’t waste time on ‘busy work’ that doesn’t convert.
I’m not another ‘sales trainer.’ I don’t teach theory. I fix sales problems – fast. And if you’re still reading, it means you’ve got a problem that needs fixing.
I know how sales leaders think because I’ve been one. I know what the board wants because I’ve sat in those meetings.
And I know what works – because I’ve done it, tested it, and proved it across industries, markets, and economic downturns.
Download your free copy of 100 Sales Improvement Opportunities for B2B Sales Teams