top earning AEs are lazy

i was at dinner with a rep who made $850k last year

i asked him... how many deals did you close?

he said 6

i almost choked

6 deals? that's it?

meanwhile i know reps doing 80 dials a day, sending 200 emails a week,
grinding 60 hour weeks... barely hitting quota

so i asked him... what's your secret?

he laughed and said... "i talk to almost nobody"

sounds backwards. it's not

he told me a story that blew my mind

a Fortune 100 company sent him an RFP

he looked at it and said... nah.. they're using me to price match

so he told them... unless i get discovery calls first, i'm not responding

bro... that is ballsy

most of us... myself included... would be glowing the second that hit our inbox

a fortune 100??

and you know what happened?

he got the discovery calls

i asked him... aren't you scared of leaving money on the table?

he said something i'll never forget

"i'm not leaving money on the table. i'm leaving traps on the table. bad deals aren't money. they're quicksand"

that landed hard

because i've been that rep drowning in activity. calendar packed. pipeline bloated. closing nothing

so i started watching what these top performers actually do
they say no... constantly

no to bad fit prospects. no to "just curious" calls. no to anything that doesn't move the needle

while everyone else is celebrating activity metrics... they're in 3 conversations. maybe 4

but those 3 conversations are with the right people, at the right companies, at the right time

every call is a real opportunity. every deal is ROI positive and winnable

they're not outworking you

they're out thinking you

activity metrics are a trap. they reward motion, not progress

being selective is a skill

the best AEs i know have empty calendars and full bank accounts

that's not a coincidence