If you want to know what truly separates top performers in sales, then look no further than these three simple characteristics below. Each and every top professional I know practices these habitually, and when I focused on these early in my career, I, too, became the top producer in my office of 25 sales reps.

These “rules” as I call them are essential for your success, and you should make it a point to incorporate and work on them every day of your professional career. If you do, you will easily rise to the top of your company and your industry. Read them over now and commit to incorporating them into your daily routine:

1. Invest in your attitude every day. You absolutely must do everything you can do to develop, protect, and nurture a contagiously enthusiastic attitude. Now more than ever, your attitude will be the biggest determining factor affecting your success in your profession of sales. Think about all the negative people you’re going to run into today, this week and this month. Are you going to infect them with your positive, can do attitude, or are you going to get more and more negative with each phone call? IT IS UP TO YOU!!

   Starting this week, get into the habit of feeding your mind and attitude daily with affirmations, by listening to motivational CD’s, by reading two pages a day in a positive book, and by goal setting. If you haven’t read books like, “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield, or “Beyond Positive Thinking” by Dr. Robert Anthony, then go to Amazon and order them today.

   An all time favorite of mine is an 8 minute DVD I’ve watched over and over on my lap top called: “Finish Strong” by Dan Green and can be found at their website called “simpletruths.” That book/DVD alone will be a great investment in your attitude.

2. Sharpen Your Sales Skills. Let’s face it – there is no room for error in today’s competitive sales environment. Sloppy sales presentations, poorly qualified leads, and just plain lazy and bad habits are going to make you miserable in your job. You must, and I mean must, learn, practice and use effective sales techniques that will allow you to identify buyers and then deliver effective presentations to close business.

   The Top 20% will do well because they already use effective skills and spend time getting better, but the bottom 80% are going to sink like a stone. I’d say that up to one quarter of all sales reps will lose their jobs in the next 12 months because they won’t improve enough to make it in this environment.

   What are YOU doing now to improve your skills each day?

3. Start Listening To Your Prospects. Now more than ever, it’s crucially important that you learn how to connect with your prospects and show them you really care about what they’re going through and what their needs are. 80% of your competition is going to pitch and pitch and pitch, and this turns off the people they are trying to sell. The Top 20% take the time to understand the difficulties their prospects and clients are going through and they find ways to help them. And it all begins with listening.

   People are going to buy from people they like, know or trust, and the best way to build this rapport is by asking questions and actually listening to their answers.

Trust me when I tell you that these three simple rules are the bedrock of success in sales. Eighty percent of your competition won’t do these things, but if you will, you will smoke them in sales. In fact, you can become a Top 5% or even a Top 1% producer if you will just take the time to make these rules daily habits.

Remember – first we form habits and then they form us.