Commitment is your willingness to inconvenience yourself to do something. In fact, one measure of your commitment to our sales profession is the degree to which you are willing to inconvenience yourself in sales. Value-added salespeople are willing to inconvenience themselves to reach higher levels.

They make it a habit to do what others consider to be a hassle. What are some of the things that value-added salespeople do? They:

Plan sales calls . Someone once asked me, "Do I really need to plan every sales call?" I responded: "No, just those calls where you plan to sell something."

Have a detailed plan of attack for their number one account. Fewer than one in four salespeople have a detailed strategy on paper for their top customer. This is a huge opportunity for those who are willing to take the initiative in planning.

Research their customers. They visit Web sites and try to understand the customer's total needs for the solution that the salesperson brings to the table.

Read, study and attend seminars . They invest in their personal research and development, the product over which they have the most control. They realize that as they increase their personal value to the customer, price becomes less of an issue over the long haul.

Seek ways to motivate themselves. They know that motivation is a do-it-to-yourself-for-yourself kind of thing. This includes their ability to handle rejection and rebound from failures.

Subordinate their egos. Value-added salespeople are willing to set aside their personal agendas for the greater good of serving customers. They know that it's not "my" customer or "your" customer; it's "our" customer.

Run their territories, not the other way around. They maximize the producer work and minimize the grunt work.

Make time to gain full account penetration. They call "deep" to create pull for their solution. These in-house champions sell for the salesperson when the salesperson isn't there.

Call "high" in the account. They reach the high-level decision maker, the one person who can say "yes" to their price. Value-added salespeople don't take "no" from someone who can't say "yes."

Follow up routinely after the sale. They assure complete customer satisfaction with their solution. They realize that their best customer is their competition's best prospect.

Work to exceed the customer's expectations. They realize that customer satisfaction is a function of how they perform relative to the customer's expectations.

Sell value, not price. They build enough value on the front end so that price becomes less of an issue on the back end.

Listen more than they talk. For them, selling is a conversation about the customer's needs—a dialogue, not a monologue.

Plan their days. They schedule high-priority activities that add value to their days versus just assigning priorities to activities.

Value-added salespeople are committed to excellence in all that they do. For them, it's a positive addiction. They make habitual what others consider to be a hassle.