Are You 25% Better?

I had lunch recently with a friend who played competitive hockey in college.  I always love to talk with people who participate in athletics at that type of level or higher because I believe that what they do (stopping a puck in the blink of an eye in his case) transcends what the average person can do exponentially.  Think about how fast linebackers are, or how far and accurate a PGA tour player is, how fast an MLB pitcher can throw a ball.  The shear act of practice, patience, genetic freakishness and consistency blows me away.We were talking about how that relates to sales and he shared that when he played hockey just to make the team, you needed to be 25% better than the person already in that position.  25% better, just to make the team. Not necessarily to play.  Just be on the bus.  The feeling was that if you’re less than 100%, why bother.  If your only 110% better, that isn’t enough to gamble on an unknown and there is already a personality fit with the person on the team today.  You have to be 125% of what that person is.He felt that the same held true with customers interested in a purchase. If you want to replace the current widget, be it a cell phone, an ERP system or a collaboration platform, it needs to be 25% better than what is already in place.  Better can mean a lot of things and doesn’t necessarily need to be more bells and whistles.  Often, less features make it better.  Siebel vs. Salesforce for example.  Or Excel vs. Salesforce  going the other way.  Better could mean 25% fewer headaches, 25% less resources required or 25% higher ROI.  Whatever the case, you need to be 25% better.Do you know why your product is better than what is there by 25%? If you don’t you need to figure that out pretty quickly.If you’re a sales rep, are you doing the things to make you 25% better than your competition?If you are looking for a job, are you doing the things to show that you’re 25% better than the others who are applying for the job?What are you doing to be 25% better?