I've seen it happen all too many times. 

While working for one of New Jersey's best sub-prime lending car dealer, I was in constant interaction with the salespeople. As I became more and more versed in the daily functions, I learned which salespeople I could go to for straight answers, and which ones would beat around the bush, forward me to voicemail, or give me an excuse of why they couldn't give me the report that I needed.

More often than not, it was the low man on the totem pole of car sales for that month who would give me as much information as they could, and the "top seller" who would avoid me like the plague.

Sure, some could argue that Top Seller had selling to do and he didn't have the time to deliver appointment statuses and reports to me and that Low Man should have been turning down my requests for information and working harder on selling. 

You might be right. However, I'd often take a peek onto the sales floor, and when the showroom was empty, Top Seller was sitting around twiddling thumbs or joking with co workers. Low Man was in my office asking for any Unsold or No Show appointments.

Almost every single time I remembered to notice this, the Low Man wasn't the Low Man for more than 2 months. Top Seller would also decrease slowly over the next few months. I promise, I had nothing to do with the decrease, although I'd be lying if I didn't say that I wanted to take some of his sales from him, but I'm an honest statistical person. 

My point is that it's easy to become Top Seller, it's not easy to stay there. Just because you sold 130% of your quota last month doesn't mean you can cruise through this month without a strategy. 

It might seem like basic science, but next time you're feeling relieved because you're at your goal, take notice of what you do with your time. Do you goof around and plan your next joke? Do you check your personal Facebook account? Text your spouse/significant other? Check sports scores?

I guarantee you that you're going to suffer for that wasted time. It might not be this month, but you will absolutely feel the sting and you'll wonder "What did I do wrong?"

If you've found yourself in that rut, don't worry. It's never too late to change direction. Instead of "What did I do wrong?" think "What can I do to improve?"

You'll be Top Seller in no time. Maybe have a chat with Low Man and see what his strategy is.