Elite sales professionals know that experience can stall a career. If you rely on experience when prospecting for leads, moving prospects through the sales cycle, and seeking a job promotion, you may be missing important information that could help you close more deals and send your success soaring.

To get a fair advantage over their competition, the most successful sales professionals do the work before the work: strategic preparation for the key activities related to prospecting (and keeping that lead pipeline flowing), sales, and career progression.

In The Work Before the Work, leading sales professionals Phil M. Jones and Paul M. Caffrey introduce you to the six critical questions you need to ask yourself to delve deeper into what you and those you work for and with are looking to achieve from your interactions.

They are questions that prepare you for the encounters, activities, and in-depth planning that make up your working day, presented in a format that is easy to incorporate into the habits you already have. Knowing what to ask yourself to prepare for the big and little moments that matter to your career will give you the fair advantage that sets elite sales professionals apart from the average.