I spent much of Saturday and Sunday of this past weekend pitching to our five-year old son, who is just nuts over baseball. He not only wants to improve so he can hit more home runs, but he just plain loves playing.
I spent much of the past two summers at the golf range, trying to master the swing mechanics of the golf swing. I want to hit more fairways and I just plain love playing golf.
All of the golfers on the pro tour have coaches. Defensive and offensive coaches are as much a part of football as hitting and pitching coaches are a part of baseball. And these elite athletes, along with their coaches, practice, every day. Since I'm more of a baseball guy, I know that the infielders take infield practice before each game. Pitchers throw side sessions between appearances to work on their mechanics. Hitters take batting practice, not only before each game, but in between games to work on their mechanics.
Of course, this is all leading to professional salespeople. The top 26% practiced to become great salespeople. They role-played, listened to audio, watched video and honed their craft. The rest just go out there every day and continue to go through the motions of selling, without a clear sense of what to ask, when to ask it, how to ask and what to do if they don't get the answers they were looking for.
So what should you do to make your practice productive? First, you'll need a practice partner, someone who is as committed to sales excellence as you are. Next, you'll need a practice schedule. Then you'll need to identify the various parts of the selling process where you need the most help. Break it down this way. Do you struggle more with getting appointments or with closing the appointments? If it's getting appointments, do you struggle more with getting through or getting them to invite you in? If it's closing, do you struggle more with getting them interested or getting them committed? Identify the 3-4 areas where you need the most help, tell your practice partners the kind of prospect they need to play, and practice asking the questions that you don't ask on real sales calls. Notice that I didn't say practice making presentations! You already know how to present. It's the rest of selling where you need the help.
The Importance of Practice - To learn more about this author, visit Dave Kurlan's Website.
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Dave Kurlan
(Visit Dave's Website)
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of
Objective Management Group, Inc., the
industry leader in sales assessments and
sales force evaluations, and the CEO of
David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a
consulting firm specializing in sales
force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc.
Magazine's Conference on Growing the
Company, the Sales & Marketing Management
Conference and the Gazelles Sales &
Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV,
including World Business Review with
General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc.
Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales &
Marketing Management Magazine and
Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and
Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales
Superstar by Using What You Already Know
about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary
recruiting process for hiring great
salespeople, and he writes Understanding
the Sales Force, a popular business Blog
and is a contributing author to The Death
of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways
to Improve Your Life, Volume 2.
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Understanding the Sales Force - Objective Management Group, Inc. is the pioneer and industry leader in sales force evaluations and sales candidate screening. Spearheaded by leading sales industry expert, Dave Kurlan, Objective Management Group, Inc. can help you measure sales effectiveness, execution and potential.
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