Top athletes, artists, musicians, and many others practice their trade for many years before they "perfect" their work. Michael Jordan even says that most of his career was spent failing. That's right, he spent many hours and hours missing the hoop. Commitment was his mantra. Commitment to stay the course. Failing over and over again until he found his sweet spot. The place we all have in us that shines through when the perfect combination of intellect, execution, and talent come together to push us through to success. It all seems so easy at that moment. Effortless. We forget the failures. We forget the bumps and bruises. We forget the sacrifices. We forget just how difficult it was at times to keep moving ahead.

 The practice of  'practice' is the single most important part of learning the sales process. If you are not in front of prospects how can you possibly get any practice. I have to tell you that I have seen many techniques used by friends and colleagues over the years that seemed odd to me at the time but they were much better than I was at completing sales. Here are just a few of the ways they practiced.

1) Mirrors- Just like an actor might use a mirror so did they. Hours and hours of watching themselves. Learning their own expressions and how they might look to a client. Learning how to control their facial expressions so they weren't smiling or frowning at the wrong time. Going through many different stances to learn how to mirror their clients. They would take themselves through entire presentations so they knew just how to react to different questions or problems that might come up. They would let themselves see what it's like to close the sale. They practiced and practiced. (I must admit that I to used this technique.)

2) Recordings- Just as with a mirror they recorded mock sales presentations and would listen to them when driving between appointments. They would sprinkle the recordings with reminders of sales info that they wanted to get better at. Things like asking for the sale, or learning when to stop talking, or making sure they had a pen with them. This repetition helped reinforce the work they had done to be a salesperson in the first place.

3) Friends- The most fun I think I have ever had is working through sales call scenarios with my colleagues. There is something about the challenge of roll playing with people who are on the front line of selling. They know the ins and outs. They know about customer challenges. They know the techniques that you should be using. They are typically relentless in their desire to make it difficult for you in the process. Do you think that Michael Jordan got to the top of his game by only playing against high school players. He like a prize fighter wants to spar with the best and most experienced players. People who would push him past any limits he thought he had. Friendsn

There are many more ways to practice your trade. Come back and read future blogs for more tips on practicing selling and other ideas that will help you sell more than ever.