Allen Iverson once spoke at a media conference and made these words infamous. “Practice? We talking about practice?” In the case of Iverson he was speaking after a playoff loss and having been recently awarded the MVP of the league. The media immediately after the loss went to the star player and began questioning his practice habits and attendance. I personally have never been a player in the NBA or for that matter even a very good basketball player in particular. I played the game in my younger years along with many other sports. I was recently in Kansas City meeting with a company and helping to refine some sales skills with the team. As I was on my return flight home I really started to think about the most useful way to help them with their sales team.

After I thought about the Allen Iverson quote, I started to think about how practice might relate to other athletes. I enjoy playing golf, as many do, and began looking through the recently completed 2018 PGA year. Justin Thomas finished the year in 1st with total earnings of $8,694,821. The player who finished at 120 was J.T. Poston. Mr. Poston owns a 70.4 scoring average while Justin Thomas came in at 69.1. This is an amazing statistic to me. Merely averaging 1.3 shots better resulted in almost 10X the earnings. J.T. Poston earned $940,661 in 2018. I would not imagine that either player goes without practice but from watching top level golfers we find that the margin between number 1 and number 120 is merely just over 1 stroke. Here is a story about Justin Thomas and his new found practice and work out regime that he attributes to his break out on the PGA Tour...

I also coach my 6 year old daughter in soccer. She has the determination of a high-level athlete and a love for the game that I have never seen in a kid her age. Of course, I have dad pride that thinks she will play in the World Cup one day but this child has shown me something that is missing from many people. Last year as the season was ending she asked me if she could play on another team as well as the one that I coached. I said sure, of course, and asked if she wanted to have 2 games per weekend instead of only 1. Her answer kind of caught me off guard. She said yes, that the games would be fun, but she really wanted to practice more days per week than her friends on my team wanted to so if she could join another team that would give her more opportunity to do so. As surprised as I was, I immediately thought about how proud I was of a child that wanted to work hard and excel at something. Before I move on I must admit that I admire my 13 year old daughter’s dedication to volleyball as she decided this year to move up to one of the top-ranked club teams. Her coach demands excellence in practice and she puts in the hard work. Also my 9 year old has been going to 10+ hours of practice a week for gymnastics and horse vaulting for at least the past year. She competed in her very first horse vaulting competition and received many awards for her hard work and dedication. My children have shown me how important practice can be. You have to be willing to put the time in to perform at the level that you desire.

Ok, enough about sports. How much do I practice my craft? I have a friend of mine that I have known for over a decade and we both have been in sales since the day that we met. We have both now made it into the roofing industry and it was interesting for me to hear a distribution representative talking with him one day. The question from the newest member of the distribution sales team: “How long have you been a roofer?”. Seems like the answer would follow with a sort of time in years, months, seasons, etc, right? Wrong! My friend answers with “I’m not a roofer. I’m a sales professional that is currently in the roofing business. I have been practicing my craft for well over a decade.” I thought back to how many sales presentations that I have witnessed in person or on FaceTime with this man as the presenter or the audience. When we were not working in the same place we would send each other videos of our latest sales presentation or trail closes. This is what it took to stay on top of the sales game. We both had a desire that burned deep to be the best at our chosen profession. When I go in and out of organizations for consulting and training it always amazes me the pure fear and discomfort that role playing causes most people. If practicing gives you this much anxiety maybe practice needs to become a regular part of your routine. If taking 30 minutes a day increased your profit by 10% would you do it? If you are a golfer it could mean almost 10X your income! Don’t shortchange yourself by not taking the time to perfect your craft and be the best version of yourself. Email me a video of your practice session or set up a time to work together by emailing me at brad.corbin@hirevpro.com.

Sales, Simplified.

Brad Corbin