Practice Effectively

Recently, I was on a web meeting with a sales team doing some presentation practice. Watching the participants’ faces as their turn grew closer made me really think back to my first role playing exercise early on in my career. If you have ever had to role play there is no doubt you remember the first time that you had to “perform” in front of your peers. For me at 19 years old, it was a growing experience and one that I took for granted. I was making more money than I could dream of and I got to practice on my family and friends as I honed my skills. If you have ever had to sit through one of my early practices… well I sincerely apologize for the massive train wreck that it likely was. As my career progressed in sales, I found that most sales organizations that I worked for, regularly would have us all practice with a teammate or manager. As I went through my career into a more self employed and self origination career path I found this structure was a not carried into most smaller businesses. Through consulting and coaching various roofing companies of all different sizes and make-ups I have found that most sales people indeed dislike role playing but also just flat out don’t do it.

The most concerning part of this even in my old company was the day that I figured out that my sales team was in fact practicing on my potential customers. This made us change our practices and structure to ensure that we weren’t wasting valuable resources (leads and opportunities) on practice. There is nothing more expensive and valuable in a business as a lead or opportunity. Possibly not the acquisition cost always but also the loss of revenue. Sales professionals are no different that professional athletes. We are paid for performing well. Athletes practice! Can you imagine Tiger Woods never hitting a practice range or LeBron James never attempting a jump shot unless the game clock was running? Even great athletes practice. Don’t short sell your career by failing to be the best that you can be. If you want a place to practice consider reaching out to me at brad.corbin@hirevpro.com and we can put together a group where you can role play with other professionals!

Sales, Simplified.

Brad Corbin