Sales Mastery: It's About Practice
Posted by Ned Miller on Thu, Jun 17, 2010 @ 10:14 AM
If you want to read magazines on most domestic plane flights, you better bring them on board yourself. That is, of course, with the exception of your complimentary, monthly in-flight infomercial.
The May 2010 issue of USAirways' journal touts itself as "the magazine that connects you." It's not clear to what-maybe the guy who filled out the crossword on page 100.
I confess to skimming these things in search of a laugh. More often than not the chuckles these days come from advertisements. No matter how often I see it, I always read the one for the Rosetta Stone language course that entices a Midwestern farm boy to study Italian to be able to seduce a movie starlet on the Via Venetto. OK, anything that gets Americans studying foreign languages is a good thing, but really, guys...
Then there's Quickgym. Four minutes on this contraption (a value at $14,618) will get the same results as:
- 25 to 45 minutes of cardio training
- 45 minutes of lifting weights
- 20 minutes of stretching
The ad always lists how a typical buyer passes from total skepticism to a near religious conversion in less than 30 days.
If only it were so easy. Mastering anything-a sport, a second language, sales-is hard work. It may start with a dream-6 pack abs, fluency in another tongue, big commissions-but it always takes time.
In his book Talent Is Overrated Geoff Colvin says that 10,000 hours is the ticket to virtuoso performance in the arts or sports. In his view the difference between great performers and the rest of us is time and deliberate practice.
What does this mean for bankers interested in improving their sales results? Quite simply, don't be duped by the ads promising easy paths to success. If you want to master the techniques in a sales course, be prepared to use them over and over. Four minutes a day isn't enough: by my count it'll take about 417 years for you to become great using Colvin's measure.
Our next webinar is on June 28 and is on Negotiating Price. You can register by going to http://mzbierlyconsulting.webex.com. Or for a complimentary consultation on how we may be able to assist your sales teams, call Whit Midkiff at 727-741-0766.