(By Chris Stonick) Legendary former Green Bay Packers Head Coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” I could not agree with this statement more. That’s why in my sales meetings, we practiced… and practiced… and practiced!
The place to make mistakes is inside your building, not out in the field.
But I did not just practice with the sellers, I made them do something very important…listen. Many sellers just want to tell the client everything they know. But often, when you do that, you miss an important chance to have a conversation, not just a presentation.
So how did I practice? I developed a technique I called “Sporadic Roundtable.”
First, I would frame the call: “Okay, this week you are going to call on a new business that’s coming to town. It’s a burger joint.” I would add in a few more details, and then randomly point to one of the sellers to start the call.
After my response, I would randomly point to a second seller to take over and this would continue throughout the call. Sometimes I would go back to the previous seller again and again and again. A seller couldn’t relax, thinking, “He won’t call on me again, I’m done.” Wrong. In a call, as in life, it’s not over till it’s over. One week, I kept pointing to the same rep the entire call.
After “Sporadic Roundtable,” we would discuss the call – what should we have added or maybe deleted? It was a great learning experience for all. Make your mistakes – and your progress – inside your building and you will be building more success outside of it!
For more than three decades, Chris Stonick has helped thousands of organizations across the country with recruiting and retention while generating well over $100,000,000 in billing for his client radio stations. Contact Chris at 863-397-5615 or by email. Read Chris’ Radio Ink archives here.
