“...for salespeople it's preparation .”

by Steve Chriest

Having watched baseball spring practice on TV, it shows me even the best athletes get back into shape, exercise their skills, and get ready to get a hit, strike the batter out, or to catch the ball to make an out, plus learn to plan as a team. I think it's the same for salespeople and selling organizations. So, what separates the winners from the also-rans? For athletes it's usually practice , and for salespeople it's preparation .

As gifted a golfer as he is, how many tournaments do you suppose Tiger Woods would win if the only golf he played was at tournaments? You can bet that as the other professional golfers spent countless hours practicing their tee shots and their short game, it wouldn't be more than a matter of weeks before Tiger started failing to make the cut at tournaments.

While it's true that sometimes luck plays a part in winning, most successful athletes will tell you that they make their own luck. Wayne Gretsky was lucky because during his playing career he spent more time practicing on the ice than he spent on terra firma. Michael Jordan's luck came from his legendary devotion to practice between NBA games.

For salespeople, preparation is the equivalent of athletic practice. Just like great tennis players practice baseline shots until making these shots becomes second nature for them, preparing a plan for each sales call and for the management of every customer relationship becomes second nature for the great salesperson. In very much the same way great athletes practice their sport, great salespeople prepare for managing their sales activities.

I once heard someone ask a gathering of salespeople these questions: “To be successful, how many books will you read? How many educational seminars will you attend? How much time will you spend with your mentors seeking their advice and counsel?” He was really asking the group how much time and effort they were willing to spend preparing customer account and sales call plans.

For salespeople, great success usually springs from good old fashioned preparation , which for the salesperson is the equivalent of athletic practice . Talent is common, and just like dedication to good practice habits distinguish world-class athletes from all others, dedication to good preparation distinguishes great salespeople from merely talented ones.

Look around in your own selling organization. It's likely you'll see lots of innately talented people. It's also likely that you'll notice that not all of them perform at the top of their game. Maybe it is because they don't spend enough time preparing to sell.

Copyright © 2006 Selling Up TM . All Rights Reserved.

About the author: Steve Chriest is the founder of Selling Up TM (www.selling-up.com), a sales consulting firm specializing in sales improvement for organizations of all types and sizes in a variety of industries. He is also the author of Selling Up , The Proven System For Reaching and Selling Senior Executives. You can reach Steve at schriest@selling-up.com .