When Thomas Edison was asked about all the times he failed to invent the light bulb he said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” In business, you do not want to find out 10,000 ways your presentation or pitch won’t work on the customer. Every one of those ways then becomes a success because you will no longer be losing deals using them. You must stop practicing on the customers. Practice with your co-workers and build skill at any level of experience with role-playing and the right training material.

All the greats take time to practice, drill and rehearse. 

Role-playing is great practice. When I started selling I would role-play with fellow sales people all the time. We would go over everything from the greeting, to the demonstration, and even get into the closing material. We would then make sure to point out things that the other person was doing well and where they could improve. Role-playing allows you to practice your material, get the bugs out, and also allows you to see the customer’s point of view. You’re trying to find what doesn’t work in your presentation and get those out of the way. Once you have fixed those mistakes your presentation will become better and easier and you start becoming more relaxed and confident around customers. Besides, if you’re going to fail in your presentation why not fail when it’s just your fellow sales people and not an actual buyer? So grab a fellow sales person and start role-playing. You may be embarrassed the first few times you do it, but that embarrassment will quickly disappear when those paychecks start going up and you feel more confident about your job.

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” — Bruce Lee 

If you don’t know how to practice, if your co-workers are unwilling, and you have a strong desire to grow your income, then Cardone University was made for you. All my sales managers train for greatness on that platform every day. Instead of sweating and worrying if they’ll have what it takes to close a deal, they are relaxed and confident knowing that they’ve prepared for every phone call. When that difficult customer gets on the line, they don’t stumble over themselves because they’ve trained consistently. Practice makes perfect. All the greats train. LeBron trains. Beethoven trained. Are you training? I’ve also got my first ever 3-day Sales Boot Camp coming up—this could be your big opportunity to really take your game to the next level. Learn more about it here. Be great, GC