Training vs. Trusting

Some who may read this are not golf fans and that’s okay. If you stay with me, you’ll see that what I’m talking about can apply to your sales and business career too.

I spent a large portion of my weekend watching Rory McIlroy completely dominate the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Washington, DC. This 22-year old phenom from Northern Ireland played so well that he was drawing comparisons to some of the greatest performances in history, including those of Tiger Woods in his prime.

While those comparisons may be unfair at this stage in his young career, what truly amazed me about McIlroy’s performance was not so much what his scores were or how he led the field by a wide margin from the opening round. It was the natural way in which he plays the game. It was a joy to watch someone be so “in the moment” and trust himself so much that he could let his natural ability take over.

Now, I’m a golfer (or at least I try to be) and have spent a lot of time over the years working on the mechanics of my golf swing. And I’ve watched a lot of amateur and professional golfers over the past few years doing the same thing.

Keep in mind that practicing the fundamentals is critical for anyone that wants to improve. But where most of us fail is we don’t draw a distinction between practice and the real thing. A friend of mine used to say that you train yourself and your game on the practice tee. But when it comes time to play, you have to trust it. Train, then trust.

Not doing so takes the natural ability of each player out of the equation. We stand over the ball and think about the position of the golf club, the shoulder turn, setting the club in the right position, clearing the hips, releasing the hands and arms through the ball. All of these thoughts make it nearly impossible for us to focus on the target and use our natural ability to put the ball where we want it. We are still stuck in the training mind set.

The same thing happens to many of us in business and in sales. We spend so much of our time focused on the mechanics of our product or service that we can forget about letting our natural gifts and talents shine throughout the sales process.

We must commit ourselves to training & practice on a consistent basis to master the key fundamentals. But when it comes time to play the game, it would serve all of us well to trust our natural ability to hit the target.

If it worked for the 2011 U.S. Open Champion, it can certainly work for us.

Selling To Businesses

“In any type of business, the most valuable ideas are those that make money, save money, save time or improve the way things are done.” –Napoleon Hill

If you are calling on businesses, are you approaching your clients and prospects with the above in mind?

In order for any of us to be successful selling to business owners, we must be able to demonstrate legitimate, factual ways that our product or service will:

1. Help business owners generate more revenue.
2. Help business owners save money and/or become more efficient.
3. Help business owners spend more time on the things that matter most to them.
4. Help business owners improve their own business processes.

It’s up to you to figure out how what you are selling can do one or more of these things. The great part is that once you do, you become a resource. Being a valuable resource to your clients leads to more than just a sale, it means multiple sales, more referrals and better relationships with all of your customers.

ACTION ITEM: Make a list of the questions you can ask that will determine what your customers value most – then get creative about showing them how you can bring it to them!