Rehearse & Role-Play
Why is role-playing a key factor in sales success?
Most people who played competitive sports will likely agree that playing the game is so much more fun than practicing. I remember going to football practice on Mondays thinking that Saturday’s game is so far away. My body was so sore and I had to keep banging into my teammates by practicing the same plays over and over. I thought, can’t we just skip the next few practices and go straight to the game?
Wrestling practice was the same. Do the drills over and over again. You move to a certain position and your muscles memorize where to go and what to do. Ugh…another 25 fireman carries and 25 single leg take downs. Along with repeating the same drills over and over, we had the opportunity to blow out our lungs with live wrestling and sprints.
Game day is great, practice not so much. When you’ve put in all the purposeful practice, however, game days are REALLY great. We rehearsed like crazy and it paid off. Timing and execution in most sports is crucial. The only way to master it is by doing it over and over. You do the drills so often it becomes second nature and you don’t even think about how to execute. Everything becomes so natural and relaxed.
I recently read an article that said there are about 14 million salespeople in the United States. How many of these professionals role play regularly? My guess would be fewer than 10%. If being a salesperson is going to be your profession, why wouldn’t you want to be the best? Why don’t most salespeople practice so they can become an expert in their field?
I believe the answer is because most salespeople just hate role-playing. They find it intimidating and get nervous. If role-playing is done properly however, it shouldn’t be intimidating. I remember going to an annual National Sales meeting one year when sales were down. The President of the company was on stage speaking to the 200 or so salespeople. We were coming off a disappointing year and it was going to be one of those “all business” and “no fun” annual meetings. To everyone’s surprise, the President decided that it was a good opportunity to do some sales role-plays on stage in front of all 200+ people.
It was interesting, yet sad, watching everyone hide behind their notebooks to avoid eye contact with the president so they wouldn’t be called to the stage. People were terrified. It was painful watching some of my peers, who were top producers, trembling in fear as they trudged through role plays with the president in front of the audience. This was not a good setting for role-plays however, I bet everyone was a little more prepared and practiced the following year.
One of the best presenters in business of all times was Steve Jobs. When he was scheduled to present, every seat in the house was taken. If you ever watched one of Job’s presentations, you will see why he always kept his audience engaged. There is no such thing as a “Natural.” Jobs rehearsed for hours upon hours and for several days before each presentation. He carefully thought out and practiced every word so he could deliver a clear and interesting message. Watch the YouTube video for his 2007 presentation of the iPhone below. I loved watching the video shots of the audience as he delivers his presentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnrJzXM7a6o
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he writes that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become world class in any industry. That would equate to practicing role plays 20 hours a week for 10 years. Think of how much better you can be if you even practiced 2 hours a week. I suspect that most salespeople don’t practice role-playing 2 hours a year. Think of how much better you will be compared to your competition if you set your goal to practice just 2 hours a week. Your message will become much clearer and your results will show up in your commission check.
With consistent practice, you will find yourself on the winning side much more often.
Set your rehearsal goal now and get ready to close more deals!
