If you happen to believe that you do not really need to practice and prepare for sales calls—good luck, as we see this equivalent to “hope is not a strategy”.

On Monday we presented the idea that for practice to count- that is- for it to pay off in the end — it is critical to practice the right delivery approach, from a variety of possible prospect reactions and responses.

Too often, people go in with one approach and one intended (practiced) method to get the sale. The problem is that there is at least one other person in the room, and perhaps several, which will ultimately change, add to, and challenge getting to your intended end (the sale). And this is where most people fail. They fail to think through, prepare for and practice how they will respond to prospect objections, questions and issues.  Knowing your ideal outcome is great; however, we find that there is a fair degree of adaptation required to meet a prospect’s needs and interests, and to close the deal. So if you are only practicing for your ideal- you run the risk of loosing the sales opportunity.

Here are 2 key techniques to help you practice so that it counts:

1. Build (by imaging and experience) the various situations from the prospect’s point of view and develop responses to each of them—not just your ideal. This reflects your preparation around their concerns, questions and push back to give them “options” to work with.
   A.   Actually role-playing these various buyer / seller interactions will greatly                     help you respond more thoughtfully and naturally
2. Evaluate your sales calls as a discipline (regular practice), noting:
   A.  What went well and as expected
   B.  What could have gone better, and
   C. What to improve in your approach on the next call – then do it

Evaluate not only why you lost a sale, but also why you won a sale. There is powerful and important learning that can be derived from both.

Copyright Kubica and LaForest 2011

We all know the adage – practice makes perfect. Well, not necessarily so.

Think about it. You are working on a new sales delivery approach (a new way to introduce you, your company and your capabilities). You stand in front of the mirror and practice your lines until you have them memorized. You now have, in your opinion, a killer opening. So you go out and use it. Yet the buyer is not impressed. You use it again with another buyer, same response. You wonder what’s wrong, as you’ve practiced to perfection. Well you may have practiced to perfection; it’s just that what you practiced doesn’t work. The buyer doesn’t care about you until you show you care about them first – another adage by the way.

The challenge is that in both business and even in our personal lives, people have a tendency to: 1) not practice or 2) to practice the wrong things.

The Osama Bin Laden event brought renewed attention to the Navy SEALs, and especially to Seal Team 6. What is important about the SEAL’s is their training. They train, learn, train, change scenarios, look for opportunities and train some more. Their edge – practice – practicing to near perfection, a number of scenarios.

How much do you practice? Do you build various situations such as identifying potential push back statements from the buyer and develop responses? Do you role-play the buyer / seller interaction? Do you evaluate your sales calls as to what went well and what could have gone better, and then improve your approach on the very next call? Do you understand why you lost the business? Do you understand what you did to win the business?

Business is certainly not war, but there are important points we can learn from the military – and from sports teams for that matter. Practice counts – but only practicing to deliver the right approach from a variety of possibilities will result in a win.

Copyright Kubica and LaForest 2011

In Monday’s Blog we discussed the state of healthcare reform. It’s clearly complex and it is debatable whether fundamental and meaningful health care changes will be made to address: cost, quality and patient safety, and the challenge of an aging population and chronic disease.

The one thing we cannot afford to do as consumers of healthcare is to wait for our legislators to resolve these issues and for health care providers to readily accept them. As much of a crisis as we are in, it is not enough to standby and watch and wait for relief. Our job is to do what we can – ourselves.

Common causes of illness are: stress, poor nutrition, obesity, smoking and not enough physical activity. One way to think about this is not controlling stress, not eating well, smoking (primary or secondary) and little to no physical activity causes you to become ill; and it is at this point you enter an expensive healthcare system with quality and patient safety a concern.

From a lifestyle perspective – you limit your activity and shorten your lifespan. From a business perspective, you reduce productivity and generate higher expenses for the business (days lost from work, healthcare benefits costs).

There are no easy solutions here, unfortunately. But if you are concerned, and we believe you should be, consider doing the following:

• Eat well. Find a nutritionist if you need to learn how
• Increase your physical activity – focusing on cardio
• Practice yoga, tai chi, qigong, dance or other movement (balance, stretch and strength based) focused activities
• Learn how to mediate – it’s proven helpful in reducing stress
• Don’t smoke
• Find a chiropractor or naturopathic physician who believes in wellness care or a holistic medicine provider

We are not talking about consuming hours in your day, we are talking about lifestyle changes that can have a significant impact on you and your business. If you run a business, consider building a wellness program for your employees. It will pay great dividends.

Copyright 2011 Kubica LaForest Consulting

The Affordable Care Act was passed in March 2010, and a mere one year later we have seen it constitutionality challenged in courts. In early 2011 the House voted to repeal the Act, Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) introduced legislation to “encourage accountable care through a premium support model”, some states are lagging in passing exchange legislation to set up health insurance exchanges, and the hospital and physician community are pushing back on an initiative to create a new organizations (Accountable Care Organizations) for Medicare patients. Moving a trillion dollar industry is challenging at best.

With a Presidential election coming up, one thing we can be sure of, health care will be a prominent topic for discussion.

While this is going on, the cost of health care continues to rise at a rate greater than the GDP, quality and patient safety remain a concern, fee-for service and the practice of defensive medicine continue.

Change is not only needed; it’s needed sooner than later. Small, and even larger businesses are financially challenged by rising premiums. Some businesses are discontinuing health care benefits; many are increasing the employee’s contribution. And chronic disease care is becoming a significant health care challenge.

This is not to say that nothing is being done. The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced the Partnership for Patients (http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/04/20110412a.html), the Institutes of Medicine continues its focus on Quality and Patient Safety starting with its landmark report To Err is Human (http://iom.edu/Reports/1999/To-Err-is-Human-Building-A-Safer-Health-System.aspx). While these are laudable efforts, fundamental health care change must start with us: both as individuals and as business owners.

In this week’s Quick Tips, we will describe on ways you can take meaningful action now.

Copyright 2011 Kubica LaForest Consulting