As spring training gears up for baseball, professional ball players are practicing the skills they have developed over a lifetime to achieve perfection. These professionals are where they are today because they put in the time, energy and discipline of thousands of hours of practice. Their goal is to execute perfection during their practice sessions. Many of them practiced to perfection using video tools and special coaches to assist in their development. The commitment these individuals have made is beyond what many of us could imagine. Their practice efforts prepare them for perfection on the baseball field.

80% of Sales Professionals Stop Practicing

If practice is this important in baseball, why isn’t it like this in sales? Eighty percent of sales professionals stop practicing their sales skills once they reach a level of success they are comfortable with. Why? Most sales professionals believe they know how to handle objections and that the sales process hasn’t changed. They assume that what they have learned hasn’t changed and the success they have achieved will remain with them.

It is a good thing the professional ball players don’t think the same way or they will be replaced in the lineup. Sales professionals need to prepare for the 90 mph fast ball from clients and prospects. The landscape of business continues to shift and change with technology, trends and other factors. When sales professionals don’t practice implementing these new trends and learn what to say or how to demonstrate a solution, they lose.

A New Way of Pitching Sales is Growing

New technology for getting and reaching clients and prospects is changing the way we communicate in business. In one example, on-line ordering portals for business are growing in ways that are replacing salespeople. Pod casting is another way businesses are getting their message out and driving sales to websites. An RSS feed is another way to reach prospects or an industry with new information. However, only about 12 percent of the population knows how to use an RSS feed today. Expect this number to change quickly in the coming months.

With the growth and adoption of web meetings, streaming media including audio and video, salespeople can multiply their efforts and reach more contacts. The bottom line is that salespeople must practice and sharpen their sales skills using new technology and communication tools.

The Impact of a Multi-Media Generation

If businesses and salespeople are not practicing multi-media new sales capability, they won’t be effective. This means that if you are not developing and practicing new sales skills, you are falling behind. The internet makes it easy to learn about these new sales tools. You can join webinars, pod casts or telephone conference calls to learn more.

Consider this, professional baseball players don’t practice for just one pitch. They prepare for the fast ball, the curve ball and the sinker because they never know what the pitcher will throw at them. So, just as in baseball, every professional salesperson should practice new sales skills and be prepared for anything customers throw at them.