Practice doesn’t make perfect!

An excellent presentation has more than one ingredient - keep looking

If you wanted to make a delicious spaghetti dinner, you would probably consider tomato paste an essential ingredient. But while essential, it certainly isn’t the only ingredient! Just try serving a dish of pure tomato paste to a few guests sometime! As you proudly announce your entree as “spaghetti,” you will probably be laughed right back into the kitchen.

The same is true of an excellent sales presentation. Practice is essential, but practice alone won’t make you a top salesperson. This is because practice doesn’t make perfect! Practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect!

You could spend day after day rehearsing your presentation, but if some of your product information isn’t correct, or if you include techniques which will not be well received by a particular prospect, then all you’ve done is practice failing. Your presentation can always improve! And the only way to make that happen is to be on a constant “idea alert.” Watch for new ideas, new techniques, new “ingredients” to add to your presentation “recipe.” When you find one, practice it and use it!

Here's what you can do: Learn how to perfect your presentations by asking questions of and observing other salespeople. Rehearse with other salespeople in your organization. Bring someone with you on a sales call and ask for an honest evaluation afterward. Record your presentation and analyze it yourself. And always have a pen and paper handy to write down new ideas before you forget them.

Other articles on Selling

Practice doesn’t make perfect!

An excellent presentation has more than one ingredient - keep looking

Other articles on Selling