It’s really easy to get trapped in a strategy loop.
Sometimes we just need a push onto the field. You may not feel ready but the simple truth is that you need to get onto the field or all that strategy is just intellectual exercises.
My own professional life encompassed theatre, dance, and sales. Each of these arenas requires a lot of work if you want to be really good.
As a dancer I trained every day to be sure that my body was ready. I rehearsed and rehearsed to be sure that I fully knew and could execute every lift and turn and jump and movement across the stage. It was a lot of fun and it was totally demanding. I tested my mind, my body, my emotions to their limits. But at the end of the day, it was about that performance in front of a full theatre of patrons which determined whether we were going to be paid.
Avoid the strategy loop
What you have to learn in sales is also immense. You have to be a prospector, a psychologist, a strategist, a diplomat. Sometimes, you’re even a marriage counselor.
And that’s just the people side.
You also have to know your product, its relative strengths and weaknesses. If you are selling, and you consider yourself a professional, then you have a LOT to manage. The more complex your sale – multiple decision makers/levels, highly competitive market, etc. – the more you have to think and act strategically.
Like the dancer, it has to happen out on the stage or it’s just an intellectual practice. Planning and strategizing might be nice and fun – even safe – but no payday.
Do your practice. Learn your lines. Know the plays, know the choreography. But to achieve mastery you need to GET OUT THERE AND PLAY!
Michael Stammer is a Sales | Life | Performance coach available for individual and group coaching and speaking to organizations. For more visit www.coachmichael.com
