Why repetition is the key to improving your sales performance and your sales results

A few things have happened recently that got me thinking about something very serious, something that could make a huge difference to your sales results and your sales performance…

Last week I went out for a meal with some friends and one of them had brought along someone whom I had not met before. This person was in IT sales. They were in their mid to late twenties and had been doing it for about 3 years. Judging by their conversation, description of their job and a few other factors I guessed they were doing ok… comfortable in their job but no sales superstar.

He had no idea that I was into sales training or was a sales motivational speaker and during the meal we talked about various things but towards the end of the meal this chap (let’s call him Pete) mentioned that he was a bit bored of his job. He is finding it “so so”. He explained that he has to keep doing the same things over and over.

Every day he goes in at about the same time. Every day he leaves at about the same time! Every day he makes the same kind of sales calls to new and existing prospects and clients. Every day he structures his calls the same way and handles challenges with the same lines. Every day he sends out similar marketing and sales emails and information. Every day he updates his prospect database. Every day he researches the internet. Every day he has the same sales conversations about the same products, the same services and the same solutions.

Every week he attends sales meetings which apparently are always run by his sales manager and are all nearly the same. Every week he sets the same kinds of sales targets with the same kinds of clients. Every week his manager runs similar mini sales training sessions. Every week he goes to see similar customers, with similar challenges, similar needs and wants and similar objections.

He is getting bored.

• Pete has a job – field sales.
• He has a car – a small BMW.
• He’s getting a salary and commission – I’d guess £30k + £20k + car (tops).
• His sales performance and results are ok.
• He is not getting sacked or made redundant any time soon - not that I know of anyway!

But there’s something not right here. Something not right here, at all. Pete’s sales performance and results should be sky rocketing. He should be on his way to £100k+ and promotion but he’s not…

The problem is that Pete has Sales Repetetits! That is - Peter gets bored by any task that he has to do over and over.

In my experience many salespeople have Repetitis. Salespeople with Repetitis get bored and moan about having to repeat the same tasks over and over. This in turn leads to lack of motivation and causes them to lose focus and to start to go through the motions. This in turn will impact their sales performance and results. Salespeople going through the motions do not make successful salespeople. Salespeople going through the motions will gradually lose their edge and become less effective. Salespeople going through the motions will not make great cold calls, nor will they run strong sales meetings nor make powerful presentations.

Sales training tip: Salespeople who are going through the motions usually think they’re ok but they’re usually wrong. Salespeople going through the motions often have a nasty shock coming.

Let’s look at why solving this inability to deal with repetition is essential not only for your sales perfornance and sales results but also for your long-term personal and financial success…

Firstly, as Anthony Robbins says, “repetition is the mother of skill”. The more you do of something, the better you get at it. Period. As a sales superstar in training you want to sweat the basic stuff.

How well you plan and prepare matters. How you conduct yourself matters. How you formulate your conversations matters. How you present your solutions matters. In today’s YouTube generation many people want to be titillated and amused on a minute-to-minute basis and do not have the stickability, the perseverance or the focus to really get good at anything, particularly not the basic stuff.

If you want to make real money out of sales you need to learn to focus so that you can repeat things over and over, constantly improving and sharpening your winner’s edge. You’re own mini-sales training programme if you like. Only by doing this will you become a truly world class salesperson. Only by doing this will you increase your sales performance and your sales results. World-class cold callers obliterate also-rans. World-class salespeople outsell and outmanoeuvre also-rans. World-class negotiators squash also-rans. World-class presenters destroy also-rans.

What’s more, whatever your job, repetition is unavoidable. Doctors see person after person after person with minor ailment after minor ailment after minor ailment. Police officers deal with drunks, drivers and burglaries time after time after time. Firemen and women fight routine small fire after routine small fire after routine small fire.

By doing this they become expert at what they do. But what if, instead of this, they all started going through the motions? What could they miss? What disasters could befall them and others? How culpable would they be?

What would you have to say if the fire crew attending your house didn’t get to your house as fast as you would have liked because they thought it was going to be another simple call?

I rest my case. Repetition is essential in any role. Repetition is essential for skills development and improvement. Repetition is essential to keep you sharp and on the edge. Repetition is essential to increase your sales performance and your sales results.

What does Tiger Woods do when things aren’t going as well as he would like? He goes back to practicing his basic shots… over and over. What do top snooker players spend hours and hours practicing? Basic pots and cue control, that’s what. What do pianists spend hours practicing? Basic scales and more scales.

As a salesperson, like in any other role, if you want to be world-class you need repetition. You need to sweat the basic stuff. If you have a case of Repetititis, mild or severe, then the only cure is to deal with it now…

Next time you find yourself repeating daily tasks keep your focus on how you can improve. Ask yourself some good old sales training questions like, “How could I be more effective?”, “How can I improve my sales performance?”, "How can I increase my sales results?" and “What can I learn here?”

Once you get over Repetitis you will be amazed by how much you can increase your sales performance and sales results with simple stuff that you might until now have thought of as “boring”.

One way of improving rapidly is to create your own sales training and development programme focusing on core sales skills, techniques and practises that until now you might have thought too boring…