I love my sister-in-law dearly but I always have to laugh about how different she is from my wife. My wife Nancy is quiet and reserved and Linda loves to talk. As most mothers, she loves to talk about her kids.

One night at dinner Linda was discussing how good of a swimmer her daughter Abby had become since switching swim schools to Foss. At the time, I paid little attention to the fact that she was a good swimmer but the more she spoke about Foss, the more I listened. My daughter was nearly ready to take swimming lessons and Linda convinced us Foss was the place to go (not to mention, Foss had a school five minutes from home).

A few months later I found myself at the edge of the pool at the Foss swim school with my two year old daughter Breanna. My wife told me that this is a dad’s job since neither she, nor any of the other moms, wanted to get into a bathing suit and have all the dopy dads stare at them. She was right; everyone else in my group was a dopy dad!

My daughter had a love/hate affair with the water and tonight she was thrilled with the prospect of going to swimming lessons but not so thrilled with getting her hair wet. The sounds of crying from Breanna and all the other kids nearly rendered the swim instructor’s directions inaudible but at the end of the night, she asked all of us to come together and said the following:

“Guys we’re going to do the exact same routine we just did until the session is over.”

What happened to me next is what is technically called a moment of awareness. Suddenly I realized why Foss was such a great swim school. They have convenient locations to their target market (me); they have a great process and great instructors that follow that process to the tee. And they understand the mother of all learning, repetition.

New Home Sales = Theatre

Every time we greet a guest to one of our model homes we are on stage performing. Yet, how often do we rehearse our presentations? Even when we do rehearse them, do we do it repeatedly until we can do it in our sleep?

One of my clients has a 12 year old boy who is a hockey stud. He never has to ask him to practice. In fact, he has a tough time, “getting the stick out of his hand.” Do you think there is a direct correlation to this? Of course there is. Any performer that is at the top of their game is there because of two reasons. The first is natural talent. The second is natural talent refined through practice.

Some salespeople do have natural talent and do get by without practice. But I will tell you this: I will take a salesperson with a little talent but tons of drive over one with tremendous talent and a little drive any day of the week.

When we are willing to make the sacrifice of learning and practice on a daily basis, the only thing holding us back is our own self limiting thoughts. Practice isn’t fun or exciting but it is what makes the difference between good and great.

After 8 weeks in the Foss program, Breanna, who didn’t want to go under water the first lesson, is now doing the back float, swimming under water 5-6 feet and getting out of the pool on her own. We’re still doing the same circuit every week and every week she makes a small improvement. Isn’t it funny that this simple lesson had to come from a two year old?

Happy Selling!