The short answer
How do you run a useful sales practice session?
Book fifteen minutes attached to something you already do, choose the scenario the day before and make three attempts aloud: your usual way, one change from the feedback, then that change under pressure. End by writing one line on what to try next time.
Foreword
Why it matters
Saying something aloud and checking it is a far stronger way to learn than reading it again1. A short session only works if the minutes go on attempts, not on setting up. Deciding in advance when and where you will practise makes it much more likely to happen2.
Retrieval
61%
of a passage recalled a week later after three practice tests, against 40% after four readings1
What we’ll cover in this guide
- Part 01: Protect the time
- Part 02: Run three attempts
- Part 03: Close the session properly
- Your practice task: a short exercise to try with Selly
- Conclusion and what to practise next
Part 01: Protect the time
Put the session in your calendar like a meeting, with a start and an end.
Making it happen
Attach it to something you already do
Right after your morning planning, or just before your first call block. An if-then plan (“after I open my CRM, I practise one opening”) is easier to keep than “sometime today”.
Prepare the scenario the day before
If you spend the first ten minutes choosing a buyer, the session is over before it starts.
Reflection questions and how to get started
- Is the session in your calendar? Add it now.
- Do you know which scenario you will open? Choose it before you close this page.
Part 02: Run three attempts
One attempt tells you little. Three show whether a change is working.
The shape of the session
Attempt one: as you would today
Do not over-prepare. This is your baseline.
Attempt two: one change
Read the feedback, choose a single change and try it.
Attempt three: under a little pressure
Ask the practice buyer to push back harder, and check the change still holds.
Reflection questions and how to get started
- Did attempt two differ from attempt one in one clear way? If you changed several things, you will not know what worked.
- Did the change survive pushback? If not, repeat attempt two next time.
Part 03: Close the session properly
Two minutes at the end decide whether the next session starts where this one finished.
Carry it forward
Write one line
What worked, and what you will try next time. One line is enough.
Stop on time
A session that ends when planned is easier to start again tomorrow than one that ran long.
Reflection questions and how to get started
- What is your one line from today? Write it where you will see it next session.
- When is the next session? Put it in the calendar.
Your practice task
- Book fifteen minutes in your calendar, attached to something you already do.
- Choose one scenario the day before.
- Make three attempts: baseline, one change, then the change under pressure.
- Write one line on what to try next and stop on time.
Conclusion
A useful session is short, planned and made of attempts. Three tries at one moment, with one change between them, teach more than an hour of reading.
