Is it possible that at some point in our sales careers many of us have been guilty of making assumptions? A few years ago, I was asked by a client, someone I considered to be a friend, to make a short fifteen minute presentation to a professional services group followed by a fifteen minutes of Q & A. My client had invited fifty of their prospects to attend a day of presentations on various topics.

I readily accepted the invitation to present given my familiarity with my client, their industry and my chosen topic, which I had presented on a similar topic not three months previous. It would be "water over a duck's back" as some might say! Well, you likely know where this discussion is headed as the presentation was a disaster. I found myself far from "being on the top of my game". I made assumptions regarding my audience, the topic and the questions they would ask. My client was, to say the least, disappointed, but no more so than me in myself. I vowed to emulate the professional athlete. Without exception, the number of hours of preparation and practice a professional athlete devotes to his craft is significantly greater than the actual competition. Why should it be any different for the professional sales person? If you find yourself in a similar situation, here are some ideas and suggestions:

• Interview your clients by industry on a regular basis to make sure that you are on top of what is happening in their marketplace.
  
  
• Prepare for a sales discussion by reviewing your Diagnostic Questions and Usage Scenarios for the goals you speculate as top of mind to the individual(s) you will be interviewing. Are they all relevant to today?
  
  
• Make an appointment with yourself to review your Solution Development Prompters® and then call a colleague to practice what you will say to your prospect. Consider getting into the habit of calling a colleague on a regular basis to test your "being on top of your game". As Tiger Woods has recently stated, he is still searching for his perfect swing!
  
  
• Since voice mail is what we encounter each day, leave a message for yourself using the prepared dialogue that you intend to use with your prospect. Once you hear it, can your message be enhanced?
  
  
• Encourage an ongoing dialogue with your marketing department in order to inform them of your findings regarding the Sales Ready Messaging®.

I find that when I get behind the wheel in my car, it feels strange to not have my seatbelt in place realizing that I cannot afford to make assumptions. Today, I feel exactly the same way before speaking to a single prospect or to an audience of many. Because preparation and practice are now an integral part of my professional sales routine, my sales efforts mirror the professional athlete.