Several years ago I attended a sales and leadership workshop presented by Alan Fine, president of Inside Out Development. IOD is a professional training and executive coaching organization that grew from Alan’s experience as a successful “focus coach” in a previous career where he helped professional golfers and tennis players improve their performance through increased focus.
His methodology is based on the premise that most poor performance isn’t simply a lack of skill, but rather a lack of clarity in the brain. It’s this abundance of “brain noise” that often distracts the person from achieving the result they desire.
To illustrate his point, Mr. Fine produced a video of him coaching a budding tennis player struggling to perfect a two-handed backhand. With video camera rolling behind the player, he had the ball launcher send lobs toward the player. The initial results were dismal; a flock of poorly hit balls congregating up by the net – waiting to be reloaded. Then he slowly began to ask the player to stop focusing on their swing, but rather on the ball. Not the entire ball, but rather the hair on the tennis ball. Not simply the hair either, but the hair as it flew twirling through the air.
The results were immediate and remarkable.
Immediately, the balls hit by the player began to clear the net and land safely near the back line. It looked like a parlor trick. As if on command, the player stopped thinking about the mechanics of her swing, and focused instead on the rotation of the tennis ball, and her performance improved dramatically.
Another great example of the power of focus comes from the movie Bull Durham. In it, Nuke Laloosh’s (Tim Robins) girlfriend (Susan Sarandon) suggested he might improve his pitching performance on the mound if he wore her “female undergarments” under his baseball uniform. How they got to that point in their relationship is worth watching, or rewatching the entire film. Needless to say, it worked. Nuke’s focus (preoccupation) on the “female undergarments” freed his brain to completely let go of the anxiety associated with the mechanics of pitching a baseball, and to just “throw the ball.” His performance skyrocketed. Now, clearly this was fiction, and not reality. How likely is it that a professional baseball player would wear women’s undergarments under his baseball uniform to dramatically improve his performance? However, you get the gist of the idea.
Throughout the sales process, there are a number of areas where we often focus on technique and lose control of the opportunity. I work with salespeople everyday who are struggling to overcome anxiety, perfect their selling skills, or manage self-doubt. The trick, or parlor trick, is that we must learn to channel our thoughts somewhere else that is very, very specific.
Thankfully, almost anything will work. For example, I often key on the vocal qualities of my prospect. How deep or high is their voice? How do they say each word? That seems to work for me. It’s not that important where you focus, its simply important to pick something connected, but not part of the skill.
A few things to consider:
- Set a goal for the interaction.
- Review the “best practices” for the interaction that produce the optimal outcome.
- Decide where you will place your focus.
- Practice a 5 second slow breathing technique.
If you’d like to improve your performance, visit the SalesKicker Resource Page.
