I’ve just published the 5th edition of Up and Running in 30 Days. In it, I’ve included lots of up-to-the-minute updates. You can read some of them, in these blogs.

Click here to see the updates in my fifth edition of Up and Running in 30 Days.

Below is an excerpt from the newest edition of the book.

The Value of Practice

Ita��s painful to learn from your mistakes with real clients. However, therea��s an additional way to learn skillsa��practice. All too often, the value of practice is underestimated by both agents and managers. But ita��s worth the effort to role-play each segment that requires sales communication with people:

• Lead-generating scenarios
• Following up with Internet inquiries
• Counseling/qualifying buyer scenarios
• Showing and closing buyer scenarios
• Presenting and negotiating offer scenarios
• Qualifying seller scenarios
• Marketing/presentation scenarios
• Price reduction/review scenarios

Managers and coaches: How many of these situations do you coach to via practice?

Agents believe that because they can talk they can sell. But we have already discussed the realities of conversation versus the special communication skills required for sales success. I guarantee that if you take seriously the practice asked of you in Up and Running, your performance with people will improve quickly and your confidence will soar. Every successful salesperson I have known who started quickly in this business organized, systematized, practiced, and perfected each step in the sales cycle.

Caution: A reason new agents start slowly or fail early is that they underestimated their need to develop a mastery of sales skills in their first months in the business. So, they fail to convert those leads!

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

The best kind of practice increases your skill and results. Back to my piano-practicing days: as a four-year-old, I picked out tunes on the keys and added the chords. I could play pop music reasonably well. Then, at age six, I started piano lessons. As I progressed to more demanding piano teachers, I learned that a�?faking it a��til you made ita�? just would not meet their standards. In fact, my best piano teacher, Mr. Green, taught me to practice very slowly, so there werena��t any mistakes. I found that if I practiced quickly, I practiced my mistakes right along with the rest of the piece.

Although his kind of practice was tedious, it was right. By using Mr. Greena��s method I became a much better pianist, gaining a degree in piano performance. Too often, real estate agents practice the mistakes and end up with a sales system that is a�?more mistake than effective.a�?

* Big Idea: Perfect practice makes perfect. Go for mastery, not just mediocrity. One of a coacha��s opportunities is to help you get into action, take risks, and work toward a�?practicing perfectly.a�?

What is the ‘Music’ You Use to Coach?

You need a guide–a solid business start-up plan, with the what, how, how much, and why built in. Take a look at the new 5th edition of Up and Running in 30 Days.