"There are three kinds of salespeople; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who are wondering what happened." You've probably heard that one before. Actually, there are two different types of salespeople and they are easy to tell apart.

The first type is the improvisor. He seldom prepares, his preferred style, is to take things as they come. He likes to be spontaneous. He relies on his instinct and counts on his intuition to carry the day. His days are fun filled and exciting, because he literally treats each sales call like an adventure. He's the Indiana Jones of selling, foot loose and fancy free, what ever that means.

The second type is the professional. He also enjoys his work, for different reasons. He anticipates everything, especially the routines. He knows the routines given the opportunity to prepare in advance. For example, he handles recurring objections. He knows he'll get them over and over again, so he prepares in advance how he will deal with them. He plays with words, until he creates power phrases that work. Once prepared, he knows that to execute the delivery, he must practice what he has prepared. He records his power phrases into a recorder a plays them over and over until they are anchored. He treats sales calls as opportunities not as adventures.

There are two types of salespeople and two different results. Each one follows a pattern, one is unstructured and one isn't. Each can be seen as a formula. One formula gets better results than the other. Here they are:

I + I = I (instinct + intuition = improvisation)

P + P = P (preparation + practice = professionalism)

The secret to selling success is that there are no shortcuts, no quickies just plain old fashioned hard work.
These are the formulas, you make the choices. One doesn't require much preparation. One pays better than the other. Remember this, you will never improvise as well as you can prepare. Also remember, your
customers can usually tell the difference.

You can become the best you can be, if you prepare and practice sufficiently.