I have been taking guitar lessons via Zoom, connecting with a teacher several towns away as well as daughters Emma and Jillian. None of us are beginners. Myself, I’ve been playing since the seventh grade but I never really learned the basics, like reading music or knowing the names of the notes up and down the neck.
That’s all changed.
We’ve now had a few lessons with Jeff. In addition to technique, he has been talking a lot about theory. That approach has been tremendously helpful but incredibly overwhelming at the same time. There’s a lot to it.
Learning to do anything complex like playing the guitar or selling, you can stay at the surface and do the bare minimum or you can understand what’s behind the notes or, in the case of sales, the actions, and take a far deeper meaning from lessons or coaching. But there comes a point where the talking is done and there’s only one thing to do, one thing you must do alone.
When I’m coaching a new sales rep, my first few lessons have to do with what I consider to be 75% of what a rep needs to know in order to sell profitably:
- Where to Look
- What to Say
- What to Do
After that, the rep has to go out and apply the lessons and I generally say something like, “Go run the play.”
The other night, after a particularly mind-boggling guitar lesson, I stayed on the Zoom call late so that Jeff could give me some answers to my many questions regarding major roots, minor roots, movable cords, sharps, flats, etc. We talked for about five minutes and then Jeff interrupted with a bit of my own medicine: “Bill, shut up and play.”
We both laughed. I get it. Theory is important. Technique is essential. But you need experience and even mistakes in order to move forward and get better.
This weekend, we turn the page and welcome July. Put the excuses aside. Stop making assumptions. Don’t talk yourself out of sales activity. In short…
Shut up and sell.
