It’s not one thing.
And it requires you to master many things before it clicks and you can actually do it.
Sales.
A client of mine shared how, even with his successful companies, they never really mastered sales.
They built a great product.
They grew through their network.
And for a while, that was enough.
But to grow further, it wasn’t anymore.
“We just need to get out there. Sell. And learn as we go what works for us.”
I’ve taken a few courses on sales now and have been practicing it deliberately for a while. And what I learned surprised me, even though it shouldn’t have.
Sales, like most complex skills in life, is not one thing.
Before it clicks, you need to work on many sub-skills:
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figuring out who to sell to and what problem you solve
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qualifying
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earning attention with the right hooks
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listening and making sense of real needs (not what you think everyone needs)
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problem framing and insight creation
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value articulation
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objection handling
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decision facilitation
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negotiating
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closing
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following up
Once you get pretty good at all of them, the system starts to click.
One isn’t enough.
Health.
Health isn’t one thing either.
Another client shared during reflection how he used to think exercise was just “doing it.”
And that’s exactly why he couldn’t.
Then, through our work together, he realized exercise is also:
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going to bed on time
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managing your day, time, and workload so training has a fair chance to happen
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making it simple and easy to start, even on the hardest day
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being clear on why you’re doing it and what your ultimate goal is
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learning to pace yourself
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working on consistency on the unmotivated days and creating accountability
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knowing the actual movements so you don’t get injured
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...
Once you get pretty good at all of those, exercise almost can’t help but happen.
Most people chunk it into one thing.
That’s why it feels like an unliftable boulder.
It’s like trying to squat 100kg with no prior training.
It’s not that it’s impossible.
It’s that it requires many skills before you get there.
I used to get frustrated with myself for not “getting it” in business.
It started to feel like some kind of impossible magic was happening✨
Then I started learning from the right people.
I realized it wasn’t magic at all.
It was a range of sub-skills.
I started working on them one by one.
And things began to move.
Not perfect.
But moving.
Over to you, dear reader,
What feels like an impossible skill right now, and which one sub-skill could you start training this week?
