Zen and Sales II

by S. Anthony Iannarino on July 16, 2009

In the martial arts, there is a Zen concept called mushin no shin. What it means is a level of unconscious competence that allows the practitioner to respond without having to consciously think about what they are doing. It takes thousands and thousands of repetitions of the same technique over and over again to obtain mushin. But once obtained, an attack is blocked with the lighting speed and reflexes that can only happen when the brain is not first required to process the attack.

The first step to obtaining mushin is the conscious practice of the technique and the simultaneous experimenting with adjustments to make the technique effective.

Let's apply this to cold calling. When you begin making calls, it is difficult to be effective. But if you are conscious and deliberate, paying attention to what is working and what is not working, you can make adjustments and become more effective.

The same is true of actual sales calls (which can often be likened to some form of jujitsu). Hard questions are asked and sometimes hard objections are thrown at you. At first, they take a conscious effort. But later, after you have dedicated yourself to your technique, they can be dealt with by the unconscious skill of one who has deliberately practiced.

Here is the rub: You must consciously and deliberately practice for years to develop the highest level of skill. This means you cannot simply go through the motions. If you are not reflecting on what is working and what is not working, changing and modifying your actions until they are finely tuned, you can never reach mastery.

This means making the calls is not enough. Mastery doesn't come cheap. Pay the price by being fully engaged in what you are doing.