Learning self reflection from Curt Schilling: By Rocco De Leo

As I sat watching game 6 of the ALCS this evening, I noticed one of baseball's best pitchers over the last decade, Curt Schilling, doing something that we should all consider doing ourselves. Schilling takes copious notes on each and every player he faces. He logs his experiences, reactions, and results between innings. He has the ability to look ahead at who is coming up next inning and to form a very educated plan of attack. As salespeople, trying to become great salespeople, we must be able to learn from our past experiences and build ourselves advantages over our competition. An average sales rep spends some time preparing for a sales call, maybe even reflecting on the last interaction with the customer. A great sales rep goes into each call knowing that the call is not only a call for today, but also a learning experience for every call to every customer thereafter.
My customers are doctors. I have a few key customers who can be a little tough to catch. These doctors are "hospitalists" who work only at hospitals. What makes them difficult to see is that they don't have an office like most doctors. While they are difficult to catch (at least until you build up a good working relationship and learn their "secrets"), they are very important to what I do. I was recently meeting a colleague at a hospital I don't normally work in. As I was standing in the lobby waiting for my colleague, who walks in but two (not one, but two) very influential and busy hospitalists. Not only did this happen, but I ran into one of them again in the parking lot. What did I do with this great "Manna from heaven"? I spit on it! I said hello three times, and left with nothing. Now, was this a complete loss? Not for me! Just like Curt Schilling, I take everyday as a chance to get better. At the end of the day I reflected on this colossal waste of opportunity and realized that I needed a plan on how deal with this type of situation. I need to know who are the most important customers to look out for, what do I want from them (appointment, contact info, etc), and why they want to give me what I want.
The point to all of this is to look honestly at our shortfalls, mistakes, and skills gaps. Take small bits of our daily experiences and reflect upon them and find the opportunity to improve. Good luck and good selling.