Mastering A Skill Requires Practice

Dedication makes the difference By David Hicks How do you master a skill? I learned a lesson from my 12-year-old son this week. When I turned into my driveway at about 7:00 p.m., he was standing there with a basketball. He was dripping wet; obviously, he had been out shooting for some time. As I got out of my car, my son said, "Guard me -- I want to show you something." So there I was in my dress shoes and long sleeve shirt, guarding my son under the basket. He made a fake to the right, and made a flip shot with his left hand. I challenged him again, knowing that making a left handed shot had to be luck. There was no way he could do it twice in a row. He didn't. It was more like nine or ten times in a row. I asked how he learned to shoot left handed. His response: "That's what I have been working on all afternoon." Later, my wife said he had literally spent four to five hours non-stop, making the same shot over and over again. That evening, I was thinking about a call I had with one of our Buyers earlier in the day. The Buyer was not having a lot of success, and was blaming it on the leads and the market. Yet, after I asked a few questions, it was obvious to me that the Buyer had never practiced the presentation. I could not help wondering what kind of success the Buyer would have if he simply made a decision to master the skill of buying a house. The HomeVestors business is like any other business in that it requires the mastery of certain skills. The Buying process itself requires several skills -- developing rapport, finding the pain, and many others. In many of our markets, franchisees have had to develop a new set of skills to help them sell houses. Those who master the skills that determine success will be the most successful. But how do you master those skills? Study. Find out what skills are required to produce success. Read everything you can find about your industry. Become an expert. Learn the skills. Buyers should master the Buy Presentation Script. Coordinators should master the Buy Call Script. Model success. Find out what the most successful people are doing and exactly how they do it. If you mirror their actions, you can replicate their success. Practice, practice, practice. Tiger Woods hits 800 golf balls in a practice session. How many times has your Buyer practiced the Buy Presentation Script? How many times have you practiced the Buy Call Script with your Coordinator? So, what skills do you need to master? . . . David Hicks is HVA's VP of Operations. He can be reached at 972.761.0046, ext. 201.