"Practice it until you can't get it wrong. Don't practice it until you can get it right."
Learning a new sales skill is easy. Performing it under pressure is not. Mark McGraw and Josh Pitchford break down 7 steps to make any sales technique second nature — from writing it out by hand, to rehearsing solo, to the debrief most teams skip entirely.
Josh spent his prior career as a golf pro and taught more than 14,000 lessons, so he has watched thousands of people try to change a habit and fail under the lights. In this episode he and Mark map that same problem onto selling.
What you'll learn:
• Why writing a technique out by hand imprints it differently than reading it
• How to rehearse out loud so it sounds like you, not a script
• Running one-sided role plays with AI during drive time
• Setting an intentional rep count: "three times in the next five business days"
• Building a scorecard or rubric for your sales calls, demos, and presentations
• The 10/80/10 framework and why the last 10% (the debrief) is where teams level up
• Using call transcripts and AI as real evidence instead of guesswork
• Practicing in low-risk situations — disqualified deals, your spouse, your kids
• Why good sellers ask 7 questions and great ones ask 32
• Finding an accountability partner who keeps the skill top of mind
• Chunking it down and layering it on instead of chasing a perfect first attempt
🎙️ Host: Mark McGraw — Building Your Sales Engine
🎤 Co-host: Josh Pitchford — Building Your Sales Engine
👇 Timestamps below 👇
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🎙️ Full podcast episodes: buildingyoursalesengine.com
LINKS
Sandler: https://www.Sandler.com
Episode page: https://www.BuildingYourSalesEngine.com/
Show links: https://linktr.ee/buildingyoursalesengine
Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcgraw/
Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-pitchford-6163274/
Chapters
0:00 — Cold Open: Seven questions vs. thirty-two
0:33 — Welcome: 14,000 golf lessons and what they teach about learning
3:00 — The range vs. the course: performing under the lights
4:12 — Arthur Ashe: practicing so you can do it one time when it counts
5:27 — Step 1: Write it out, brain to hand to ink to paper
7:47 — Step 2: Rehearse by yourself until it sounds like you
8:20 — Drive-time reps, old president's club CDs, and AI role play
10:29 — This isn't scripts: frameworks, talk tracks, and "rip off and deploy"
11:03 — Step 3: Plan your reps — three times in five business days
12:47 — Build a scorecard or rubric for calls, demos, and presentations
14:26 — Step 4: Debrief, the 10/80/10 framework, and watching your game film
18:25 — Step 5: Practice in low-risk situations
19:26 — Good sellers ask 7 questions, great ones ask 32
21:40 — Step 6: Get an accountability partner
23:04 — Step 7: Be patient, give yourself grace, chunk it down and layer it on
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How to Learn a New Sales Skill and Make It Second Nature
Building Your Sales Engine 0 views 4 hours ago