The routines and superstitions of a star athlete before a big game should not look unfamiliar to the would-be star sales agent. A sales routine that helps you focus, helps you put your mind ‘in the game’, can be as important as everything else you do to secure a sale. A sales routine should be a tool in every belt, not as a superstitious ritual to ward off bad leads and miscommunication, but as a method to quickly and consistently put yourself in your best possible working mindset. In this article, we’ll discuss what goes in to a successful sales routine, starting with just what counts as ‘routine’ and what does not.

Difference from Process. 

It’s important to maintain a distinction between your sales routine and your sales process, even though sometimes, you’ll see sales routine and sales process utilized as interchangeable terms. For this article we’ll define the difference between the two thus: Your sales process is how you move from lead to sale to follow up (to sale again, if you do it right). Your sales routine, on the other hand, is how you prepare yourself to follow your sales process, the extra steps you take to make sure you’re getting the most from your process.

Getting a cup of coffee before you sit down is sales routine, pushing for early buy-in is process. There are a few things that might count as both, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Emphasize getting in the zone. 

The core goal of your rituals and sales routines should be ‘getting in the zone’, as it’s known. If you’ve ever achieved it, you know the feeling-you don’t fumble for words. You don’t find yourself at a loss. You handle everything at peak performance, without any of the strain that you’d associate with that level of focus. It just becomes natural to sell, like breathing or walking. That’s what you should use your sales routine for.

The trick lay in training your body and mind with simple stimulus. You establish certain habits, which are always followed immediately by focusing and working hard. For example, maybe you drink your coffee sweet with creamer way most of the time, but occasionally drink it black. IF you start drinking your coffee black only when you’re sitting down to work hard, black coffee will become a shortcut for focus. Our minds and bodies are silly things, when you get down to it, but it’s something we can use to our advantage.

Implement sales routine into your sales process. 

The absolute best sales routine incorporates some degree of multitasking-you make some trivial task from your sales process into a part of your routine. If you start every work session by sorting through leads, that can become equal parts process and sales routine. This will typically be more effective AND efficient than having wholly separate process steps and routine steps. Just remember that a routine needs consistency above all else, whereas process is focused on outcomes, so stick to overlapping things that don’t need variation to give best results.

Resetting your mind. 

Your sales routine should also include some method of ‘resetting’ when calls go downhill, when you can’t shake a big, big client from your mind, when your home life is impacting your work. Like a chef deglazing a pan before starting the next course, you need to clear your mind back to its neutral high-performance state. What this means will vary greatly from individual to individual. Maybe you need to go for a short walk, or go hunt down a snack. Maybe you need a quick nap (if you can get away with one at work), or to play a quick round of Solitaire. Experiment and find your route back to neutral. Once you’re there, the other parts of your sales routine can work their magic and push you back to peak performance.