Taking a Page from Baseball’s Playbook: Spring Training JenEMiller March 15, 2023

Taking a Page from Baseball’s Playbook: Spring Training

It’s been years since I’ve attended a spring training game. Oh, what an experience! Have you ever been? There’s truly nothing like it. Even if you aren’t a tried and true baseball fan. Consider it a bucket list item for sure. 

Professional athletes go to spring training every year. Not once in awhile. Not just when they feel like it. Not just when the coach says they need to sharpen their skills. They go every year. 

Athletes practicing together each year before the official season begins. I absolutely love the analogy of spring training for sales professionals too. 

Are you committed to annual skill development? 

What are you and your sales teams doing, habitually, every year to improve? 

Please don’t take the “spring” training wording literally. Think through all the events, trainings, conferences, meetings, and development for your team. Maybe there’s an annual kickoff meeting? Or a summer rally half-way through the year? Or quarterly refresher training on your company’s products and services? 

Could doing something to build sales culture and develop team skills be valuable to prospecting efforts, close ratios, and client retention? 

Spring Training and Skill Development 

Doing a self-assessment of your own sales skill set is a great place to start. Even better would be a conversation or assessment led by your manager or a trusted mentor or sales coach. 

  • What one sales skill of yours is already sharp, but could be sharper?
  • What skill or skills need to be consistently spot on if you want to be considered an A player?
  • Are there any skills would you like to improve but are afraid to take the first step?
  • Can you directly correlate improving a specific skill to greater earning potential?

If you and your team aren’t already doing something at least annually that focuses on team building and/or skill development, feel free to reach out to me directly to discuss. Brainstorming and talking is a great first step.

Next week’s post will also be inspired by baseball and spring training – and will be focused on calculating your batting average.