I’ve often thought that schools should put far more emphasis on how to learn as opposed to what to learn. You know how it goes. You show up at school, the teacher hands out your History/Math/English book, and says, “Read this, I’ll give you a test in the morning.” Great! I know how to read, you say. But how the heck do I learn this stuff? Unfortunately, many teachers can’t tell you because no one took the trouble to teach them.

I’m going to correct that situation and show you how to learn almost anything in five basic steps:
  1. Impact
  2. Repetition
  3. Utilization
  4. Internalization
  5. Reinforcement
Master each one of these steps, use them together at all times, and you will learn.

Step 1: Impact
Impact means that you cannot just read or look at new information and then forget about it. You must use your knowledge constantly. An associate of mine took a business/pleasure trip to Scotland recently and decided, in spite of his misgivings, to drive through the countryside, despite the Scottish way of driving on a different side of the road than in America. He was actually conscious of his competence as he eased into the right-side driver’s seat of his rental car, started shifting with his left hand, and then pulled into the correct lane. Within a day or so, he says, driving on the “wrong” side of the road was as natural as ordering breakfast. Aware of his incompetence, he had absorbed the necessary information, made it a part of him, began using it unconsciously, and moved on to more important things like making his appointments, touring the big castle, and getting to the pub in time for fish and chips and the local brew.

Impact itself is broken down into four steps:

Hear it. Before you can learn something, you have to hear it, and that means you have to put yourself in a position to learn. Don’t wait around hoping that information will fly in through the window. Go out and get it; expose yourself to the information you want and need every chance you get.

Write it. When attending a seminar, presentation, or lecture and you hear something you want to learn, write it down. The same applies when reading something important. If you want, outline the material, or at least list its key elements. Sure, it takes time. But instead of breezing through the material and quickly forgetting it, you will be on your way to knowing it. Hey, remember the tortoise and the hare? Who crossed the finish line (who got the prospect) first?

Read it. Study your notes, and I don’t mean just glance over them so you can say, “I have studied!” Read the words and concentrate on what they mean. Think about what you have written down and commit it to memory.

Say it. Say what you have heard and written. Practice makes perfect!

I know this process is a bit more time-consuming than skimming through a textbook, but think back to your real goal. You’re not trying to be the first kid on your block to make it to “the end.” You’re in business to learn, and this is how you do it.

Step 2: Repetition
I call repetition the “mother of all learning” and the key to mastering any new skill, technique, facts, or figures. For decades advertising and marketing studies have proven that people don’t even realize they have been seen advertisements (radio, television, newspapers, magazines, whatever) until they have seen or heard them six times.

If you make yourself repeat the words, scripts, and techniques of prospecting covered in this book a minimum of six times, you will, on average, have retained 62 percent of the material, based on studies of people with above average intellect. This is not a magic. This is not super-secret, wish fulfillment, or fairy dust from the Good Witch of the North. This is simply the mastery of basic learning techniques. That’s all.

Step 3: Utilization
Utilization is where you actually start saying words in front of potential clients, when you actually apply what you’ve learned so you can test its results. You get to try it on for size and see how it feels. You’ll do a lot of analysis at this time, adjusting the words to fit you. For many, this is the toughest step because trying something new in a make-it or break-it situation can cause fear. However, if you keep doing today what you’ve always done, you can expect nothing more than the same results. In order to change for the better, you first have to change!

Step 4: Internalization
Try to make the new information a part of you. Absorb it totally, think about it, and use it. As you do, learning will start to become virtually automatic. Your confidence in knowing and using the material will grow, as will your drive to learn even more. As you become better at internalizing, you will also notice a slight shift in your attitude. Learning actually starts to become fun because, for the first time in your life, you are doing it right.

Step 5: Reinforcement
Make a genuine commitment to retain yourself, right now, even before you’re fully trained in prospecting. At least once a year take sufficient time to review your study books, workbooks, and your notes from the subjects you have learned so that you continue to retain what you have learned.

True professionals never think for an instant that they know it all. Several years ago, the people of Phoenix got a good look at a professional attitude following a disappointing playoff game by the Phoenix Suns basketball team. Charles Barkley, who played for the Suns at that time, had a bad night at the free-throw line. After the game, while the fans filled out and his teammates headed to the showers, “Sir Charles” moved over to the sidelines and began practicing his free throws. Imagine that! A superior athlete, at the top of his form, after an exhausting game, takes time to practice his skills. That’s the sign of a real champion.

As you progress through the steps and stages of learning, please give yourself permission to fail and forgive yourself for failure. Trying to achieve excellence means you will fail more than a few times somewhere along the trail. That’s all right. Failure is part of the process. Don’t fear failure.

Mistakes are just part of the game. Learn from them and take the lessons to heart. You’re a lifelong student of learning. Instead of kicking yourself for some error, study what happened and move on. Find someone who can help you see where you went wrong or study some of your course materials for life, such as Sales Prospecting For Dummies. You can’t have an up without a down, and you can’t have success without failure. Admitting that to yourself is a big step in the learning process, something that not everyone can handle.