How to Learn a New Sales Skill and Make It Second Nature

Building Your Sales Engine

• 27 min

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Learning a new sales skill takes more than understanding it — Mark McGraw and Josh Pitchford walk through seven steps to make any sales technique second nature before the lights come on. Learning a new sales skill is the easy part. Performing it in a live call, under pressure, when the deal is on the line — that's where most sellers fall apart. In this episode, Mark McGraw sits down with co-host Josh Pitchford, a former golf pro who has taught more than 14,000 lessons, to break down seven practical steps for taking a new sales skill from the practice range to the course. They cover why writing a technique out by hand changes how it sticks, how to rehearse out loud until it sounds like you instead of a script, and why setting an intentional target — three uses in the next five business days — is what turns a concept into a habit. Josh makes the case that debriefing is the missing element keeping most teams from leveling up, unpacking the 10/80/10 framework and how AI transcripts now give sellers real evidence against their own scorecard. The conversation closes on patience. Nobody runs a perfect upfront contract on the first try. Chunk it down, layer it on, and measure whether you're better today than you were yesterday. Host: Mark McGraw — Building Your Sales Engine Co-host: Josh Pitchford — Building Your Sales Engine In This Episode Why there's a difference between knowing a skill and performing it "under the lights" — the range vs. the course Step 1: Write it out by hand, then say it out loud until it sounds genuine instead of scripted Step 2: Rehearse in private — drive time, old-school CDs, and now one-sided role plays with AI Why this isn't about scripts: frameworks, talk tracks, and Mark's "R&D — rip off and deploy" Step 3: Set an intentional rep count (John Rosso's "three times in the next five business days") and build a scorecard or rubric Step 4: Debrief — the missing last 10% of the 10/80/10 cycle, and why the great ones always watch their game film Step 5: Practice in low-risk situations — disqualified deals, your spouse, your kids The gap between good and great: seven questions per call vs. thirty-two Step 6: Get an accountability partner who keeps the skill in your head between calls Step 7: Give yourself grace — progress over perfection, chunk it down and layer it on 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/