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The holiday is coming, so I’ll keep this brief.
1. A reminder about the value of training
Steven Pressfield, my favorite author/philosopher, recently shared this post last week that’s relevant to us.
There’s an axiom in every army in the world.
“In an emergency you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training.”
Soldiers train, athletes train.
Why?
Because they know that under game pressure or the surprise and dislocation of combat, the mind may enter a freeze or a fog. Training is to embed a conditioned response to this state, one that doesn’t require cognitive thinking.
“Run to the sound of the guns.”
“Drop and return fire.”
“Get out of the house!”
The firefighter knows that walls will collapse and floors will give way beneath him; the triathlete knows her bike chain will snap at the peak of the race or her hamstring will seize up two miles from the finish.
To prepare for these exigencies, they train.
They rehearse.
They prepare mentally.
You and I are athletes and firefighters too.
Yes, we are—especially those sales managers and sales reps among us who call ourselves firefighters.
Whether you’re in sales, construction, or athletics, you don’t suddenly become better.
You regress to the level of your habits and preparation.
As you think about your own training, while it could be a sales manager joining our Guild or a sales rep enrolling in our OSR Academy, it can be much simpler:
- Listening to one chapter of this audiobook during your commute.
- Replaying this podcast episode on the way home today.
- Spending 15 minutes per day completing this sales tool until it’s done.
- Writing down the most common objection you hear and how you respond to it.
It’s what fancy people call the aggregation of marginal gains: small, incremental improvements made over time, day after day.
| Better results. Stronger pipeline. The right activities. GenetiQ shows you how. Watch the webinar. |
2. AI ain’t slowing down
This week, Higharc announced a new partnership with US LBM to bring AI-powered 3D modeling and automated takeoffs into the estimating process.
“For distributors and suppliers, speed only matters if they can trust the result,” said Marc Minor, CEO of Higharc.
“Approximation isn’t good enough. Higharc’s AI is purpose-built for homebuilding to generate exactly what’s needed. It uses US LBM’s own standards to produce quotes teams can review, validate and confidently stand behind.”
Whether you’re excited or skeptical about it, AI is coming to a builder near you.
The question is: Are you going to let your competition gain an edge by learning it before you do?
Enjoy the holiday, stay safe, and I’ll see you next week.
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Bradley Hartmann & Co.
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