“Bonjour, Jean. Comment vas-tu?”

“Très bien, merci. Et toi?”

“Pal mal, merci.”

“Où vas-tu, Paul?”

“Je vais à la bibliothèque.”

With my apologies if you struggled through those five lines (and très bien if you were able to comprehend them), they were the first five lines of a dialog that I and my 9^th grade classmates were required to learn under the guidance of our much beloved French teacher, Mr. Abbott. At the time, we were using a language learning strategy that relied heavily on memorization and repetition.

I can’t remember in how many high school years I studied French; I think it was four. I took two quarters of intermediate college French and, although Madame Gaudin did her best to inspire us, I then stopped studying French. Over time, I’ve lost almost all of my French vocabulary and I can’t conjugate a single French verb.

… H o w e v e r…

More than forty years later, I can still confidently repeat and translate the first five lines of the first dialog. [If you happen to remember more of that dialog, please write back to share!]

Why do I dwell on this minutia?

I’ve been thinking about the role of memorization and repetitive practice in preparing sales representatives for their work.

“Well,” you harrumph, “memorizing and practicing dialogs didn’t seem to do you a lot of good in learning conversational French.”

Well, actually, they did. At one level, although this knowledge hasn’t helped me much in my recent life, I can still tell you that the French word for library is a feminine noun, not a masculine noun, and, if anyone asks me in French, “Où vas-tu?” (“Where are you going?”), I’ll be able to answer in French if I’m going to the library (la bibliothèque).

At another level, definitely “yes”. Memorizing dialogs was a starting point for learning vocabulary and mastering sentence structure. The memorized bits provided long-lasting reference points for when I got stuck while reading French and studying new material.

So, I’m in favor of memorization and repeated practice – sales conversation structure and flow, strong questions about X or Y, facts about client problems, and so on – because the practice builds muscle memory and the memorized content provides reference points when we get stuck in sales conversations.

Au revoir!

Nick Miller and Clarity train banks and bankers to attract and develop deeper relationships with small businesses. Many more Sales Thoughts like this and a host of other articles and resources at https://clarityadvantage.com/knowledge-center/ .