Let’s be honest: being a salesperson can be so intimidating. While sales come more naturally for some of us, they’re not that easy for others of us.

Here’s one tip I’ve found to help improve in sales: record yourself giving a sales pitch. It doesn’t have to be live; it can be staged and even giving your sales pitch to an empty room.

Write out some of the best objections and scenarios you can think of to your message, and then read those objections out loud and answer them in the first take on your recording. No second chances, not do-overs. Just a one-shot chance to answer those objections.

Here’s the part that can be difficult: when you’re done, listen back to your recording and be honest with your perspective about how you sound on the recording.

Now, before you get into any type of destructive self-talk because you don’t like the way you sound on the recording or you start to think you’re not good at sales and never will be, focus on writing out the best answer you can give for those objections based on what you learned from yourself, what you wished you shared during your recording.

Those are your study notes, your cheat sheet for being better at sales. The next time you’re in a sales conversation, remember you’ve already been through the most likely objections and you can focus on serving your prospective client because you’re not worried about how your answers sound.

The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”