Be patient with me on this one as I take you back a few weeks to the 19^th March at the Aviva Stadium as Ireland “trounced” England...

- 69 minutes on the clock Sexton is replaced by Ronan O’Gara.

- 71 minutes: a magnificent banana kick by O’Gara leaves Ireland only a few metres from England’s line.

- 72 minutes: O’Gara squares up to England’s golden boy, Chris Ashton and shows him who is boss.

- 73 minutes: O’Gara slips another masterful kick to touch only a few metres from the English line.

- 79 minutes: O’Gara sparks the Irish backs and once again they pour through the devastated English defence.

So where am I going here (besides remembering a glorious week for Irish sport with the Cricketers beating England and our biggest haul ever at Cheltenham!) and what lessons can O’Gara’s performance teach us?

Ronan O’Gara’s week consists of training, practice, perfecting his passing and kicking skills and tactical awareness. He runs through every scenario that he may encounter on match day. He actually worked for 12 minutes against England, yet the timeline above shows how his preparation paid off. Let’s not forget he did the same thing against Italy, coming on late and winning the game with his last kick.

Now truthfully ask yourself how much time you spend in preparing for every meeting or presentation? How much research do you put into your potential customer beforehand? How often do you practice and role-play every scenario, so that if the unusual does arise you are prepared for it? Even more importantly- do you ever role-play? (I am pretty confident that the answer here for most of you in no..)

In 2009 a survey by Salesjobs.ie found that over a quarter of the respondents had no training days by their company in the previous 12 months, over half had fewer than 2 training days. I find these figures shocking- how can someone be expected to perform if they have had no practice in what they are expected to do?

Daniel-Day Lewis lived and breathed Christy Browne in preparation for “My Left Foot”, and delivered the most stunning, lifelike, Oscar winning performance. In sport, theatre, music, and all performing arts the greatest stars put in hundreds of hours for the practice to give us perfect performance. They are so comfortable with their material that if something unexpected does happen, they have the ability to adapt, act on their feet, and continue on flawlessly.

I have a little confession to make here- I am the person at the breaks in Dragon’s Den practicing my pitch on the kids! When I am preparing to give a lecture in Sales Management I walk around the kitchen speaking out loud, rehearsing my lines and delivery. Like Ronan O’Gara I find that practice does make perfect- try it, you will see a massive improvement!