Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni’s father sent him for formal schooling, but Michelangelo preferred copying paintings in churches. He later befriended arts and studied with some of the great painter and sculptors of his time. But he thought that he could learn more by copying the masters.In museums around the world, you can see artists creating copies paintings. In Louvre in Paris, you can see a stream of artists copying their great paintings. Copying masterpieces has been a cornerstone of traditional art education for a long time. In fact, one art course you can take at The New York Academy of Art in New York City, NY, USA consists of students walking a few blocks to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) and copying paintings. That is the course!I have done copies of paintings at MMA New York City of oil paintings by Theodore Gericault (French Romantic Painter, 1791-1824) and Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez (Spanish Baroque Era Painter, 1599 - 1660).Artists at MMA who want to make copies make a request to MMA’s Education Department. The Museum allows artists to get exclusive use for a month to one room or gallery in the museum to do a copy of a specific painting. The public still has access, but only one artist is allowed to copy in that gallery. I highly recommend your doing the same.Museums vary in permitting artists to do copies. In New York City, USA, the MMA does, but the Frick Collection and the Museum of Modern Art do not. Check with your museum.How it works varies from museum to museum, but generally, you apply, get permission and follow that museum’s rules. For example, in the Louvre, and other museums, painters are not supposed to use the same size canvas as the original. You can’t eat or drink in the museum, must use a canvas drop cloth on the floor where you paint on an easel and you must clean up thoroughly after every session. Some museums offer copyists locker space to leave their paintings and gear at the museum instead of bringing everything back and forth each day you want to copy during your month access to a painting gallery.If you can’t afford to go to an art school because of time and/or money, learn from the masters. If you can’t get to a museum, copy the great paintings from reproductions. If you can’t get reproductions, you can find them in library books or on the web.What you can learn from copying the masters? Everyone is different in their ability to extract information from art instruction textbooks, videos or art classes. By copying a masterwork, you can learn something about the artist’s technique, handling of paint, use of color, composition, form, drawing and so on.Can you learn from copying great paintings? Michelangelo thought so.

Make sure your sales reps:Provide an accurate forecast.
Many reps will pad their forecast to make it look good to the boss. Obviously, this eventually fails. But it is really up to the sales manager to make sure the forecast is accurate and realistic; regardless if the news is good or not. The sales manager needs to take the time to go through each of their sales reps’ Top 10 Prospects once per week and distill the real number. A forecast should not be a surprise.
Learn, practice or drill a sales technique every day. You never see a major league baseball player skip a game-day of batting practice. And many of those players make millions of dollars. Tiger Woods hits the practice range with a coach before the start of every tournament round. Professionals know they can never stop practicing and honing their “swing.” Top sales people know this as well and that’s why they constantly practice and refine their sales skills so they are ready to move the sale along at a moment’s notice.
Learn to really listen. Everybody talks about the importance of listening, but few people hear anything. Most sales reps are so anxious to either get their pitch out or want to answer a question before it is finished being asked, that they never really “absorb” the question. A good rule to follow is to wait three seconds before answering, even if you know the answer. That at least gives the impression you’re listening. And you actually may think of another, and maybe better, response while you pause!
Become your customer’s trusted adviser. Customers buy from people they trust. If there is no trust they will not buy. Sales people can develop trust by being straightforward and honest – even when the news is not good; especially when the news is not good. People are human and understand things happen. What customers do not tolerate are sales people who cannot be counted on. They count on sales people who are experts in the field in which they are selling to deliver reliable, pertinent information.
Know your product inside and out… and how it compares to the competition. Product and competitive knowledge just get you in the door. If your sales people cannot explain and demonstrate the benefits of your product, and why it is superior to the competition, do not put them in front of a customer. This is not to say they have to be 100% perfect right out of the gate. Nobody is. But they do need to be able to get through the fundamentals of a demo, and completely deliver a benefit-oriented presentation.
View themselves and their customers as equals. Too many sales people see themselves as less-than-equal to the decision maker to whom they are trying to sell. It can be for any number of reasons, but that attitude needs to be eliminated right away. The sales person needs to convey to the buyer that they too are professionals and that their time is valuable. This attitude will convey a sense of confidence that will translate into the buyer’s confidence in your sales rep.
Know where to draw the line. Many customers will ask for as much as they can get. Better pricing. More time to evaluate your product. Better terms. The list goes on. Your reps need to be guided as to where to “draw the line.” Several considerations can go into these concession decisions and you will ultimately decide your ultimate terms. However, your reps need to know when they are being taken advantage of and when they need to say “no.” And you need to stand behind them. If your reps believe they will “for sure lose the deal” if they don’t acquiesce, have them re-read item #6.