Spring training for Major League Baseball players is all about practicing the right concepts and covering all likely scenarios. Once the skills are honed, what you hear from most managers, coaches and players is that they need to see consistency.

Sure, players might have a great spring and make the big leagues, but if they don't consistently perform, they will be sent back to the minor leagues on the next bus.

Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre said: "Whatever your job is, consistency is the hallmark. It's much more important than doing something spectacular just once. Do your job consistently and you will be considered good."

Torre was talking about much more than baseball. Life, like America's pastime, is all about consistency. Consistency might sound downright boring, but it's a critical element of success.

"Variety may be the spice of life, but consistency pays the bills," observes Doug Cooper, author of "Outside In."

Being consistent applies to all areas: school, work and family. If you are raising children, you know all about being consistent.

If you are running a restaurant, you are very familiar with the importance of consistency. Every food item must be served the same way every time. Customers expect it.

I occasionally go to McDonald's, not because they have the best hamburger, but because I know exactly what I'm going to get. I don't like surprises.

It's the same with any brand. When your audience sees and hears a consistent message from your brand, it reinforces your unique selling proposition in their minds. By knowing what they can expect from your brand, and hearing it multiple times, they will begin to assign a higher value and trust in your business -- and it shows that you take your business seriously.

Are you aware of the three Cs of customer service?

1. Consistency

2. Consistency

3. Consistency

It means providing predictable, reliable results to the customer or client every time.

Employees should expect the same consistency as customers. Employees should always know what is expected of them and how they will be treated.

"Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals," said the late Jim Rohn, a friend and crony of mine.

Big goals require three things: a plan, commitment to carry out that plan and consistency. Getting started is hard enough, but consistently carrying out your plan is more difficult. Even the best business plans will fail without a dedication to consistency.

How many people started out the year with plans to work out more, get in better shape and lose some weight? Without consistency, those resolutions go down the drain in weeks.

Say you set a goal to run a marathon, as I did years ago (I completed 10 of them). You must organize a consistent practice schedule and be consistent in your workouts, rain or shine. Missing a workout is like telling a lie, and the next lies come easier and easier.

Remember Aesop's fable about the tortoise and the hare. When the two raced, the swoift hare, assured of its great advantage over the slow and lowly tortoise, took a commanding lead but ultimately lost after arrogantly taking a nap on the course.

Are you a tortoise or a hare? Keep your eye on the prize, and consistency will get you there.

Mackay's Moral: If you are persistent, you will get it. If you are consistent, you will keep it.

An electric utility in the northwestern United States had problems with ice building up on its power transmission lines during the winter. The company had to send linesmen out to climb the pylons that held the lines to clear off the ice and snow. It was difficult and dangerous work, especially as bears sometimes wandered close to the pylons as the linesmen were working.

One day a group of linesmen got together for a brainstorming session, hoping to find a better and safer way to clear away the ice. One linesman mentioned that a bear had actually climbed a pylon after him once. That led to a humorous suggestion of placing honey pots at the top of the pylons to attract the bears. Then, as they tried to get to the honey, they would knock free the snow and ice.

Then an administrative assistant said, "But we'd need to use helicopters to place the pots at the top of the pylons, and the vibrations would frighten the bears and chase them away."

Eureka! The answer was right in front of them. Soon afterward, the company began sending helicopters up into the air -- without honey pots -- and using the vibrations and wind created by their motors and rotors to knock the ice down.

A casual comment had solved the problem. And that's the beauty of brainstorming.

Brainstorming is defined as a group problem-solving technique that involves the spontaneous contribution of ideas from an individual or all members of the group.

The term was popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book "Applied Imagination." Osborn claimed that brainstorming was more effective than individuals working alone in generating ideas.

Brainstorming can be a powerful process for sparking creativity. It is like a password to open minds. Brainstorming began when Osborn, who was presumably searching for an idea, decided to ask a few of his colleagues for input. He set out five core principles upon which all brainstorming is built to this day:

1. Gather together a group of people into a room with plenty of easels and whiteboards.

2. Capture all ideas that come to mind, even if they sound crazy -- especially if they sound crazy.

3. The more ideas, the better. Your initial goal is quantity, not quality.

4. Do not apply critical thinking. There's no such thing as a bad idea -- the evaluation process comes later.

5. All ideas belong to the group, so people should be encouraged to build on each other's ideas.

These rules are probably very familiar to you; however, chances are you are even more familiar with the reality of most brainstorming sessions. They can easily devolve into meaningless time traps if at least some semblance of organization isn't present.

If you haven't come up with any good ideas lately, you might want to try different approaches to getting the creative juices flowing. These are some of my favorite brainstorming techniques:

-- Swap problems. Sometimes, the longer and harder you look for a solution, the more elusive it becomes. A fresh set of eyes can make a big difference. Have people write down their most difficult problem, and drop them all in a hat. Then have everyone pick a problem from the hat and try to solve it. Encourage people from different areas to get together and learn something about each other's problems and skills. This activity can kick-start ideas and approaches that go far beyond the usual thinking.

-- Form a dream team. Collect a small group of people to meet once a week. Emphasize that each person has been invited for a reason. Include creative types as well as technical experts, and at least a couple of people who are unfamiliar with the problem. Limit attendance so everyone gets a chance to contribute. Their only job is to generate, share and discuss ideas for innovation.

-- Keep an open mind. Don't set limits on what kinds of ideas are acceptable. If you're leading, be careful not to dominate the session. Halfway through the session, vote on the ideas. Throw out the bad ones and seek ways to improve the good ones.

-- Look for bad ideas. Hold a "dump the ideas" meeting with colleagues. One topic: "What should we stop doing so we have more time and energy for innovation?" This may seem like a reverse approach, but it can be incredibly useful. Eliminating the clutter makes room for fresh approaches.

Everyone is in sales. Why? Because from the time we wake up until our heads hit the pillow at night, we are continually communicating, negotiating, persuading, influencing and selling ideas.

Do you want to nail the sale? The tool I use is called the Mackay Sales Scalpel. It's my surefire way to sharpen and pinpoint every sales situation.

As I see it, expert selling demands five essentials:

-- Fire: the drive to strive.

-- Formulate: the art of planning.

-- Fascinate: the gift of sizzle.

-- Follow-up: the discipline to control.

-- Finalize: opening the door to maximum opportunity.

Let's start with fire. You have to have fire. You have to love the fight. You have to know how to ignite it and to keep it lit.

When you love what you do, you will never have to work another day in your life. In fact, the subtitle to one of my books reads: "Do what you love. Love what you do. Deliver more than you promise." That's the spirit of the salesperson's creed.

When times are tough, it may not be your fault for being down. But it is always your fault for not getting up. You have to be a believer to be an achiever. Only a fired-up, high-energy workplace ignites tomorrow's ideas. The job of sales management? It's to keep the fire roaring.

But no amount of fire will take you anywhere without a plan. People don't plan to fail; they fail to plan. That brings us to ingredient No. 2 of the Mackay Sales Scalpel: formulate. You need to formulate a plan.

Central to your plan: figuring out how to demonstrate the product. A salesperson tells, a good salesperson explains and a great salesperson demonstrates.

Dawn dishwashing liquid came up with a brilliant product demonstration. Remember the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010? Dawn went to work sprucing up oil-caked wild ducks and made them spanking clean using their product. What could be more convincing? Great salespeople are always on the lookout for potent proof of product effectiveness. Dawn seized an unforgettable moment.

Statistics are at the heart of formulating your plan, starting with where you get the bulk of your business. Can you identify the top 20 percent of your customers? Most salespeople are familiar with the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. Well, this trend is headed strongly for 90/10. That gives you a great idea of how to prioritize your time.

The third essential of the Mackay Sales Scalpel is fascinate. Advertising pioneer David Ogilvy said no one ever sold anyone anything by boring people to death. There's not a lot of difference between showmanship and salesmanship. Mostly, you have to be likable, pleasant and an excellent listener. In our cold and unfriendly world, it can be fascinating to meet up with a genuine, honest and attentive person. I have never known anyone to buy from someone they don't like.

Want to fascinate people? Start by smiling and listening. Oh yes, there's one other thing to keep in mind, but you probably know that already: The sweetest sound in the English language is the sound of your name on someone else's lips.

That brings us to the fourth element of the Mackay Sales Scalpel: Follow-through.

Why is follow-through so important? Selling is easy, but only if you work hard at it. You have to do the details -- relentlessly.

Few things drive repeat sales more than expert customer service. No customer service, and pretty soon, no business.

In customer service, nothing counts like honoring commitments and meeting deadlines. In sales, you have to nail the exact practices beforehand with manufacturing, IT, distribution, finance and other pertinent departments.

The key is to latch on to your customers and hold them fast. Don't just meet their needs; anticipate them. Don't wait for them to tell you there's a problem. Go out and ask them if there is a problem.

Now we come to finalize -- the fifth and final facet of the Mackay Sales Scalpel. It's all about closing.

The close is only the very last stage of the process. You'll never close effectively without mastering the whole process of negotiating first. Find ways for both sides to legitimately win. At any close, the super salesperson is already thinking about the service needed to support the deal or the referrals that a satisfied customer is bound to deliver.

Mackay's Moral: The sale begins when the customer says yes.