In school, when you took a test (assuming you were prepared) you'd get a good number of answers correct and  score of 80-90 percent.

100% was a possibility for anyone who applied themselves. 

Yet even when you flunked a test you usually got half of the answers right.  

And therein lay the difference between school and the real world. 

In school a 50% success rate is failing, but in the real world a 50 percent success rate is outstanding. 

A baseball player who has hit .500 for an entire season – in other words, one hit for every two times at bat (a 50 percent success rate) is virtually unheard of. No one has averaged over .400 in major league baseball season in almost 50 years. 

In major league baseball, career .300 hitters usually go to the hall of fame.

The same holds true in the world of selling.  

In virtually any industry you can name, a 30 percent closure rate makes you a superstar. Most salespeople (including those who earn well in excess of six figures) often produce only three sales for every ten calls they make. For some, the numbers are even lower. 

Lesson: Don't worry about swinging and missing. Work on getting to the plate more often.