In our 9th and final installment in the Sales Productivity Tools blog series, I dive into an essential item on the list: the Performance Recording tool.

In a smartphone filled world, it has never been easier to record a conversation than it is today, and the usage of audio recording can be used to improve skills in selling through roleplays, 1-on-1 coaching, and analysis. 

It is a vital tool that must be utilized in your organization!

In my previous Sales Productivity Tools blog, I talked about the film room as an essential tool for improving skills on the football field.  As indicated, these film and audio tools should exist for sales managers and salespeople alike. 

In our world, audio recording is constantly being used to improve skills, check on compliance issues, and improve the quality of customer service.  Just think about the last time you called to check on a bank statement, a credit card charge or to make a change in a flight reservation. 

"This call will be on a recorded line." 

When that happens, what do you do?

1. Do you hang up because you don’t want the conversation to be recorded?
2. Stay on the phone because you don’t care if it’s recorded?
3. When you do get a real person on the phone, ask that the conversation not be recorded?

If you are like most people, you stay on the phone and don’t give it a second thought.  When it comes to recording conversations in regards to the law, you should know the following information as is copied from Digital Media Law website:

"Federal law permits recording telephone calls and in-person conversations with the consent of at least one of the parties. See 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d). This is called a "one-party consent" law. Under a one-party consent law, you can record a phone call or conversation so long as you are a party to the conversation. Furthermore, if you are not a party to the conversation, a "one-party consent" law will allow you to record the conversation or phone call so long as your source consents and has full knowledge that the communication will be recorded."

I’m not suggesting that you start an immediate campaign to record conversations between your salespeople and every prospect or client, but I’m not discouraging you from doing that either. The bigger problem you will have isn’t with the Federal or the State government, but more likely with your internal legal and HR departments. 

So, assuming for a minute that recording live conversations is off the table, let’s talk about what is on the table, and what you should be doing to improve your skills and the skills of those on your team.

1. You should take time to roleplay in every sales meeting.
2. On occasion (once or twice a week), make sure that someone records the roleplay, and then play the recording back for discussion.
3. Use scorecards to evaluate the objective and responses during the exercise. It's helpful to ask yourself, or your people, these questions after the roleplay is complete. 
• Did they get the prospect involved in the conversation as soon as possible by introducing themselves and then stop talking?
• Did they ask permission to tell the prospect why they were calling?
• Did they look, act and sound like a typical sales person?
• Would you have continued to listen?
• Would you have scheduled an appointment?
• Was there value proposition compelling enough to get you to ask questions?
• Did they start "selling on the phone" (talk too much)?
• Did they get invited out to visit or did they invite the prospect to visit?
• On a scale of 1-10, how well did they handle objections or questions?
4. Record your 1-on-1 coaching sessions (especially when you demonstrate what you expect your salespeople to do on an appointment or call). 
5. Make audio and video recording part of any training program.
6. Provide objective feedback to recordings sent to you by your sales team.
7. Occasionally use video recording but silence the audio so that you can focus just on the body language of the participants.

Here is something to consider when starting the process- expect some push back and resistance.  You have to be numb to that.  These are salespeople that should be strong enough and confident enough to allow themselves to be recorded. If they don’t, then that tells you something about what you’ve recruited.  Next, give your people planned vs. canned scripts to follow so that you can measure one performance against another. 

Finally make sure you do these three things:

1. Keep and archive the really good performances and use them for training new people and for conducting more effective sales meetings.
2. Give your people several chances to record so that they can practice to get it right and submit the one they feel is their best effort.  This leads to the improvement of skill through self-practice and evaluation.
3. Create a bit of a competition – Our Company Has Talent!  Kind of a round robin event where everyone starts the competition, they work within team structures, the teams nominate their best participant and those nominated compete against others.  The winner gets the prize, as well the team represented.

Yes this takes work, yes this will work, and yes we can help.  Here is your call to action. Call us (877-635-5371) or email our team to inquire about a 1-day workshop on any sales topic you can think of.  We will consult with you on the skills and behaviors that you want improved within your organization!

Email a member of our team below: 

Jeni@anthonycoletraining.com – COO & CMO

Tony@anthonycoletraining.com– Founder & Chief Learning Officer

Alex@anthonycoletraining.com – Recruitment Specialist & 1-on-1 Coaching Expert

OR, you can schedule a meeting here: 

In this blog, we discuss what it takes to differentiate yourself as a salesperson in the market today, and how sales and politics can often be similar.  As the public tends to avoid political candidates that sound like all of the rest, the same can be said in sales. 

If your salespeople sound like every other salesperson out there, how can they become the best version of themselves? If this happens to us as salespeople when we conduct our sales calls, and there is no perceived difference between our competition and us, we become a commodity. 

If you listened to any of the Democratic Debates, you listened to approximately a dozen people try to convince their prospects, (the voting public), that they are different.  Many people tend to think of politicians as being “all alike”. 

If that happens to us as we conduct our sales calls, and there is no perceived difference between our competition and us, we become a commodity.  If we are perceived as a commodity, the deciding factor usually ends up being price.

As the candidates prepare for the debates, their focus groups help guide them through how to say certain things on specific topics, with the hope that a certain phrase will resonate with their prospect, (the voting public). 

In sales, we don’t have that luxury. 

In order for us to stand out, be different, or be memorable (we refer to that as Sales Posturing), we need to focus on the business problems our clients, or prospects, have. 

The best, and only way to do that, is by asking questions.  When we get the response from the prospect, we must ask more questions to confirm and clarify the problem in terms of emotional pain and the specific dollar amount it will cost them if the problem isn’t fixed. 

That’s how we become memorable, that’s how we differentiate ourselves, and that’s how we bring value to the people we meet.

Getting back to politics — over the course of the next several months, we will see many of the candidates fade into obscurity.  Their message just won’t connect with the voting public.  In sales, we see the same thing.  Our phone calls don’t get answered, our voicemails don’t get returned, and our wonderfully crafted e-mails get ignored. 

Why?  Because to our prospect, or our “voters”, we just didn’t do anything to be, act, and sound different. 

In short, we didn’t connect.

If I can leave you with one thing to remember before going into your sales calls, it’s this; we can’t talk our way into an opportunity, however, we can question our way into an opportunity. 

The more time we spend asking questions, the less time we spend talking.  When that happens, we are different and memorable.  If you become exceptional at it, your chances of  getting “elected” by your prospects greatly increases.

Someone needs what you do...now get out there and go find them!  

Kobe Bryant will be retired from NBA basketball when the final buzzer sounds in tonight’s game against the Utah Jazz.  If you are not a basketball fan or sports fan, this may mean nothing to you.  My intent is to frame a very important discussion about performance around a living legend of the LA Lakers and NBA.

As I listened to ESPN Radio Mike and Mike in The Morning, I heard commentary from former teammates, coaches and opposing players. There was a common theme in there discussion about Kobe Bryant and elite performers in athletics.  To be clear, I don’t believe the common theme is limited to athletic top performers.

As I started this article, I sent a question to my niece, Laura Wehrmeyer Fuentes.  Laura is an elite performer and vocalist who performs in the greater DC/Baltimore area.  I asked her if she ever bailed on a performance because she felt a little off or hadn’t prepared properly.  Her response:  “No way!  I’ve sung through bronchitis and pneumonia hopped up on steroids when I had to.  The show must go on!”

Elite performers prepare and perform at the highest capabilities regardless of the situation, the score, the environment or circumstances.

Some comments made about Kobe made me think about the content and theme of this article.  Here is just a sampling of what was said about Kobe and other top performers:

• They demanded the best of others. When others were not performing at their best, giving it their all in practice or in a game, they call them out.
• When it’s game time, nothing else matters. When Kobe’s family came to LA to watch him play, they stayed at a hotel instead of his spacious home.  He focused on the task at hand.
• Regardless of the score of any game, if you watched Kobe play, you would swear that the Lakers must be down by 20. His intensity for playing the game rather than playing the score made him elite.
• When comparing Kobe to Magic Johnson, the comment was made about Magic after they lost the championship to the Lakers. “You couldn’t find Magic in LA.  Here is a guy that likes to be out, is normally seen out and is everywhere where the lights are.  After the loss you could only find him in one place – the gym.”
• Elite players make other players better. They recognize that they are a big piece of the puzzle, but still only one piece.  They elevate the game of others in order to win the team
• Elite players have a tendency to rub others the wrong way. Not because they are arrogant individuals, but they have an arrogance about how they view the game and how it should be played and how one should be prepared to play.  They are haters – haters of losing and those un-willing to pay the price to win.

I could go on, but this makes the point and takes me to the question in the title of this article – Who are your elite players and are they doing the things that superstar/hall of fame players do? 

• Are they elevating others?
• Are they demanding of others?
• Are they team-objective focused or focused on their own stats?
• Do they do everything possible to win individually and get others to win as a team?
• Are they your go-to people in a crisis?
• Do they grind and grind to get it done?
• Do they work relentlessly on their skills?
• Do they focus on the details of the game so as to eliminate repeated errors or mistakes?
• Do they call others out?

*Data on approximately 100,000 sales managers

• Have, on average 43% of the Sales Coaching Competency 
• Only 39% have at least 50% of the Sales Coaching Competency.  
• Only 7% have more than 75% of the Sales Coaching Competency and
• Only 3% spend at least 50% of their time coaching their salespeople
• Only 7% of sales people assessed fall into the elite status based on performance, sales DNA and 21 core sales competencies.

As a CEO, president, national sales manager, vice president of sales or sales manager, the responsibility you have is to drive revenue.  When that seems difficult or impossible there needs to be more to the solution than work harder, see more people, increase the marketing budget, do more social networking, expand the sales force, etc.  Just like you would look into the numbers (expenses) to figure out how to improve profit, you need to look at the root problems impacting revenue.

It isn’t the latest sales enablement technology that improves sales results.  It is the human technology that drives sales today and will drive sales tomorrow.

Helpful Links/Resources:

Objective Management Group – White Paper on Talent Selection

Anthony Cole Training Group – Link to Sales Management Certification Program

Hirebettersalespeople.com – Self-explanatory link

Burning platform issue – You have a problem now, You want it fixed now – call me directly:  Office: 513.605.1301 or call/text  Mobile 513.226.3913.

Picture of Kobe – link to YouTube