Every sales leader understands intellectually that practice is an essential contributing factor to the success of their salespeople in the field. Any skill, every skill, whether it is playing an instrument, competing in tennis or basketball or soccer, requires hours and hours of practice. So does becoming a champion in selling. It requires hours and hours of sales practice to refine a successful prospecting approach with a unique and compelling value proposition. It takes hours of practicing the right questions and listening to uncover if there is a real problem that must be fixed. And of course, discovering if there is time, budget, and resources to make a change is an elite skill that only comes naturally if a salesperson is comfortable asking some tough questions. In fact, they must think it is their job to do so.
What makes sales practice difficult is that many salespeople just don’t like it. Here is our advice for the sales leaders: they don’t have to like it, they just have to do it. Once that is made clear, and leaders initiate structured time and scenarios to incorporate into their sales practice plan, salespeople will begin to get more comfortable with practicing sales techniques.
Here are just a few unedited comments made by salespeople about sales practice and role play in our sales training this year:
- "Allowing us the practice, although uncomfortable really allows me to get a feel for the layout of the conversation and dig deeper to have more successful conversations."
- "As uncomfortable as roll playing can be, practice makes perfect."
- "Discussing the different sales bases, what information needs to be collected in order to move forward. The role play & seeing it in action helped me a lot."
- "Drilling down within my real-life scenarios made be better prepared for my meeting tomorrow than I would have otherwise."
- "Makes you be prepared. Role play gets to the pain. Am I a commodity or do I bring something valuable to the table other than save you $. Listen, drill down. Lots of good stuff, even for those like me who have been doing this for a long time."
Much like salespeople, sales leaders might not like to run sales practices, but they too just need to do them! It can be difficult for managers because they may feel on the spot to demonstrate how the sales conversation should sound and may not be that comfortable themselves. Yes, to some degree, sales leaders should understand and be able to role play an effective sales conversation. However, here is an effective tip: rely on others. One of the effective approaches for sales practice with a team is to gain the insights from other producers.
Here are some other good guidelines for sales practice and how to role play:
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Leaders, have regularly scheduled time and topics to role play on your team’s calendar
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Don’t get too fancy, just dive in!
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Determine roles: prospect and producer
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Salesperson should share the opportunity’s background in 5 minutes or less
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Remember, this is not a strategy discussion; the conversation must be in the role
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Begin and continue the conversation as you would with your real prospect, making sure the prospect uses typical objections
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If you need to step out of role play to make a point or gain feedback, state “out of role play”
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After sales practice, gain feedback and insights from the team
What should the team sales practice?
If a company is operating without a defined, stage-based sales system, it will be more difficult to create productive sales practice sessions, so start there. Using the ACTG sales approach, here are areas that salespeople should practice to become proficient, along with some tools sales leaders can use in practice sessions:
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Making the initial prospecting call: 8-Step Compelling Phone Process Worksheet
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Uncovering problems and pain that must be fixed, asking consultative questions to discover if this is a real prospect or just a shopper: Drill Down Questions Worksheet
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Asking real questions about time, budget, and resources: Are They Really a Prospect Sales Brew
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Overcoming objections and asking about the incumbent are always tough areas and must be role-played!: Winning Sales Pitch Sales Brew
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If a prospect is fully qualified, in a sense, they should “close” themselves, but here is an effective approach to sales practice for closing: Critical Closing Questions Sales Brew
Every sales leader would agree, it is important that salespeople practice their sales techniques with co-workers so that they do not practice on their prospects. Improving skills, practicing the game plan, and getting feedback from the practice sessions are crucial for success. Sales leaders, just get started and don’t get caught up in making it perfect. Practice is never perfect.