A sales training exercise
When looking to coach your employees you will likely find the most effective exercise to be role playing. This activity can be in a one on one or in a group setting where each person takes a turn at the exercise and allows the other team members to watch and learn from the experience.
It is a simple scenario where one person is the prospect and the other is the sales person, or cold caller or whatever the scenario may be. In doing so, the manager can either test the rep on how good a job they did in asking questions, help them to improve their presentation skills or just get them comfortable with going through their sales process. On the flip side, it can also be beneficial for the manager to take the role as the sales person and show them the proper way a sales meeting should be conducted.
In any case, this scenario can be played out in whatever manner that seems fitting. The basics are usually to set a goal and give details of the scenario and allow the conversation to unfold.
Sales role play example
“I will play the prospect and you will be the BDR trying to qualify this lead and see if it is a right fit for our Sales Engineer to schedule a discovery meeting. Jennifer is a referral from an existing client and has decided to change service providers. Find out what their monthly budget is, confirm their technology stack and extra points for any other pertinent information you can uncover on the call. Let’s get started – Hi, this is Jennifer.”
Keep in mind, you don’t want to make it too easy. If your goal is to see if they can qualify you over the phone, don’t be too eager to tell them the pertinent information. Instead, allow them to find their way and struggle a bit if they need to. Then point out where the opportunity was if they missed it and then replay it and allow them to uncover it, even though you have just explained it to them.
Remember, this is a learning exercise. The most valuable experience they can take away is when they are in front of a real prospect and they feel like, “hey, I have been here before.” They then will be more confident in that next step.
In using this as a couching activity, you will find it to be very useful for new reps who are in the process with an opportunity and are concerned how the next meeting will go. Use real life examples like this and you will be amazed at how effective this exercise can be.