Mention role play to the majority of sales people and it will send a shiver down their spine. Role play is often viewed as a dreaded exercise which management use as a tool to pick holes in a sales person’s knowledge of a given product or service. Unfortunately, all too often this is indeed the case. Role play, sold as as a training exercise, gets ultimately used as a form of examination where failure results in confidence crushing humiliation. Run, rabbit, run…..
However, there are many positive benefits that can be gained from using role play as a training exercise, particularly in the world of cold calling. It offers an environment where an inside sales person can test and hone the messaging, generate a “flow” to their introductory pitch, steer and guide a discussion, identify business needs, explain the product benefits, overcome objections and qualify an opportunity.
What matters is the manner in which the role play session is approached. In order to turn this exercise from a dreaded “necessary evil” to a truly constructive and beneficial learning exercise, there are a few simple do’s and don’ts:
- Don’t have unrealistic expectations: It is not reasonable to expect the inside sales person to perfect the role play if this is a first or even second role play session. This is a training exercise. The reason we train is to improve.
- Expect nerves: Regardless of experience or background, role plays are a nervous experience. As a trainer or sales manager, always be conscious of this. Nerves will have an impact on the role player’s delivery.
- Be Positive: Avoid being negative with feedback. Highlight what the role player did well as a starting point and make suggestions for improvement in the areas where the sales person has struggled. Negative, critical feedback is completely counterproductive.
- Practice: It can be beneficial to conduct more than one role play training session particularly if this is a complex sale. Use these different sessions to focus on varied messaging aspects each time, e.g. Session 1 - key USP’s and product knowledge; Session 2 - introduction and objection handling.
- Be realistic: Avoid being overly punitive with excessive objections put to the role player during the session. Always try to make them as close to a real world scenario as possible. This is often best achieved by drawing on experience which in turn suggests that the best people to host a role play session are those that have “been there and done that”. Remember, the purpose of the role play is to train and advise.
- Bring variety: As well as changing the focus point of the role play sessions as mentioned earlier, it is also very beneficial to alternate role play partners. This broadens the scope of learning by exposing the sales person to alternative messaging, methods and sales techniques. One size does not, after all, fit all.
- Focus on active listening: Too often, role play is used to examine a sales agent’s product knowledge and as a result falls into the trap of feature selling. In addition the focus of the session can shift towards testing the individual instead of the sales messaging. Active listening is an important and powerful skill when cold calling prospects. Avoid simply selling the features and place a strong emphasis on practicing the art of active listening.
Conducting a role play session can be akin to a staged performance. Too often it becomes a regurgitation of scripted information. Tick all the boxes and you have passed the test…….NO!
The reality is that a live cold call situation will hardly ever follow the flow of a conversation practiced during a role play session. It is therefore imperative that a cold calling agent knows how to listen, ask discovery questions, empathise, steer and guide a discussion, know when in the conversation to focus on solution features and benefits and overall be comfortable with the sales messaging.
To get to this point, role plays should be interactive and the sales trainer/manager should always remain constructive in their feedback. Don’t use a role play session as a stick to beat the agent with! Go forth and prospect.
Maven TM is a specialist B2B Telemarketing and Sales Lead Generation company. With hundreds of sales lead generation campaigns completed successfully for technology companies, Maven TM consistently helps companies achieve their sales strategy and stay close to their markets. For more information, please contact Maven TM at info@maventm.com.
