Does Your Sales Team Practice on Customers?

In this thought-provoking episode of Sales [UN]Training, host Kelly Riggs delves into the contentious topic of role play in sales training. Riggs challenges the common aversion to role play, arguing that its unpopularity stems not from the concept itself but from ineffective implementation.

He emphasizes that role play, when done correctly, is an essential tool for skill development, allowing salespeople to refine their techniques in a controlled environment before interacting with customers.

Kelly shares practical insights on how to reframe and conduct role play effectively. He advocates for renaming it to "skills practice" to avoid negative connotations and focuses on creating realistic scenarios that mirror actual sales situations. Riggs underscores the importance of practice in honing sales skills, noting that without it, salespeople are essentially practicing on their customers, often with suboptimal results. 

In this episode

3:21 - If your people are practicing on your customers here's what's REALLY happening

6:56 - The pressure to perform distracts from the practice itself

10:20 - If they do it in role play, they will do it front of a customer

13:00 - 3 things to do when setting up role play so that you can actually get tangible, observable benefits from the process?

Follow the audio podcast and watch OR listen wherever you are: https://linktr.ee/salesuntraining Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker, and business consultant for executives and companies throughout the United States and Canada.

He has written two books: 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don’t and Quit Whining and Start SELLING! A Step-by-Step Guide to a Hall of Fame Career in Sales.

Get more Kelly: www.BizLockerRoom.com.

Widely recognized as a powerful speaker and performance coach in the areas of sales, management leadership, and strategic planning, Kelly is a former sales executive, a two-time national Salesperson-of-the-Year, a business owner, and a member of the Forbes’ Coaches Council since 2019.

Music and Editing by @dougbranson and Pod About It Productions

#sales #selling #salestraining