Why I Hate Role Playing (And What I Suggest Instead)

For those of us who can not, will not, or choose to not do role plays, here are some things that will get your team up to speed quickly with no acting classes required.

For me, doing sales role playing, never really felt right. The fake scenario, the exaggerated pitching, the canned objections, the group feedback was just off-putting to me. As a rep, I blamed my hatred of these fake sales calls on my introverted nature. But recently, I realized that I believed it didn’t prepare me well for selling. As a manager, I simply cannot put my team through role plays.

So, for those of us who can not, will not, or choose to not do role plays, here are some things that will get your team up to speed quickly with no acting classes required.

Test Your Reps on Technical Trainings

In the past, prospects were sold by being educated by the seller. Not so today.

A modern sales person offers insight within the buyer’s understanding of the status quo. To achieve this standard, a sales team needs to understand the capabilities of their products and the problems they solve. 

This level of understanding can be the difference in persuading a skeptical prospect. 

It is simply not enough to see if a sales rep can survive a fake sales call. 

And yes, in some cases, an actual test is needed…. with grades and everything. Stop looking at me like that.

Allow Reps to Shadow Each Other

For some managers, this is a hard approach to take. It feels unproductive to have two reps on a call when one could close the business. The simple truth is that the very best sales professionals do their most inspired work with actual prospects. The top performers thrive within the stress of wanting to win.

Role plays simply cannot recreate the stress of an actual call.

Building a culture of co-learning promotes an advanced pressure within a team while providing active in-time training. 

Listen and Be Honest

Great salespeople don’t fear their gaps of knowledge. 

Not to mention, most prospects understand that sales reps may not have an answer to every question. A prospect does expect around 85-90% of their questions to be answered on the spot. 

Here are a couple of ways to gracefully handle an unknown question, “Rather than me give you my best guess, let me get you all the detail from my team.” or “I haven’t gotten that question before, let me find out.”

Customers will thank you for being honest.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Live Calls Are The Best Role Plays.