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What are effective ways to incorporate role-playing into solution selling training?

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Solution selling is a sales methodology that focuses on identifying and addressing the customer's pain points, needs, and goals, rather than pushing a product or service. To master this approach, sales engineers need to develop skills such as active listening, consultative questioning, value proposition, and objection handling. One of the most effective ways to train and practice these skills is through role-playing exercises. In this article, we will explore some of the benefits and best practices of incorporating role-playing into solution selling training.

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1 Why role-play?

Role-playing is a simulation of a real-life sales scenario, where one person plays the role of the customer and another plays the role of the sales engineer. Role-playing can help sales engineers improve their communication, confidence, and problem-solving abilities, as well as receive feedback and coaching from their peers or managers. Role-playing can also expose sales engineers to different types of customers, situations, and challenges, and help them prepare for the unexpected.

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Steven Salim

Principal Solutions Engineer (APJ) | Team-First Leader | Value Advisory | Technologist
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Role-playing in sales training is not only fun but also provides a safe environment to experiment and learn more about yourself and others. Sometimes, you'll discover unexpected insights. This activity benefits not only the person acting as the sales engineer but also the sales engineer portraying the customer. Putting yourself in the customer's shoes helps understand their perspective, feelings, and thoughts.

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2 How to design role-play scenarios?

To make role-playing effective and realistic, it is important to design scenarios that match the target market, industry, and stage of the sales cycle. The scenarios should be based on real customer cases, pain points, and objections, and should have clear objectives, guidelines, and outcomes. The scenarios should also vary in difficulty, complexity, and duration, depending on the skill level and experience of the participants.

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Steven Salim

Principal Solutions Engineer (APJ) | Team-First Leader | Value Advisory | Technologist
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Drawing from personal experience, it's been found more effective to design a role play by first considering the industry, the personas commonly encountered, the company objectives, respective persona objectives, and a list of potential objections and questions. It's worth noting that role plays may involve more than two people to simulate real-world scenarios accurately. Once these aspects are aligned, it creates an environment conducive to simulating real-life scenarios. This allows sales engineers to practice not only presentations and demos but also to manage meetings while fostering engaging conversations focused on the value proposition.

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3 How to facilitate role-play sessions?

To facilitate role-play sessions, it is essential to create a safe and supportive environment, where participants feel comfortable to try new things, make mistakes, and learn from them. The facilitator should explain the purpose, rules, and expectations of the role-play, and assign the roles and scenarios to the participants. The facilitator should also observe, monitor, and intervene when necessary, to provide guidance, feedback, and encouragement. The facilitator should also debrief the participants after each role-play, to highlight the strengths, areas for improvement, and key takeaways.

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4 How to evaluate role-play performance?

To evaluate role-play performance, it is useful to have a set of criteria or metrics that measure the quality and effectiveness of the sales engineer's actions and behaviors. These criteria or metrics can be based on the solution selling framework, such as the ability to uncover the customer's pain points, needs, and goals, the ability to present a tailored and compelling value proposition, and the ability to handle objections and close the deal. The evaluation can be done by the facilitator, the peers, or the participants themselves, using tools such as checklists, rubrics, or feedback forms.

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Steven Salim

Principal Solutions Engineer (APJ) | Team-First Leader | Value Advisory | Technologist
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Evaluating role plays can be done in various ways. While structured scorecards provide a systematic approach, open-ended feedback is also effective. Combining both methods can offer a comprehensive evaluation process, capturing both quantitative and qualitative aspects. This hybrid approach allows for a thorough assessment while also providing valuable insights from participants.

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5 How to reinforce role-play learning?

To reinforce role-play learning, it is important to provide ongoing support and follow-up to the participants, to help them apply and transfer their skills to real sales situations. This can be done by creating action plans, setting goals, and tracking progress, as well as by providing coaching, mentoring, and refresher sessions. It can also be done by creating a culture of continuous learning and improvement, where role-playing is seen as a regular and valuable part of the solution selling training and development.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Steven Salim

Principal Solutions Engineer (APJ) | Team-First Leader | Value Advisory | Technologist
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Led the 1st APAC partner enablement workshop with Timothy Mak at OutSystems, focuses on simulating real-life scenarios, providing a safe space for partner sales engineers to learn presentation and demo skills, ultimately aiming to drive value-driven engagements. Designing and conducting this workshop has been an enjoyable, insightful, and fulfilling journey. Despite initial doubts about collaboration due to competition among partners, we were pleasantly surprised by their active participation and enthusiasm. The feedback we received was very positive, with participants expressing their excitement for future sessions. It seems similar programs are rare in the tech industry, I highly encourage you to give it a try at least once.

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What are effective ways to incorporate role-playing into solution selling training?

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4

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6

1 Why role-play?

2 How to design role-play scenarios?

3 How to facilitate role-play sessions?

4 How to evaluate role-play performance?

5 How to reinforce role-play learning?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Sales Engineering

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What are effective ways to incorporate role-playing into solution selling training?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Why role-play?

2 How to design role-play scenarios?

3 How to facilitate role-play sessions?

4 How to evaluate role-play performance?

5 How to reinforce role-play learning?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Sales Engineering

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