How to Make Your Sales Training Role-Plays More Effective?

One key customer request is that "we don't want to have lectures all day.?We want the session to be more interactive and have more role plays".

In most corporate training (sales or otherwise), having role plays is a standard offering.?Role-plays are more than just a technique for sales workshops.?They are a way to inspire and empower salespeople to become better at what they do.?By using role plays in sales workshops, you can achieve the following benefits:?

• Build salespeople's confidence and resilience by allowing them to face different challenges and objections in a safe and controlled environment.
• Enhance salespeople's communication and persuasion skills by enabling them to test and refine their verbal and nonverbal cues, ask open-ended questions, listen actively, and provide clear and compelling value propositions.
• Foster sales teams' learning and feedback culture by encouraging them to give and receive constructive criticism, self-assess their performance, and track their progress over time.
• Make the sales training more engaging and interactive by involving physical and sensory elements, creating emotional connections, and simulating real-world scenarios.

However, role-plays need to be designed and executed effectively to achieve the desired outcomes.?Some of the things we do to ensure role play effectiveness are:

• Customize role play scenarios that are relevant to the participants’ work and challenges
• Take note of what the participants said and the responses they made during the role plays
• Debrief on what went well, and asking the participants to reflect on what else they could improve in the future

Here are some examples of our role play scenarios and the debriefing notes during some role plays in one of our workshops:

Questioning Skills Role Play Case 4:

“You have an appointment with a new customer.?They have a huge demand for your kind of products, but currently have a stable supplier.?They might also need to resolve technical and quality issues for their newer designs and future products..?

What information would you want to find out from this customer?

Structure your questions so that you can find out what you want."?

Here are the responses from the participant play the seller’s role.?Do note that the participant stated the questions in a conversational way, using each question as a response to the buyer’s responses:

1. What kind of products do you mainly make?
2. Where do you make them?
3. What aspects would you like your supplier to improve?
4. What do you expect from your suppliers?
5. ?What are your plans for new products?
6. Do you look at materials and resources to see how we can help you develop them?

Here are some pointers I gave for the debrief:

• The participant stated a lot of open-ended questions
• The participant asked customer-centric questions that focused on the buyer's desired outcomes.?Most salespeople mistakenly asked about price, volume, and time frames way too early in the sales process.
• The last question could have been made into an open-ended one
• Question 4 could be rephrased as a reframing question starting with "If..." E.g., "If you were to have a new supplier, what criteria must the new supplier fulfill?"

Here’s another case.

Questioning Skills Role Play Case 5:

“You have met this customer several times, worked out their needs, and proposed a solution.?While their product development team loves your proposal, their sourcing manager prefers a lower-priced alternative.?You are now meeting their senior manager to explore how they evaluate the various proposals they received.

What information would you want to find out from this customer?

Structure your questions so that you can find out what you want”

Here are the responses:

1. We have designs that you like and feel will meet market expectations
2. We have high, medium and low end solutions to meet all your requirements.
3. What are your current supplier quotes??We can do it at their price.
4. I will change the proposal to your new price and come up with a new one

Here are my debriefing points:

• Our focus in this practice was on asking questions to the buyer, but the participant was proposing and selling to the seller instead.
• The participant asked the client about his other suppliers' prices to express that the seller could do it at the competitor's prices by lowering the specification.?While this could be a way to win the deal, in real life, the customer may not divulge or may even quote a much lower price.
• This case was more about how the seller can guide the buyer to focus more on the seller's strengths in terms of design rather than the seller's high prices.?Since the seller's product development supported the seller, the purpose of a meeting with the senior management would be to try to win them over rather than take the initiative to reduce the price.
• Although the seller could get the order, he lost a lot of margins and would increase his workload to secure a lower price
• To his credit, the first statement, while not a question, was a good way to summarize the affirmation that the buyer's product development team had given to the seller.?Unfortunately, the seller could not build on to that.

As shown above, these are just of the the work we undertake for a more effective role-play.?Let us know if we can help customizing some scenarios for you too!

c.j. is a bilingual sales facilitator and coach in English and Mandarin and has rolled out coaching projects throughout the Asia Pacific region.?He is the IAC Singapore Chapter Leader and an ICF Professional Certified Coach.?c.j. is accredited in various assessment tools such as the Cultural Navigator, TTI DISC, OD-Tools Trait Map and Motivation Questionnaire, Belbin Team Roles, etc..??He is the co-creator of Sales-MapTM?sales proficiency assessment and author of the book "Winning the B2B Sale in China"

?c.j.是一名精通英语和普通话的双语销售导师和共享领导团队教练，并在整个亚太地区进行过各个方面的销售团队教练项目。?他是IAC新加坡分会的负责人，也是ICF专业认证教练。c.j.获得了各种评估工具的认证，如文化导航仪、TTI DISC、OD-Tools特质图与激励问卷、贝尔宾团队角色等。??他是Sales-MapTM 销售能力评估的共同创造者，也是《中国式B2B销售宝典》一书的作者。