Ask the Experts | Roleplaying the Sales Cycle (and HVAC Phone Scripts)

Sales cycle training can be difficult to nail down with your team, especially with new members who don’t have years of experience in presentations under their belt. The frequency of roleplaying sessions largely depends on the complexity of your sales process, the skill level of your team members, and the specific challenges they face. In the initial stages, when you have new team members joining who lack experience in presentations, it is essential to conduct more frequent roleplaying exercises.

In the early weeks or months of their onboarding, consider incorporating roleplaying into your team’s daily or weekly routine. This regular practice will help to reinforce the concepts they learn during training and build their confidence in handling various sales scenarios. As they become more proficient, you can gradually reduce the frequency of roleplaying sessions while still periodically incorporating them into team meetings or training workshops. On this week’s Ask the Experts call, an HVAC operator from Hawaii:

How often should we roleplay the sales process?

James Leichter, an esteemed keynote speaker and founder of Aptora, suggests that mixing up the roleplaying scenarios can be beneficial. Along with standard sales interactions, try introducing challenging or uncommon situations that your team might encounter occasionally. This approach will broaden their adaptability and problem-solving skills, enabling them to handle any curveballs that come their way during actual sales engagements.

Furthermore, consider incorporating peer-to-peer roleplaying sessions, where team members take on different roles and observe and provide feedback to each other. This fosters a collaborative and supportive learning environment where team members can learn from one another’s experiences and insights.

Our faculty members have also answered questions on other topics related to sales in the contracting world, including the difference between persuasion and manipulation and addressing an underperforming salesperson.

Contractor University members can click here to log in to their member dashboard and submit a question through the Ask the Expert portal.