If you manage sales people, you probably know that it's important to prebrief and debrief your team before and after conversations. But if you were never managed that way, it can be difficult to turn around and manage your team that way.
Here's an example of how debriefing works for one of my clients.
This client works in the construction industry, and he has sales reps that sell all across the country. One of his sales reps was completely unfamiliar with Sandler, and when my client would debrief this rep after phone calls, he often wouldn't even recognize what was happening.
My client would debrief with this sales rep, and frequently found that this rep was engaging in confrontational dialogue with prospects—often accidentally. The prospect would say that they didn't need their product, they used something else instead, and this sales rep would launch right into a presentation about their features and benefits, trying to convince the prospect of all the reasons why he should be purchasing from them.
But my client has been persistent, and has made debriefing a priority in their work flow. Because of that, this rep and others have started to pick up on some of the things my client has been consistently telling them.
In later conversations with this sales rep, the rep relayed conversations that were much more productive. He would tell my client that "Okay, this guy said he had this particular problem with the product they were currently using, so I asked him why that's been a problem for them." Asking questions instead of being confrontational has opened doors for this rep.
My client told me that because of their debriefing sessions, his team is learning to ask more questions and "amazingly enough, they're finding that they're having better conversations." Of course they are!
This story is a success, to me, on two counts. First, my client's sales reps are learning that they need to be asking more questions and making fewer assumptions when they talk to prospects. That's huge.
But also, these sales reps wouldn't be able to grow if my client wasn't having constructive, helpful debriefing conversations with them after phone calls. Because he's aware of how those conversations go, he can pass on what he's learned in Sandler and help his whole team improve.
That's the power of debriefing—you can help your whole team improve if you're just taking the time to figure out where their weak spots are.
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