Sales Tip: After Interaction Self Review
Are you taking every chance to improve your game?
“Boy, that sucked.”
Me
We have all had them. The sh**y sales call, presentation or meeting where things just go south. Whether it’s a spicy prospect, not enough coffee, or just one of those bad days, that which does not kill you makes you stronger. Here are some tips to make even those tragic calls, or even mediocre calls, worth something.
The Sales Mirror Does Not Lie
No one knows you better than you. And in sales you should always be your harshest critic. Every event you do, every call, every conversation and every interaction is a chance to enhance your skills and better your talk track and rejection handling and improved sales. Something I started doing a long time ago is this self-assessment after each call. In the real world it’s just not reality to have a manager or another salesperson on your calls for critique. So, I suggest getting in the habit of either digital notes or having a journal where at the end of each call you scribble or type what went well, what was average, and what went bad. In a new sales job, where you’re selling a product or perhaps a technology you don’t quite have all the answers about also enter questions that you couldn’t answer or things you didn’t know about your product. There’s nothing worse and having to tell a prospect “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
So here’s a quick list of questions that should be in your after interaction review on your performance:
- How would I grade that interaction and why?
- Were there rough areas in the conversation that could have been handled better or answer differently to change the momentum of the conversation?
- Did I appropriately present the value proposition and did the prospect understand?
- Were there questions I couldn’t answer about the product, company, or value to the customer?
- Was that a good use of my time and is this a proper target prospect and the opportunity?
- Did I properly handle roadblocks and rejections?
- If I could start the car all over from the beginning, what would I do differently and how would I change the conversation?
This is a great base question set and mental exercise to get you started, and I’m sure overtime you’ll come up with your own to help improve your sales skills, talk track, and interactions with prospects. Happy hunting!