SalesForceXP: September/October 2007 ScratchPad: The Trouble With Role Playing

SCRATCHPAD

SalesForceXP September/October 2007 ScratchPad The Trouble With Role Playing

Sales reps say it's unrealistic and a waste of time. Coaches and consultants swear by it. What's a poor sales manager to do?

by Paul Nolan

The question was posed recently on an Internet discussion board for pharmaceutical sales representatives: "What would you be happy to never hear AGAIN?"

One rep's answer: "Let's role play.' [It's] a scenario that exists only in the wild and wacky world of pharmaceutical sales. You and a colleague or manager make pretend that one of you is a rep and one of you is a doctor. After you've pretended to sell your medicine using seventh-grade science and an elaborate selling algorithm that incorporates cookies, stickers and pens, you review this pretend scenario and try to keep a straight face. Think this is crazy? It is only the beginning."

The rep who posted that reply got one thing wrong role playing isn't confined to the world of pharmaceutical sales. It's loathed by salespeople across a broad spectrum of industries.

Which left us wondering why salespeople cringe at something that is so enthusiastically embraced by sales managers and trainers? In most instances, it's because role playing is not done properly, says Steve Finkel, a St. Louis-based consultant and trainer who specializes in the executive search field (www.stevefinkel.com). "It must be done under approximate work conditions or I agree with those reps who say it's a waste of time," he says.

In other words, if your reps mostly sell over the phone, then use telephones during role playing. If a typical sales call lasts only a few minutes, limit role playing scenarios to that same amount of time.

One way that sales managers can get salespeople to accept the value of role playing if not outright embrace it is to come prepared themselves. The person playing the part of the prospective customer should have a prewritten script - or preferably several of them - with "traps" that commonly occur during your reps' calls. You want to find out if your salespeople fall into these traps or handle them well.

Why would you waste the time of your top performers by giving them first-year training? What proven salespeople need is not level-one role playing, but level-three coaching.

— A pharmaceutical rep posting on CafePharma

Finkel cautions, however, that role playing is not just a way of polishing a predetermined script. "To the contrary, once that script is mastered thoroughly, it's a way of shoring up areas of weakness. If done properly, this invaluable training tool will greatly enhance your sales team's flexibility and their alertness to opportunities they may be missing, and it will infallibly identify areas where they could improve."

Keepin' It Real

Rehearsing real-world situations is essential. If you don't practice what your salespeople see in the real world, they'll share the sentiments of the pharmaceutical reps who responded when we asked, "Why do salespeople hate role playing?" on CafePharma.com, an Internet bulletin board that serves the pharmaceutical sales industry. Here's a sampling of what we heard:

Top rep here. It is truly fake! It shows off your stamina and knowledge, that's it.

All you are doing with role play is a canned message that usually lasts about five to eight minutes, which in today's climate is unrealistic unless you are doing lunch. I had a manager who would provide us with different situations and we had to sell in two minutes or less. It was realistic and very helpful.

Five years of pharma experience, three years (medical) device experience...Role playing sucked because it had nothing to do with reality...My preference is NO role playing, but supplying reps with the objections/responses for study purposes. Only the committed reps will learn the information. The slackers will circular file it.

Role playing is a substitute for a lack of creative ideas in training. We hate it because good salespeople are rotting in training again and again, hearing the same crap at different companies. If you role play with a co-worker who is awful, you can't tell them so. You aren't their manager, plus you're trying to play nice in the sandbox during the training. Who benefits from that? NO ONE.

Read all responses about role playing and share your own thoughts at SalesForceXP.com/roleplay.

From Knowing To Doing

Good role playing helps salespeople go from knowing to doing, says Steve Finkel. "Confucius said, 'I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.' "

Sales managers should role play to each individual's weaknesses. "If they can't hit the curveball, throw them curveballs time after time," Finkel adds. Other tips:

Keep it simple at first
The first few times through are not the time to introduce difficult role-playing situations with lots of strong objections or difficulties. Proceed gradually to more difficult situations.
No audience necessary
Limit role playing to one-on-one or three people at most. Practicing in front of 20 or more peers is a big reason salespeople dislike role playing so much.
Adjust to your needs
It's not always just about the sales spiel. If your challenge has been finding decision makers at prospect companies, role play that conversation. If you're objective is to shorten the sales cycle, run through situations that can help to achieve that.
Document each salesperson's strengths and weaknesses
Role playing is a great revealer, which is one reason salespeople - especially less talented ones - dislike it. It should help sales managers determine areas to focus on in terms of coaching individual reps.

Illustration by Travis Foster
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Want to read more about role playing? Check out “From Knowing To Doing,” Steve Finkel’s full article on role playing here: http://www.stevefinkel.com/role_playing.htm

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