Business Roleplay is a salesperson training technique based on the simulation of different scenarios in which the instructor assumes the role of the customer.
With its use, it is possible to improve the weak points of sales professionals and prepare themselves for the most different scenarios.
The quality of the salespeople employed by a company is essential to its success in the marketplace. Ultimately, however relevant and attractive they may be, products and services do not sell themselves.
And also, with good marketing strategies, it is necessary to have professionals who know how to close sales.
Sales representative acquire their skills in different ways. Courses, training sessions, and natural aptitudes are very important, but some experience in business transactions is essential for successful performance.
The problem is that there is not always time to gain that experience – and that’s where the concept of roleplaying comes in. That kind of dynamics is essential to qualify agents and increase the conversion rate of the business.
Do you want to know more? In that text, you will discover:
- What is role play?
- Purpose of the Role Play methodology?
- Advantages of role-playing in business?
- How to apply role play in practice?
What is role play?
To understand what that concept is, let’s start by explaining the term. In free translation into English, role play can be understood as the role that someone plays in a hypothetical situation.
It is something delightful, which refers to children’s games – like a child pretending to be an astronaut, for example.
When within the context of sales, business roleplay allows the salesperson to simulate different situations, imagine different results, and train how to deal with them.
In most cases, the person is responsible for applying the methodology. Usually, a manager or a coach, plays the lead role, while the salesperson tries to persuade him to make a particular decision or tries to serve him in the best possible way.
The hypothetical scenario is decided according to the particularities of the professional, the company, and the client.
A business roleplay session can easily include more than one salesperson. This practice is even encouraged as it facilitates joint learning and encourages principles of collaboration.
Purpose of the Role Play methodology?
As you can imagine, the main objective of role plays is to prepare the sales team to deal with different clients and scenarios. By adopting a more entertaining approach, the company supports the pedagogical process and facilitates the learning of its employees.
The specific objectives of each business roleplay session are defined according to the scenario. Imagine, for example, the onboarding process of a new employee who, although qualified, is not used to the sales approaches proposed by the company.
Even if you have experience working in other companies, the way you handle the lead varies from company to company.
In addition, it does not depend only on the company’s solutions but also on the particularities of the person.
So, the role plays the function of training dynamic salesperson that allows standardizing best sales practices. Even the most experienced professionals in the company can practice the exercises to:
- correct vices,
- adapt to new customers,
- exercise rapport,
- become familiar with the company’s value proposition
- and learn new negotiation techniques.
Also, Read “50 Startup Ideas You Can Drive For A Low Cost”
Advantages of role-playing in business
The group dynamics and training programs are undoubtedly essential practices to keep the team updated and motivated sellers.
However, it is necessary to innovate and create stimulating exercises. In the end, the pedagogical process depends a lot on the engagement of the participants.
Due to its ingenious and, to some extent, relaxed nature, role play is a way of generating knowledge from the direct and committed participation of salespeople.
At the same time, this type of simulation allows the creation of the most diverse scenarios, allowing the instructor to make the most of the strengths and weaknesses of the team members.
Another advantage of the practice is that, unlike most sales dynamics, business roleplay allows the exact adaptation of the characteristics of the person.
If, for example, the customer is known to be sceptical of the product and asks frequent questions, the salespeople learn to handle it.
If, on the other hand, the client likes more extensive and complete explanations of the features of the solution. The business roleplay participant is recommended to speak rather than listen.
It is, therefore, an extremely versatile technique, which has the potential to positively impact your sales closing rate and, consequently, your profit.
How to apply role play in practice?
Now that you know what role play is, its objectives, and how it can benefit your company. It is time to understand how to implement it in your team.
Before including that exercise in your sales plan, follow these tips.
Practice extreme situations
In the world of sports, it is often used as a reference for training, and it is common for coaches to apply resistance exercises to athletes.
The idea is that if someone can handle an extreme situation during training, it will be easier for them to perform well under normal conditions.
That can – and should – be applied role play. Think of extreme situations that can occur during a sale, such as tight deadlines, rude customers, legal complications, and delays.
Apply that in the simulation and encourage the salespeople to fix the problems.
Leave open the possibility of not convincing the lead.
More than anything, it is necessary to remember that the focus of roleplaying should be the development of the salesperson, which goes through their trust.
Therefore, it is not intelligent to demand success in all situations, as that is not reflected in real life.
Therefore, a business roleplay exercise that can be useful is one that focuses on giving up the sale. The reason could be the incompatibility of the solution with the person or the perception that the negotiation is a waste of time.
It means that the important thing is to teach the teams that these situations happen so that they are prepared to face them without damaging the company’s image.
Prepare sellers for different types of consumers.
That is one of the pillars of a business roleplay exercise. Sellers must be prepared to deal with the most diverse types of consumers. So draw a map of the ones that most relate to you and simulate a convincing situation.
Some customers, for example, have a habit of interrupting the salesperson during their approach. Others do not object. There are more detailed consumers and others more practical, who only want to know the product’s characteristics.
So write the sales scripts focused on each of those consumers and encourage marketers to apply different approaches.
Identify and work on the weak point of sellers.
In addition to dealing with different types of consumers, it is essential to pay attention to the diversity in the characteristics of sellers.
Therefore, identify the weaknesses of each of your professionals and explore them to find solutions to eliminate them.
It could be, for example, that one of your salespeople gets nervous when confronted by a customer. Emulate a situation in which that happens and pay attention to how he is doing, taking notes to convey helpful information to the seller.
The exercise must be repeated a few times so that the employee can, little by little, feel more comfortable with the scenario.
Conclusion
Business Roleplay is a very effective technique for training and qualifying salespeople. From the representation of different scenarios, it is possible to work on the skills of professionals and, at the same time.
Train them to acquire practical experience. Hope you enjoyed this article we always try to teach you all the important tips and solution for your business.