Sales Manager Scenerios

1. You just observed a Sales Professional make a sales call on a customer. It has been a while since you’ve had the opportunity to coach this individual, so she hasn’t gotten feedback from you in some time. During today’s sales call, the Sales Professional had at least four areas for improvement, including one misstep that nearly cost her the opportunity. However, the Sales Professional ultimately recovered from the mistake and gained the customer’s agreement. In the coaching session, you plan to focus on …

A. All four areas for improvement that you observed because it is important to address all trouble spots right away so that the Sales Professional does not make them again with another customer

B. Only the misstep that nearly caused the Sales Professional to lose the opportunity — you want to make sure that she never makes that mistake again with this or any other customer

C. The misstep that nearly caused the Sales Professional to lose the opportunity and the actions that she took to turn it around to arrive at a positive outcome

D. All of the things that you saw the Sales Professional do — good and bad — because it has been so long since you last provided feedback

2. You observed a Sales Professional during a first sales call on a customer and now have 20 minutes to debrief. During the call, you observed that the Sales Professional would ask a question, get a superficial response, and then move on to another question without further probing. The Sales Professional ultimately achieved her call objective. To set an appropriate focus and tone for the coaching dialogue, what should you say to open the coaching session?

A. “Let’s spend some time debriefing the call. I especially want to focus on your questioning skills because there is a lot of information to be gained in the first meeting, and I’m not sure you learned as much as you should have. What do you think?”

B. “In a first call, there is a lot to learn about a customer and his/her needs, as you know. Given how important that is, I think we should focus on that aspect of the sales call. How does that sound?”

C. “That was a good call, and I’m eager for us to talk about what went well because you achieved your call objective. There are a few minor things you might have done differently to make it even stronger, and we can talk about those things, too. How does that sound?”

D. “Let’s take some time today to review everything that happened during the call. I want to make sure that we take some time to discuss your strengths and to explore any areas for improvement. How will that work for you?”

3. You observed a Sales Professional make a first sales call on a customer. During the call, the Sales Professional would ask a question, get a superficial response, and then move on to another question without further probing. When you opened the coaching dialogue, you established that the focus of your discussion would be on the need dialogue. What should you say next to begin to compare perceptions?

A. “I observed some specific behaviors that I’d like to discuss with you. During the call, I noticed that you would ask a question, sometimes get a superficial response from the customer, and then move on to another question without probing more deeply.”

B. “First, let me say that I thought you did a great job of asking your initial questions during the need dialogue. You asked open-ended questions and covered all of the important categories.”

C. “Let’s start with your assessment. How do you think the need dialogue went?”

�I would like to hear your perceptions of how the need dialogue went, starting with strengths. What do you think you did well?”

4. You are coaching a Sales Professional, and together you have identified what the obstacle is. When you asked the Sales Professional for her ideas about what she could do to remove the obstacle, she offered up an idea that you think is unlikely to work. What should you say?

A. “I’m not sure that will work. Why don’t you walk me through your thinking?”

B. “I want to make sure that you arrive at a plan that will work well for you. Let’s take a couple of minutes to talk through how that would work and any potential risks. What’s your assessment of how well the approach you described could work?”

C. “It’s always a good idea to have a back-up plan. If that approach didn’t work, what else could you try?”

D. “There may be some other ideas that you should consider that might work even better for you. Would it be helpful if I shared some of those with you?”

5. You are coaching a Sales Professional who has been feeling overwhelmed by the workload. During the coaching session, the Sales Professional agreed that he needed to be doing more research on customers in advance of sales calls. The Sales Professional has said, “I’ll make it a priority to do it.” What should you say to ensure that there is commitment to action?

A. “That’s great. I think you’ll see a big payoff in terms of the quality of your sales calls.”

B. “I know that you’ve already got a lot on your plate, so can you tell me how you’ll make sure that it stays a priority?”

C. “Walk me through what you’ll do to embed additional preparation into your routine.”

D. “There’s a lot of information out there about our customers, and it’s important that you don’t get overwhelmed by it. You should try to have a clear idea of what you want to learn before you start researching so that you can find those answers and not get lost in all of the other data.”

6. You have been helping a Sales Professional prepare for an important sales call. You would like the Sales Professional to follow up with you after the call, which will take place tomorrow. What should you say to set expectations for follow-up?

A. “I know the call is tomorrow. I’ll call you at the end of the day to find out what happened.”

B. “I’m eager to debrief the call with you. Let’s schedule a time to talk in the next 48 hours. What works for you?”

C. “Can you let me know how the call goes? Just call or shoot me an e-mail — whatever is easiest.”

D. “Please keep me posted on how it goes.”

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Sales Manager Scenerios

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