How are Sales Talk Tracks created?
The natural evolution of sales at any company starts with the founders (usually) figuring out how to demo their product as a PowerPoint and then as an MVP, and so on. Then the sales team is created and that’s how sales talk tracks are born.
The problem is that most of the time the changes in how the product or service is sold are NOT documented. So everyone sells slightly differently as the Sales Talk Tracks have evolved with individuals, not with the company.
If you have a sales team, odds are, the way your founders would sell it and the way your sales team is selling are much different. Depending on the size of the company, your sales messaging has probably changed several times a month and continues to change as time goes on.
So why do the sales talk tracks have to change?
Well, the idea of changing is to increase positive results and outcomes that result in hitting quota each month. However, change happens without any control. And the problem is that change without control tends to lead to being not repeatable. That leads to bad sales coaching.
Not repeatable = BAD
Sales talk tracks and demo structure need to be repeatable. Most companies either have talk tracks that were developed and haven’t been updated or they are constantly changing and reps can’t keep up.
Once that has been fixed, you learn to have a repeatable sales system that reps can follow with repeatable sales coaching. Then you can move on to the following nuggets on getting your team to use the right sales talk tracks.
1) Talk track context
There is a strong need to explain WHY. We are human and simply saying to do something does not often lead to results.
Everyone on your team should understand why you are using specific sales talk tracks and why you think they are important.
Even better, using this as a sales training opportunity could greatly benefit your team, especially your newer sales reps.
2) Get Top Performer Buy-in
We have covered this a little bit already, but if the team does not have talk tracks, odds are they are going to copy that of their successful peers.
That being said, your talk tracks should evolve from what’s working. And that comes from finding out what your top performers are saying. If it’s different, then why would your top performers change what they’re doing?
If you don’t convince them first, good luck having your team adopt the new strategy. It will just be information falling on deaf ears.
3) Sales Training (aka practice together)
I can already hear the groans, believe me, role-playing is never fun. We hardly do any role-playing here at Abstrakt (hint you should see a demo of our software). But for those of you who don’t have Abstrakt, role-playing is a great way to nail down talk tracks.
Without role-playing, the first time you see or hear a talk track being used by your team may be on a call with a live prospect. This is not the best way to learn that the right tool was used in the wrong way.
Instead, pair up and run through it a few times.
Or just use our software, your call.
4) Team Accountability
Does the team have buy-in? They should.
Before rolling out new talk tracks in your sales training, we need to have a plan and buy-in from the team. There is nothing worse than having the team not put what they have learned into practice.
This could be solved quickly by just letting them know that we are expecting tools to be used at specific, measurable, and accountable intervals. (like Abstrakt- Hint, hint…)
5) Constant feedback and iteration
Lastly, talk tracks should be iterative. We want data to lead the way in exactly how to win business.
If there is a better way, why wouldn’t we want everyone to use it?
Of course, we would use it. That’s exactly what most sales coaching software provides.
While you may say “I already have sales coaching software”. Well, unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you have the best in the market. Which means you’re still losing winnable revenue.
That is exactly why we’ve told you to book a demo of our software. It will blow your mind.