When you record sales calls, you gain both visibility and insight. But only if you and your reps actually take the time to listen back to and learn from the key points. The benefits of conversation intelligence have been shown time and time again for sales reps, suggesting a 15% increase in conversion rates just from listening back to calls.
So what is the magic they’re missing in their call recordings?
The Basics - What’s Working and What’s Not
Everyone gets a gut feeling after a call as to whether it was good or bad overall. But in reality, all calls are complex, with both good and bad moments which need to be considered in more detail.
When reps listen back through a recording alongside a sales framework, they can see a side-by-side comparison of how closely they are following the format as well as which areas are effective or not so effective.
Voice of Customer
Every rep is an expert on their product (or at least, they like to think they are). But what they’re not so often an expert on is their prospects - this is where call recordings become a gold mine. Enter: voice of customer.
The focus of listening back to calls isn’t all about reps listening to themselves, it’s about building empathy for your customer with conversation intelligence:
- What are their pain points in their own language?
- What issues are they facing with a competitor’s product or service?
- What might customers like and dislike about your product/service?
Missed Opportunities
It’s easy for reps to think they can scribble all the notes they need while they’re on the call, or create comprehensive summaries after the call has happened, but something will always slip through the net.
Unique details and trends between calls come to light when you listen back to sales call recordings:
- Are there new objections on the rise?
- Is your ICP developing new features you are not aware of?
- Is an opportunity arising where a particular story or stat could nudge the prospect to convert?
Market Feedback
It’s rare to get feedback from the horse’s mouth as to how your product is perceived by the market, but it’s also incredibly valuable. Not just for sales reps but for product development, sales, finance - the list goes on.
Perhaps your product was designed for XYZ, when in reality users also need it to perform ABC. That new feature you’re planning might be useless to a customer without X functionality as well. Every anecdote and use case has an application, and your reps need to take note.
A Sales Coaching Mindset
Listening to calls is the first step towards openness to feedback and effective sales performance coaching - whether it’s self-coaching, one-to-one coaching, or team coaching. Reps must be comfortable listening to their calls in order to recognize their own areas for improvement, only then will they want to learn and progress with you as a sales coach.
Giving a shorter focus of the small areas they can improve on gives reps digestible, actionable steps towards a bigger goal like improved conversion rate.
Ready to level up your reps’ coaching?
Take a look at our Three Proven Strategies for Effectively Leading Sales Reps to Success
Shelley Lavery is the COO and Co-Founder of Jiminny, the leading conversation intelligence and sales coaching platform that helps companies maximize their revenue. With over a decade of experience in coaching B2B sales teams, Shelley was previously Group SVP of Sales at Reward Gateway now leading the conversation intelligence discussion with expertise and insight.
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