The Hidden Power of Reviewing Every Call
Here’s a secret most salespeople ignore:
The call doesn’t end when you hang up the phone.
That’s right, most sales people walk out of a customer, hang up the phone, read the email and think they are done and on to the next customer. Fun fact, when I was learning how to waterski, it took me something like five years to get up on two skies. I also drank a lot of lake water in the process. Each time I failed I had to figure out what went wrong and how I could improve. When something happened well I quickly thought about it to figure out what the heck I just did.
Sales is the same. If we are not figuring out where we went wrong, or how we did something well, how are we going to repeatably win? As discussed last week consistency is key so we need to figure out what we can improve on and how we can execute well.
This takes reflection.
Why Reflection Matters
Research shows only 21% of salespeople consistently analyze their calls (CSO Insights). This is why the rate of success is around 29%. Without consistent improvement how will things get better? Knowing that most professionals are not doing this can be our super hero advantage to help the customer and win more sales.
What to Review After Every Call
1. What worked well? – Identify the questions that opened the conversation or the moments when the customer leaned in. What topics were discussed that the customer really was interested in.
2. Where did I lose influence? – Notice points where the buyer hesitated, disengaged, or changed tone. Where did the customer start interrupting your presentation to learn about a topic more? Where did they say stop…I have heard enough and we are going to move in a different direction. Yes that has happened to me before.
3. What will I do differently next time? – One small adjustment compounds into massive improvement over time. One percent improvement each day for a year nets a large return on investment. That means we will improve our presentation skills, improve our aim to hit the mark, build a resiliency muscle, and win more sales.
It doesn’t have to take long—5 minutes after every call can transform your trajectory. Focus on reviewing the “game film” for those athletes (I was not). Learn and get better each day and you will have a successful career in sales.
Have a great week!
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