Sales management · Sales training and development
Practise the hard call in a room before the customer makes it hard for you.
Role play and joint calls are the two practice habits for a sales team. In a role play, one person plays the buyer; in a joint call, the manager goes along on a real visit. This page covers pairs first, pre-call planning, a feedback sheet and a rhythm the team keeps.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Role play and joint calls are the two practice habits for a sales team. In a role play, one person plays the buyer; in a joint call, the manager goes along on a real visit. This page covers pairs first, pre-call planning, a feedback sheet and a rhythm the team keeps.
A new rep at an industrial-fasteners firm in Ludhiana froze when a buyer said the competitor was cheaper by a rupee a piece. The rep mumbled something about quality and left without an order. The manager had known about this objection for a year but had never made anyone practise it.
A fifteen-minute role play every week would have covered it. One rep plays the purchase manager, one plays the seller, a third watches with a sheet. The sales manager runs the session and goes on a joint call with each rep each month to see the real thing.
It sits after the curriculum, which supplies the topics, and beside coaching. It replaces telling reps what to say with making them say it, aloud, before the customer is listening.
Where this sits
Topic 5 of 14 in sales management: sales training and development. Planning, running and judging training for the sales team, from the manager's side.
- The topic before
- Recruitment and selection
- The topic after
- Motivation and coaching
If you want this done for you
Training happened once, and the habits it was meant to fix did not last the month.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Reps hate role play in front of peers”
The embarrassment is real, particularly with colleagues who are older or more senior. Start in pairs, away from the group, with a short scene on a single objection. Bring the group in only when pairs are comfortable.
“Plan the call before the joint call”
Before the visit, the rep writes the purpose of the call, the one thing they want agreed and the question they are afraid of. The manager reads it in the car. Without that, the manager is a passenger, not a coach.
“The manager must stay quiet in the room”
If the manager takes over when the sale wobbles, the rep learns nothing and the customer learns who really decides. Agree beforehand when the manager may step in, and keep it to once.
“Feedback must be one thing”
A rep who is given six points leaves with none. Name the one move that mattered, the one to try next time, and write them down. The sheet matters more than the speech.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The role-play script cards
A card per scene: the buyer's role, their worry, three things they will say and the trap in the scene. Built from real objections in your lost-order notes.
Result: Finished when a rep who was not at the last session can run the scene from the card.
The pre-call planning sheet
Four lines the rep fills before any joint call: purpose, outcome wanted, what I know about the buyer, the hardest question.
Result: Finished when the sheet is filled in the car park, not in the lift.
The feedback sheet
One page per practice or visit: what worked, one change, the date to try it, and a tick on the next sheet if done.
Result: Finished when two sheets for the same rep show the change from the first one.
The practice rhythm
A weekly fifteen-minute role play and a joint call per rep each month, written into the manager's diary.
Result: Finished when the month has been run without cancelling a session for a busy day.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
What if the reps just say it is awkward?
Who plays the difficult customer?
How many joint calls does the manager need?
Is recorded role play useful?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of sales training and development
Or read all of sales management.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.