Sales training and coaching · Prospecting and meeting-booking practice
Talk to nine buyers in three weeks and write down what they actually say.
A buyer interview sprint is a brief series of conversations, recorded or written up, with existing customers, live prospects and prospects who walked away, aimed at finding out how each decided. It ends in a one-page persona sheet and a list of phrases your team can use. Nine interviews of about twenty-five minutes each is enough to start.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A buyer interview sprint is a brief series of conversations, recorded or written up, with existing customers, live prospects and prospects who walked away, aimed at finding out how each decided. It ends in a one-page persona sheet and a list of phrases your team can use. Nine interviews of about twenty-five minutes each is enough to start.
The owner of a diagnostic lab in Mysuru believes doctors send patients for tests because of price. After ringing eight referring doctors and three clinic managers, the owner finds that the deciding factor is whether the report reaches the patient's phone before the evening clinic. Not one of them mentioned rates. The price discount on offer for two years had changed nothing.
The sprint is built to find out that kind of thing. You interview three groups: customers who bought recently, prospects still deciding, and prospects who said no. Each group tells you something the others cannot. The customers explain what worked, the open prospects what is still blocking them, and the lost ones what you missed.
The sales head runs it, with the owner joining the first two calls. A rep who sells to these buyers every day makes a poor interviewer, because they lead the answer. Ask someone at one remove.
It feeds the persona on the sales process side and the language in your first messages. If you already have a persona written from guesses, treat it as a guess to test.
Where this sits
Topic 2 of 8 in sales training and coaching: prospecting and meeting-booking practice. Drills for finding good-fit prospects and getting meetings. Distinct from the sales-process sourcing and prospect-list pages: these are practice routines.
- The topic before
- Sales careers and mindset
- The topic after
- Qualifying conversations
If you want this done for you
Ask customers directly instead of assuming you already know what they need.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Lost prospects talk more than you expect”
People who said no owe you nothing and have nothing to protect. Say plainly that this is not a sales call and you are only trying to improve. Some agree, and the lost deals are where you find the real objections.
“Ask about the last time, not the next time”
Do not ask what they would want. Ask what they did the last time they bought something like this: who they called, what they looked at, what almost stopped them. Reported behaviour is accurate. Predictions about the future are polite fiction.
“Consent comes before the recording”
In India, voice recordings of identifiable people are personal data. Ask for permission at the start of the call, on the call, and keep the consent in writing. Store files with limited access, and delete them once the notes are typed. Rules differ by state and change, so check with your own lawyer.
“Stop when the answers repeat”
Nine is a floor, not a quota. If the fourth and fifth interviews give you nothing new, you are listening to the same buyer. If every call is different, you probably have two personas, and you should split the sheet.
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 interviewee list
Nine to fifteen names with group (customer, open prospect, lost), role, company, phone and the date contacted. Three of each group at least.
Result: Finished when each group has at least three names with dates booked.
The question guide
About twenty questions in this order: their role, how they are judged, the last purchase, where they looked, who else was involved, what almost stopped them, and what they would tell a friend. Every answer gets one follow-up that asks why.
Result: Finished when someone who was not in the room could run the call from the guide alone.
The interview log
One line per call: date, who, group, length, and the three phrases you want to keep, copied word for word.
Result: Finished when the log has a line for every call, including the ones that were cancelled.
The persona sheet
One page covering role, goals, fears, where they look, who else decides, and what you must never say. A short second block describes the buyer you do not want.
Result: Finished when a rep can write the first message from the sheet without opening the notes.
The consent record
A line per interviewee showing who agreed to be recorded, in what form, and where the file sits.
Result: Finished when a deleted recording shows up as deleted in the same sheet.
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.
Do we pay interviewees?
What if customers say they are too busy?
Can a survey replace this?
Should the rep who sold to them join?
How do we use recordings later?
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?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of prospecting and meeting-booking practice
- Good fit company and person test
- Local prospect list sprint
- LinkedIn prospecting tactics
- Social selling daily routine
- Networking event prep and weak ties routine
- Prospect research brief
- Top down or bottom up entry test
- First message formula and booking link
- Multi touch follow up sequence
- Value proposition against win reasons
Or read all of sales training and coaching.
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.