How to choose the conversations
- One that ended in payment, to see what works.
- One that stopped, to see exactly where.
- Sometimes a third, chosen by the rep themselves: wherever they have doubts.
The order of a review
- Listen or read with no comments.
- Mark it up by stage: contact, job, proposal, objection, agreement.
- Find the stage where the two diverged.
- Ask the rep what they would do differently now.
- Phrase one rule.
- Write it into the script or the matrix.
Three things that ruin a review
- A review used as punishment. If only failures get picked, reps start being afraid and hiding things.
- Too many rules at once. Five conclusions from one review stay with nobody.
- No check afterwards. A rule nobody checks next week gets forgotten.
Recorded reviews turn into a training base in six months, one where every example is yours. A new rep goes through it instead of an abstract course and sees immediately how things are done here.
What comes up most often
- a question about specification instead of a question about need
- price quoted too late
- a late reply
- a thread closed after two touches
- the customer let go with no date agreed
Who runs it
The head of sales or the team lead. With two or three reps, the owner. A review run by an outsider with no product knowledge produces general advice and stops being interesting quickly.