Despite the surge in text and video, phone calls for business are here to stay. For 27% of salespeople, making calls to new contacts is an effective sales strategy. And wouldn't it be? 57% of VP and C-level executives prefer to be contacted by phone, which is more than directors (51%) and managers (47%).

Obviously, you need to ensure that your sales calls are the best they can be.

The best way to do that? Record, review, repeat.

The importance of sales call recordings

Sales call recordings are replete with information that can improve the quality of the sales process over phone calls by a thousandfold. This is important for businesses since for 65% of them, phone calls are the most valuable and highest quality source of leads.

A call recording can provide insights into the sales capabilities of your organization that a second-hand account by a sales rep cannot. You can find out:

• Whether customer pain points are really being addressed
• Why certain sales metrics are not improving
• If follow-ups are being conducted in a timely and thorough manner
• What expectations customers are coming with, thanks to the company's marketing campaigns

In short, sales call recordings are a qualitative data field that can help you to transform your sales processes.

Use sales call recordings to improve team performance

If you aren't already, you will be amazed by the number of uses a single call recording can be put to. Conversations will become the new goldmine. We promise. Here's how the best teams use sales call recordings to become better than before.

Onboarding new reps

The advice of 'show, don't tell' is as sound for business as it is for writing.

New sales reps aren't familiar with the company's sales process. They don't know the templatized structure and method of your sales pitch (if there is one). They also have no idea how conversations are usually steered to close deals. The best way to bring them up to speed is to onboard them through sales call recordings so they can get a first-hand glimpse into the sales process of your company.

Coaching asynchronously

Continuous improvement is how a team goes from simply good to undeniably best.

Recording sales calls and going over them later with the sales rep is a surefire way to improve the team in a steady, sustainable manner. Give feedback on what could've been approached better and balance it with highlighting their strengths so they can keep growing them. These sales coaching sessions can also be used to create a customized communication training plan for the rep and for the sales team based on everyone's observed skillset.

This does require a significant investment of time and energy from sales managers and sales leaders. However, the long-term ROI is worth it.

Finding spontaneous customer testimonials

The only thing better than receiving a compliment is receiving one that you did not see coming.

While most businesses have 'gather testimonials' as a to-do at the tail-end of their client dealings, that is not the only time the client can praise you. What if your sales team has been charming them throughout the sales process and they highlight it during a call? No one would be ready and a testimonial- more honest and heartfelt than you could've bargained for- would've slipped through your fingers. 

The solution? Build a safety net and record your sales call. Then share those testimonials across your channels (after approval from the prospect/ client, of course).

Not to mention, most people are more comfortable expressing something verbally than in writing. Make sure you're there to catch them at their best while they are singing praises about your best.

Creating a library of customer stories

"Stories are the communal currency of humanity," said Tahir Shah in Arabian Nights. Why not use it to connect to potential customers?

A story has a beginning, middle, and end. Dig through the call recordings you have and see what progression you can observe for a particular client. Were they snippy at the start but then shifted later on to complete trust? Did they start with one marketing collateral but have now moved all marketing efforts under your expertise? Have they been delighted with how your company has crafted the entire customer experience? 

These real-life stories can help to build credibility and trust in potential customers even before they've interacted with you.

So, trawl through call recordings and craft some compelling customer stories. As an extension of customer testimonials, they can prove to be even more effective than them.

Enhancing sales strategy

Enhancement requires a two-pronged approach: righting the wrongs and encouraging the rights. 

Listening to sales call recordings can give you a clear idea about which techniques and tactics need to be used less and more. Is the puppy dog close getting really good results? Experiment with using it more. Are customers shutting down instead of jumping the gun when you're bringing a time-sensitive offer? Maybe your offers aren't compelling enough or the sales team isn't able to discern the best time to make them. 

By getting a first-hand account of how your sales strategies are faring on the field, you can make adjustments before you unknowingly drive customers away. These adjustments can be in the form of organizing additional sales training, tweaking a phrase, or scrapping the sales technique entirely.

Showcasing best practices

Just as real-life customer stories can inspire potential customers to work with you, real-life sales wins can motivate your sales team.

When a sales rep navigates and closes a particularly different deal, use that as a teaching moment and share the behind-the-scenes with the rest of the team members. The reps might have done an exceptional job at providing a cost-benefit analysis, handling objections, or building rapport during the discovery call. Take all of the recordings and organize them into playlists based on what they showcase best.

These 'Playlists for Best Practices' can also be used while onboarding new reps. Again, showing and not telling will work wonders faster than anticipated, especially with eager reps.

Finding enablement opportunities

What you want might not be what you need. The same goes for your sales reps. 

They might think they're looking to improve a particular technique when in reality, they need to work on the confidence with which they deliver the company messaging. Blind spots are not obvious to the person who has them. Sales managers can help to discover and rectify them by going over the call recordings and discovering what sales reps really need.

Remember- a proactive approach is always better than a reactive one. Instead of letting the reps fumble around, trying to mend their blind spots, you as a sales leader can guide them to developing true strengths.

What sales call recording software can do

The best way to experience all the benefits of sales call recordings is to use a call recording CRM. However, if you think such tools are just call recorders, think again. Modern call recording software does more than simply store the call for future reference. They use conversational intelligence to also:

Prepare transcriptions

Who has time to type up an hour-long conversation so the finer points can be discussed in a 1:1 coaching session? Answer: the transcription feature in the call recording tool. Generate a transcription of call recordings of any length while you sit ready with a highlighter to perform a much-needed autopsy on any conversation.

Visualize data

Call recording tools understand you’re looking for granular data. So, not only do they track numbers like talk ratio, longest rep monologue, interactivity, question rate, and longest customer monologue, they also display it visually in an easy, digestible manner so you can get the most information quickly and efficiently.

Keep all call capabilities in one place

Most such tools seamlessly integrate with CRMs, sales dialers, and video conferencing software so that all your contact information and conversations can stay and be accessed from one place. This can enable you to create an easy coaching hub that can be a valuable enablement tool for sales reps both new and old.

Provide live alerts

Some sales call recording software can even provide context-sensitive live alerts, or "battlecards" to sales reps when they are on call with prospects. These reminders contain snippets of critical information about the topic being discussed, so the rep can speak with confidence.

Call recordings can transform your sales process

In the aftermath of the pandemic, ramping up coaching opportunities has become critical for companies to stay in top shape. Call recordings are a great coaching tool; use them as judiciously as historical data to ambitiously transform the sales cycle and sales performance of your company.

If you want to get started with a call recording software that checks all the necessary boxes without leaving you overwhelmed, try Wingman's Call Recording Software and empower your customer-facing sales teams in no time!