Any time I hear the words “role play” my skin crawls as I remember the countless sales trainings I’ve been through where the instructor sets up this ‘real world’ scenario and proceeds to embarrass people in front of their peers.  As I reflect back on those situations and what I hated about them I realize it wasn’t the actual role play itself that I hated.  I love practicing things in a controlled environment before I have to do them for real (golf swing, free throws, acting surprised at a surprise birthday you knew was coming, etc.).  What I hated about them was the instructor and how they ran the role play.  They either painted the perfect scenario or they threw impossible questions at me that I would never get asked in a real world situation.  My life is usually somewhere in between perfection and ridiculous (leaning more towards ridiculous).  That said, I’ve come around and now believe role play actually does have it’s place in the world of Sales.

Here are a few ways I believe role playing can make a difference and I recommend you try out.  Depending on what you are role playing recording it (audio or video) is a very useful exercise to go through.  If you’ve ever taken golf lessons you know what I mean.  When they record your golf swing and show you what you actually look like it’s horrifying but its the best way to visualize what you’re doing wrong and how to fix it.  It’s the same way with presentation skills training.  I took a presentation skills training recently and was blown away with all the little things I was doing wring while I was presenting.  They were things I had no idea I was doing but as soon as I saw them on the video (through a role play) i knew exactly what I needed to change before the instructor even told me.  Recording your cold calls is another sobering exercise to go through.  Have you ever had a hard time leaving your own voice mail call back message? You know when you have to re-record it about 35 times before you basically give up?  I go through that process every time I need to change my voice mail and I hate it.  The reason I hate it is because I listen to myself and want to throw up sometimes.  However, it forces me to go through the process and improve it to the point where at least I think it’s acceptable.

So, here are a few roles plays (or something similar) you can do to help improve your results:

• Cold call yourself at the end of the day.  Don’t listen to it until the next morning. When you do listen to it ask yourself if this is the kind of message you would respond to.
• Cold call your boss and ask for feedback.  I guarantee your boss will be more than happy to give you feedback (and will be impressed with your approach and desire to improve).
• Cold call your colleagues and have some fun with it but always give honest feedback.
• Send yourself an e-mail and read it on your Blackberry or iPhone. If it takes more than 2-3 scrolls to read it’s too long.  Also look to see how your e-mail (if images are included) is formatted.
• Role play with your boss or colleague one on one before you are going into an important call. It’s always good to visualize something going well right before you do it (i.e. visualizing the ball going through the hoop before you take the foul shot).
• Ask someone to record your next presentation that you have to do internally.
• Use your iPhone or whatever to record certain calls you make during the day.

Good luck and get better!