In the recent Salesloft on Salesloft webinar, "How We Use Conversation Intelligence to Master the Sales Process for Managers," David Vertin (VP of Sales and Business Development) and Dana Lark (Senior Manager of Business Development) shared actionable insights on how Salesloft utilizes Conversations, Salesloft’s conversation intelligence (CI) product, to identify coachable moments and drive team performance. Here are some key takeaways and best practices from the session:

1. Establish Consistent Call Reviews from Coaching

Don’t Overcommit: Carve out dedicated time to review calls and conversations. It’s better to start small and ramp up the process than overextend and have to scale back. Salesloft Coaching allows managers (and reps) to track and review activities, including calls and conversation recordings. So you can start with only call recordings and expand your listening overtime.

Personalize Reviews Based on Rep Tenure: Adjust how often and what kind of calls you review based on the experience level of your reps. For newer reps, consider daily reviews, while more tenured reps might only need weekly check-ins.

2. Leverage Scorecards for Self-Assessment 

Use Customizable Scorecards: Salesloft’s Scorecards allow you to evaluate specific criteria that align with your team's goals. Ensure that your team is aligned on scoring criteria to maintain consistency across evaluations.

Encourage Self-Scoring: Have reps review and score their own calls before meeting for a coaching session. This helps them develop self-awareness and gives managers a better understanding of where they feel they need help.

3. Use Playlists and Filters to Streamline Onboarding

Create Playlists of Top Performers: Save time during onboarding by curating Conversations Playlists of successful calls. This allows new hires to quickly ramp up by learning from the best examples.

Utilize Filters for Efficiency: Use filters in Conversations to easily find specific types of calls, such as discovery calls or outbound cold calls. You can even filter by call duration, account, or team member to optimize your review process.

4. Track and Quantify Feedback with Conversations

Use Trackers for Anecdotal Feedback: Set up trackers to quantify feedback. For example, if reps are frequently facing a particular objection, you can track how often it arises and evaluate how reps handle it.

Share Data Across Departments: Use Conversations data to give actionable insights to product and marketing teams based on what you’re hearing from the field. This helps other teams prioritize development and campaigns based on real-time sales conversations.

5. Foster a Coaching Culture

Tailor Coaching to Specific Needs: Ask reps to submit calls they’re proud of, and alternate with calls where they feel they need improvement. This allows you to tailor coaching to each rep’s unique needs.

Praise in Public, Coach in Private: Publicly recognize strong performances to reinforce positive behaviors. Private coaching sessions are where you can dive into areas of improvement without the added pressure of the spotlight.

These best practices emphasize creating a sustainable, tailored approach to leveraging Conversations to improve sales outcomes.

For more in-depth strategies, be sure to watch the full webinar recording, How We Use Conversation Intelligence to Master the Sales Process for Managers.