Start with the conversation.
“Do better tomorrow” gives a rep a target without a way to get there. A useful review names what happened, identifies one skill to practice, and sets up the next attempt.
Ask what the customer needed. Then review how the rep connected the presentation to that need. Use the conversation or your observation notes, not just the sales result.
- What did the customer say they wanted to change?
- What did the rep present, and how did it connect to that?
- What do we still not know about the conversation?
Make the problem specific.
A worked example. The customer conversation is illustrative, not a client result.
They said they wanted something better than what they have. I walked through the features and the price, but they didn’t buy.
What did they say was wrong with what they have now?
If the rep cannot answer, replay the conversation or mark that detail as unknown. A lost sale alone does not tell you why it was lost.
It keeps failing right when I need it most, and nobody picks up when I call about it.
That answer gives the rep a specific need to address. Now check whether the presentation explained how the offered service could help with that issue, using accurate product information. A list of features is not that explanation.
Choose the drill from what you observed
- If the rep never clarified the issue, practice the follow-up question.
- If the issue was clear but the pitch ignored it, practice connecting the presentation to that need.
Coach what you observed. Do not invent a motive for the customer or a reason for the lost sale.
Run the next practice.
One rep. One coach. One specific part of the conversation. The coach plays a customer whose current service fails at the worst moments and who cannot get anyone on the phone. The rep practices discovery before offering a solution.
- First pass: understand the problem.
The rep asks: “Walk me through the last time it failed on you. What happened next?” Listen for a specific answer and follow up on what the customer actually says. Do not jump into the product list.
- Second pass: connect the presentation.
Using verified product information, explain what the option can address, what remains uncertain, and any relevant limitations. Then check: “Does that address the issue you described?”
- Coach one observable behavior.
Name the exact moment the conversation broke and the one change to make.
You heard ‘something better’ and moved into features. Ask what ‘better’ means for this customer before presenting.
Run that portion again. Check whether the rep now gets a specific need in the customer’s words. Then carry it into the next shift: pick one conversation to review afterward, record what the rep changed and what still needs work, and bring that observation into the next review.
Ten minutes, every shift, same three questions.
A debrief that happens once a month when something goes wrong is a lecture. A debrief that happens after every shift is coaching. The difference is not effort. It is the size of the session.
- Same day, ten minutes, one conversation.
Pick one conversation while it is still fresh. Not the best one and not the worst one. The one the rep is still thinking about.
- One skill leaves the room.
If you name three things to fix, nothing gets fixed. Name one, agree on how you will both know it improved, and stop.
- Carry it forward in writing.
Two lines in a shared note: the skill, and what you will listen for next time. The next debrief starts by reading those two lines.
Five short debriefs beat one long one. By Friday the rep has practiced one skill five times with feedback, and you have five observations instead of a feeling.
Same questions. Different evidence.
The three questions in section one do not change. What counts as evidence does. Ask for the evidence that medium actually produces.
Evidence is what you saw. Where did the customer’s body language change? Did the rep ask before presenting, or present and then ask? Stand close enough to hear the first thirty seconds of a few conversations each shift.
Evidence is the recording. Listen to the first minute together. Where did the customer say the real reason, and did the rep hear it? A rep who talks through the answer is the most common miss on the phone.
Evidence is the notes and the follow-up email. What did the buyer say the decision depends on? Does the follow-up address that, or does it restate the pitch? Debrief the email, not just the room.
You will recognize at least one of these.
- Grading the result instead of the conversation. A closed sale can hide a bad conversation and a lost sale can hide a good one. Coach the conversation. The results follow.
- Guessing the customer’s reason. “They were just shopping around” is a story, not evidence. If the rep does not know why, the debrief is about the question they should have asked.
- Coaching everything at once. Three notes is zero notes. One skill, practiced, checked.
- Skipping the second pass. Naming the fix is half the job. The rep has to run the moment again, with you playing the customer, before they leave.
Build your coaching plan.
Fill this out here, then save your notes. Entries stay on this page and are not sent anywhere. They clear when you leave or reload.
Let the notes build the role-play.
Use this prompt with ChatGPT or Claude. Remove customer names and contact details from the notes first. Check every quoted statement and product claim in the output. You choose the final coaching plan.
Help me prepare a short sales-coaching session from the notes below. Use only the information I provide. Do not invent customer quotes, product capabilities, motives, or reasons a sale was lost. If the notes are incomplete, identify the missing information. 1. State the customer’s problem in their own words when a quote is available. Otherwise label it as a summary or unknown. 2. Explain how the rep connected the presentation to that problem, using evidence from the notes. 3. Identify one observed skill to practice. If there is not enough evidence, give me the question I need to ask before choosing a drill. 4. Create a short role-play for that skill. Include the customer’s opening line, what the rep should practice, and what I should listen for. 5. Give me one follow-up question for the next coaching review. Keep the coaching direct, specific, and useful. Respect a customer’s decision to decline. Do not recommend pressure, misleading claims, or guessing at product benefits. NOTES: [Paste anonymized notes or transcript here.]
The debrief finds the skill. These guides teach it.
Most debriefs land on one of three skills: the structure of the pitch, the answer to an objection, or a term the rep could not explain. Each one has its own guide in the library.
One prompt. Paste it into Claude. It builds the whole thing for your business.
The Pro pack is a build prompt with blanks for your context: your product, your medium, your team. Fill them in, answer its questions, and it produces the complete system in your words. The PDF explains the method so you can judge the output. The full debrief system: the SOP, the log, fifteen scripts by medium, four prompts, and a thirty-day rollout.
- The build prompt: paste it into Claude, fill in the blanks, and it builds the whole system for your business
- The ten-minute debrief SOP, step by step with timing
- Two-line log template and the leader's weekly review sheet
- Fifteen debrief scripts: five each for retail and events, phone, and meetings
- Four prompts: notes to drill, weekly log to coaching plan, role-play customer, leader self-audit
- The thirty-day rollout plan for a whole floor, with the numbers to watch
- A debrief scorecard so leaders can be coached too
Delivered as a zip: the build prompt as a text file, the PDF, and every prompt and template as plain text. One payment, yours to keep.