Companies that communicate more effectively; with each other, with customers, and stakeholders, perform better and generate better outcomes for shareholders. In one study, as much as 47% better.
For sales teams, messaging consistency is a key part of communication effectiveness. It helps salespeople build trust with customers and close deals more quickly. Sales is a very interpersonal process and like most skills it’s best improved through practice and feedback.
Sales leaders looking for an extra edge have increasingly been adopting AI-powered coaching platforms to give them the ability to measure communication effectiveness and consistency, provide real-time, actionable feedback to their teams, and boost close rates.
How AI-powered Coaching Platforms can Improve Messaging Consistency
Messaging inconsistency negatively affects sales performance and customer satisfaction by creating confusion and mistrust among customers. It can result from diversity in communication styles, backgrounds, and experiences of team members, staff turnover rates, and a variety of other factors. A complex sales opportunity might require several members of the sales team to close; the salesperson themself, their manager, a sales engineer, and supporting functions like marketing and legal. Each additional person involved in a sales deal represents a chance for messaging inconsistency.
AI-powered coaching platforms are a key tool in addressing the risk of message inconsistency contributing to lost deals. The best AI-powered coaching platforms start by measuring message consistency. These platforms can help sales teams identify gaps in their messaging and specific adjustments individuals should make to keep on-message.
Platforms that provide actionable feedback, not just scores, are more effective. Sales teams need specific feedback on what they are doing well and where they need to improve. Identifying salespeople who use too many filler words can help them practice and improve perceptions of clarity and confidence in their future pitches. Feedback should also be real-time. A report with feedback delivered while the experience is fresh in the salespersons’ mind will be easier to incorporate in future presentations.
Finally, platforms that evaluate both the salesperson’s presentation and the audience reaction give better feedback. For example, some platforms measure the speaker’s empathy, persuasiveness, and audience engagement.
Because many issues with message consistency and clarity come from salespeople missing foundational communication skills, platforms that bundle self-paced training courses on specific topics can also help salespeople practice these skills in private and level up more quickly.
Implementing AI-powered Coaching in Your Sales Team
If you’re considering implementing one of these tools for your team, here are some steps you can take to make the implementation process smoother:
1. Assess your team’s communication skills: To determine which platform will work best for your team, you need to understand where your team’s communication skills are currently lacking. Sit in on sales calls with some of them, or manually review recordings of their pitches delivered online through Zoom, Teams, or Meet.
2. Identify the right platform: There are many AI-powered coaching platforms available on the market. Look for a platform that provides:
- Quantitative measurement. Platforms that provide numeric or ranked scores for attributes like expressiveness, enthusiasm, and persuasiveness can give you better insight into your team’s communication strengths and areas for improvement.
- Actionable feedback. Platforms that combine scoring and specific recommendations can provide a faster path to improvement.
- Assesses both the speaker and the audience.
- Includes a library of self-paced courses covering key concepts in communication effectiveness.
3. Once you’ve made a selection and are ready to implement it, be sure to follow through during the process:
- Train your team: Provide your team with the training they need to understand and use the platform effectively. This training should include an overview of the platform, how to use it, and how to interpret the feedback provided.
- Monitor progress: Monitor your team’s progress to determine the effectiveness of the platform. Adjust your training and coaching as needed to ensure that your team is getting the most out of the platform.
Conclusion
Effective communication is essential for sales teams, and directly contributes to revenue growth. An AI-powered coaching platform can help sales teams communicate effectively and persuasively, as long as you pick the right one.
When choosing a platform, look for features that measure message consistency, provide actionable feedback, measure audience reaction, and include self-paced training courses.
See for Yourself
If you’re a sales leader looking to improve your team’s messaging consistency and sales performance, contact us at info@talkmeup.co to arrange a demo or free trial of our AI-powered coaching platform.
