The Complete Guide to Real-Time AI Sales Guidance and Coaching

Everyone knows the shocking statistic about sales development reps forgetting 90% of their training within the first month, but few sales teams have a plan in place to combat this. Sales coaches don’t have enough time to repeat their entire onboarding training every month, and reps need to spend more of their time on revenue-driving activities.

Enter the Revenue.io coaching suite, a sales coaching platform that empowers managers to reinforce sales training at scale, automatically providing reps with tailored guidance at the exact moment they need it.

In this video, Revenue.io Vice President of Sales Ryan Vaillancourt demonstrates how here at Revenue.io we use the coaching suite to drive down sales ramp up time and reinforce critical sales training in real time.

Help Sales Reps Have More Successful Conversations

The ability to communicate effectively is becoming paramount to the success of sales and customer success teams. Navigating the complexities of customer interactions can often be challenging for a rep, with high expectations for saying and doing the right thing in every situation. Empowering reps with the tools they need to excel in their roles is vital, including real-time guidance.

Real-time guidance is a revolutionary approach that leverages cutting-edge technology to provide reps with contextual insights and suggestions during live conversations. This game-changing method enables your team to deliver exceptional customer experiences while boosting performance. There are tons of ways real-time guidance can transform your reps’ conversations and set your organization on the path to success.

What is real-time guidance?

Real-time guidance is a game-changing solution designed to empower your sales and customer success reps with actionable insights during live buyer and customer interactions. It solves the problem of reps not knowing what to say and do during live conversations.

Essentially, real-time guidance functions as an intelligent, virtual companion that supports your reps throughout customer conversations, ensuring a consistently high level of professionalism and customer satisfaction. And it seamlessly integrates with various channels, including phone calls, live chats, and video conferences, adapting to the unique needs of each rep and customer interaction.

Top benefits of real-time guidance

Top teams are booking 21% more meetings by using AI-powered real-time conversation guidance. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the host of benefits that come with adopting this solution.

1. Increased productivity

According to Salesforce research, sales reps only spend 28% of their time selling. Real-time guidance is key to helping reps become more productive by reducing the time they need to spend preparing for conversations, reminding them to always qualify and making sure they ask for next steps to move the deal forward in every conversation. Of course, it frees up manager time as well by reinforcing training during sales conversations.

2. Faster onboarding

The average sales ramp up time is over 3 months, which is a huge cost for companies considering the fact that rep turnover rate is also high. With real-time guidance, companies can onboard their reps in just 45 days and never worry about them forgetting or not having the right information on calls again. It allows you to teach something once, then scale your sales expertise across every call.

3. Improved customer experience

Real-time guidance empowers reps to deliver highly personalized and efficient interactions. As sales tracking software analyzes conversations and provides contextually relevant suggestions, reps can address customer concerns more accurately and promptly. This tailored approach demonstrates a deep understanding of the customer’s needs and preferences, contributing to a more positive and engaging customer experience.

4. Reduced attrition

With the average tenure of sales reps at less than 16 months and rep turnover on the rise, it’s more important than ever to find ways to reduce attrition. After all, rep turnover is incredibly costly. Real-time guidance decreases turnover by enabling reps to exceed quota by nailing every conversation.

5. More confidence and consistency

Real-time guidance fosters confidence and consistency in reps during customer interactions. By offering intelligent, contextual information, reps can handle diverse inquiries and objections more effectively and maintain a uniform brand experience. Continuous performance monitoring helps identify growth opportunities, allowing reps to improve sales skills and better understand customer needs. Consequently, your team can deliver consistent, high-quality customer engagements with the added confidence that comes from leveraging real-time guidance.

At Revenue.io, our patented technology harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to deliver personalized, contextually relevant assistance, enhancing your reps’ communication skills and driving successful outcomes.

The building blocks of real-time guidance software

If you’re in the market for real-time guidance software, there are several non-negotiables to look for as you’re evaluating solutions. Be on the lookout for software that checks all of these boxes.

1. AI-powered conversation analytics

AI-powered conversation analytics play a critical role in the effectiveness of real-time guidance software, providing the foundation for delivering accurate, contextually relevant support to sales and success reps. By employing advanced AI algorithms, conversation analytics can dissect and interpret various aspects of live interactions, unlocking valuable insights that can be used to enhance customer experiences. Here’s why AI-powered conversation analytics are essential to real-time guidance:

• Sentiment analysis: AI algorithms can detect the sentiment behind customer interactions, enabling real-time guidance systems to provide suggestions that are empathetic and aligned with the customer’s emotional state. This allows reps to forge stronger connections and better address customer concerns.
• Keyword and topic detection: AI identifies keywords and topics being discussed during a conversation, enabling real-time guidance software to offer relevant and timely recommendations.
• Personalization: By analyzing customer data and preferences, AI-driven conversation analytics enable real-time guidance systems to deliver highly personalized suggestions that resonate with customers.
• Performance improvement: Conversation analytics provide data-driven insights into rep performance, allowing for targeted coaching and improvements. By pinpointing strengths and weaknesses, reps can focus on honing their skills and enhancing their overall effectiveness.
• Streamlined workflows: AI notices trends and patterns in customer interactions, allowing organizations to streamline their processes and better allocate resources.

Without AI-powered conversation analytics, real-time guidance wouldn’t have the necessary insights to enrich buyer and customer interactions.

2. Out-of-the-box templates

Out-of-the-box templates offer a set of proven, pre-configured responses and suggestions based on industry best practices. They serve as a starting point for customization, allowing organizations to adapt the templates to their specific needs and processes.

Most importantly, out-of-the-box templates enable teams to start using real-time guidance software in minutes. Ultimately, these templates provide a valuable framework for reps, enabling them to deliver high-quality customer interactions while optimizing efficiency and effectiveness.

3. The real-time component

While many solutions claim to offer real-time guidance, they define “real-time” differently. In order for a platform to truly provide the real-time component, it needs to guide reps during live interactions. Revenue.io’s patented technology is the only solution to deliver authentic real-time guidance to reps during live conversations.

Best practices for implementing real-time guidance software on your team

Once you choose a real-time guidance solution to use for your team, it’s vital to follow best practices to implement the software efficiently and gain widespread adoption quickly. Here are some specific best practices to follow.

1. Involve reps in the process

Involving reps in the development process of real-time guidance software is crucial for its successful implementation and adoption within your organization. Gathering input and feedback from the team ensures that the solution addresses their specific needs and challenges. By involving reps from the outset, you not only encourage open communication but also foster a sense of ownership and accountability.

2. Train reps effectively

Training is another key aspect of ensuring the success of your real-time guidance software. Regular training sessions help reps stay up-to-date with the latest features and best practices, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to get the most out of the technology. Incorporating the new solution into the everyday workflow also helps reps become more comfortable and proficient in using the software, further enhancing their performance and efficiency during customer interactions. The amazing thing about real-time guidance is that it can actually reinforce the training you provide.

3. Continuously refine the solution

Constant refinement and optimization are integral to maintaining the effectiveness of your the software. Monitoring performance metrics and making necessary adjustments ensures that your guidance system remains relevant and aligned with your organization’s goals and objectives. By fostering a culture of ongoing improvement, you can ensure that your real-time guidance software continues to drive success for both your reps and your organization as a whole.

For more best practices for using this type of software, check out our Best Practices Guide.

Cut sales ramp up time

Conversation AI provides a simple way for reps to flag which calls they need coaching on. When a rep clicks the Coach button in the dialer, Conversation AI sends a notification to their manager to listen to that specific call. This eliminates the need for sales coaches to waste time searching for which calls require coaching.

As an example, Ryan focuses on a call made by Micah, a new sales development representative at Revenue.io. He gives Micah written feedback on his tone by creating an annotation tied to his call opener. This makes it easy for Micah to digest personalized feedback from his manager.

This powerful coaching tool enables reps to ramp faster because it targets their specific needs and provides ways to fix them. But Revenue.io’s coaching suite goes beyond this to offer real-time guidance to reps when they need it.

Deliver real-time coaching guidance

When coaches have a specific call open, they can navigate to the Actions drop-down menu and select Coach with Moments™. This brings them to Moments™, the real-time component of Revenue.io’s conversation intelligence coaching suite.

Ryan creates a Moments™ notification related to Micah’s tone. When Micah makes his next sales call, he will receive a notification while the phone is still ringing that reminds him to sound engaged. This is the perfect way to remind Micah to focus on his tone at the start of every call.

Coaching with Moments™ allows you to create notifications for a range of different use cases, including specific messaging for handling objections, pricing questions and more. New reps will be able to sell like experts in no time.

Moments™ also utilizes AI-powered conversation intelligence to automatically provide critical information to reps in real time based on what surfaces in the conversation. For example, when a prospect mentions a specific competitor, Moments™ can automatically provide your rep with the relevant battlecard to tackle that situation.

The Revenue.io coaching suite can level up your team’s sales productivity by cutting sales rep ramp time and delivering important information exactly when reps need it. It’s like your reps have a coach right there with them on every single call.

For More

Also, listen to Ryan Vaillancourt here, who discusses sales coaching on our RevOps Podcast.

Increase Win Rates with AI-Powered Real-Time Conversation Sales Coaching

Think back to the pivotal moments in your life: receiving an acceptance letter from your dream college, meeting your partner for the first time, holding up the championship trophy with your team surrounding you.

You weren’t alone. Someone was there to help you.

Did you get into college because a favorite teacher wrote you a letter of recommendation? Next, did you muster up the courage to approach your future partner because a friend encouraged you? Did you win that crucial game because your coach made you practice on Saturday?

Sales is no different.

There are critical moments in every sale where the stakes are high. Those are the moments when reps feel pressure to say the perfect thing. They might need a relevant piece of content, a tip for overcoming a certain objection or information on a specific competitor.

In these moments of truth, reps need AI-powered conversation guidance about what to say and how to say it. This sales training software enables reps to win more by receiving pertinent information in real time.

The shortcomings of training

The majority of reps are missing quota. That’s a huge problem.

More than that, B2B sales reps forget 70% of the information they learn within a week of training, and 87% of it within a month.

Without a way to reinforce their training, reps are struggling in those key conversations with buyers. They simply don’t know what to say.

Of course, more training isn’t the answer. Managers need sales training software that automatically reinforces training in real time. That way, reps can spend their time making more calls and booking more meetings, knowing they have access to all the information they need to succeed in those conversations.

The secret to success

What are the top sales leaders doing to help their reps hit quota?

They’re giving their reps the right messaging and important reminders at the right moment.

When a buyer asks about a competitor, AI-powered conversation guidance provides reps with the right answer at the exact moment they need it. Reps have the situational awareness necessary to understand the buyer’s pain points and goals.

And it’s not only one key moment per sale. There are typically 8 to 13 people on a buying committee, each of whom has disparate needs and desires. There is a tremendous amount of pressure on reps to know how to personalize messaging to resonate with every single buyer persona.

Real-time guidance gives reps what they need to be at their best in every single conversation. It’s the most effective way to automatically reinforce training and help them win. After all, no one can succeed in key moments alone.

To guide reps with critical information at the exact moment they need it, check out Moments™ by Revenue.io, the conversation intelligence leader in the Forrester Wave.

How to Ensure Reps Use Reflective Listening with Real-Time AI Coaching

Don’t sell to meet quotas. Sell to solve problems.

As Andy Paul (host of the wildly popular Sales Enablement Podcast) puts it, “The job of a seller is to listen to the buyer, understand what is most important to them, and then help them get that.” 

And the only way to do that is to ask practical questions and actively listen. It’s one thing to go down your list of discovery questions simply, but it’s another to be genuinely curious and listen to the answers. Like nearly every sales skill, listening is a muscle that can be learned and strengthened. One of the most powerful types of listening is reflective listening. 

Reflective listening is responding to the other person by reflecting the information, thoughts and feelings you heard in his or her words, tone of voice, body posture, and gestures.

Why reflective listening is essential in sales: 

1. It focuses on the buyers and their challenges instead of your product. 
2. It helps build rapport with buyers faster. 
3. It draws out more information from buyers than you would normally get because it encourages them to clarify, confirm and expand on ideas.
4. It leads buyers to realize for themselves if your product is a good fit for what they’re trying to accomplish, which is more effective than you trying to persuade them.

In this short video, Anna Kelley, CSM Lead at Revenue.io, explains how to use our real-time guidance solution Moments™ to build up reps’ listening muscles. 

Using Real-time Guidance To Reinforce Reflective Listening With Reps

In Moments™, navigate to your Notifications tab from the left menu bar and create a new Notification. Here, we’ll name it “Listening Notice.” 

The next step is to set up targeting. In this video, Anna is targeting individual users, but you could set this up for groups of people. You can choose between all users, specific teams, users with a specific Salesforce profile, or users with a specific Salesforce role.

Triggering criteria is where the magic happens. Here, we’ll set up Moments™ to listen for phrases that demonstrate someone is listening. For example, the phrases “It seems like,” “It sounds like,” and “You mentioned,” are all phrases that show you are listening to someone and reflecting back to them what you heard. 

The power of Moments™ is its ability to identify when these phrases are NOT mentioned during a conversation. We call this a “keyword exclusion.” This concept is extremely powerful and can be leveraged by reps in a broad range of ways. 

The Power of Moments

Here are some other great examples of keyword exclusions you can set up for your teams, based on what is not said in a conversation: 

• Best practices: If a rep has not asked a key qualifying question five minutes into a call, remind the rep with a Notification. 
• Next action: When the phrases “next steps,” “calendar,” “schedule,” or “time to chat” are not mentioned five minutes into the call, remind the rep with a Notification.
• Policy: If the word “recorded” or a similar phrase has not been spoken by a rep in the first thirty seconds of a call to notify the caller that the call is being recorded, remind the rep with a Notification.
• Announcements: When “promotion” is not mentioned in the first three minutes of a call to tell the buyer about a special promotion, remind the rep with a Notification.

Going back to our example, you’ll see that Anna also defines the timeframe of the call that Moments™ is listening for the phrase as 20 seconds, but you can set this up for whatever makes the most sense for your specific Notification. 

Triggering Notifications in Moments

The next step is to define who on the call will trigger the Notification. Do you want Moments™ to listen to the Rep/Agent, Participant/Caller or Anyone on the call for this phrase? 

Following the triggering criteria, we have to define who will receive this Notification. Moments™ has the ability to notify the Rep/Agent (which is the most common use and the use in this example), but you can also choose to notify a Supervisor or both the Rep/Agent and Supervisor. 

Now we have to define the content of the Notification. From the Category dropdown, Anna chose Behavioral Notification, then chose “warning” as the type, which means the content will display in an orange Notification as opposed to a blue Notification for “information” Notifications or red for “alert” Notifications.

Lastly, we will enter the content itself. For this example, Anna is reminding the Rep/Agent to use reflective listening language. 

Give Reps Critical Information at the Exact Moment They Need It

As you can see, Moments™ is a powerful tool to help reps through a myriad of situations that they encounter live on every call by giving them critical information at the exact moment they need it. 

To learn more about how you can coach your team to use reflective listening, we put together a cheatsheet for you which you can download here. 

If you are looking for more examples of how to use real-time notifications to drive better sales outcomes, check out 10 Real-Time Notifications Every Revenue Team Needs in Their Playbook.

Learn more about how Moments™ can ensure that your reps say the right things every time.