If you could increase your producer’s selling confidence, boost sales and create a little healthy competition in the workplace, why wouldn’t you? Mock demos are a great way to achieve this – before you send them out in front of clients and prospects.

Why mocks?

• Selling strategies change and evolve over time making mock demos continually relevant.
• Collaborating on best practices will benefit all producers no matter their experience.
• Benefits the individual producer, which ultimately makes the entire sales team stronger.
• Mocks performed in front of peers raises the pressure, and leads to greater preparation and encourages good study habits on the producers’ part.
• You cannot expect your new producers to have had adequate previous selling experience.

Because selling styles differ, everyone brings their own strengths to the table, said Spencer Bewer, account executive at Zywave. Because of this, mocks are a perfect environment in which to expand on your producer’s selling skills, even if they are not new to the industry. “This is also a great way to uncover problem areas before they are in front of clients and prospects,” Spencer said. Engaging your entire sales team in mock demonstrations stimulates an environment of constructive criticism and continues improvement.

By practicing in front of their peers, your producers will be collaborating with each other as a way to improve and share best practices. Using client face time as their learning experience instead of implementing mock demos is simply not smart, said Lisa Gloede, director of sales training for Zywave. “Don’t bruise the fruit,” she said. “You cannot get back a first impression.”

“Many agencies understand and could see the benefits of mocks, but putting them into motion is another battle,” said John Kuehn, vice president at Zywave.

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