Success in the HVAC industry (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) isn’t just about your reps knowing your product (although it is about that, too). It’s about how reps present your products and services, engage homeowners, and leverage every sales interaction to build trust and value. 

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Michael Hirsh, a seasoned pro in HVAC sales strategies at Rescue Air, understands this balancing act better than most. With years of experience under his belt, he knows that mastering the sales process means being prepared for anything that may come up in the field. This ranges from making a clear first impression to engaging customers effectively to handling objections with tact.

Michael’s insights offer a strategic guide for HVAC system sales managers and teams seeking to stand out in a competitive market. He highlights the importance of leveraging technology to streamline sales conversations and tailoring each interaction to focus on the customer experience. Discover five Michael-approved key best practices and HVAC sales tips that are designed to help your HVAC business team close more deals and build lasting customer relationships.

1. Be Mindful of First Impressions

Will Rogers once said, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” And in the world of HVAC sales training, impressions mean a lot. 

Michael says reps need to know how to “build value and be truly different from others.” This starts with a positive initial interaction with a customer during the HVAC sales process. 

These days, customers are more informed than ever, so reps need to come to the sales conversation “making sure [they’re] better prepared for the appointment than the homeowner.” They certainly need to know more than the average person with an internet connection. That means thinking like an HVAC technician while also knowing their company, their product, any promotions, financing options, and the competition. 

To make a well-rounded first impression, Michael says those in HVAC sales jobs should also look professional, smile, and maintain a clean vehicle.

2. Use Tech to Your Advantage

The hyper-aware nature of modern consumers also means they likely experience information overload. Brands and offerings blend together and it takes something special for businesses to stand out. Michael says reps can use technology to differentiate themselves from other HVAC companies with a well-branded website and tailored presentations. 

You and your reps can also consider the following HVAC marketing tactics:

• Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and all business information is accurate.
• Create content (e.g., blog articles, videos, case studies) that can help you stand out from competitors by attracting new customers and keeping existing customers coming back.
• Incorporate relevant keywords like “HVAC sales” and “HVAC service” throughout your website.
• Maintain active social media profiles on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) and respond quickly to customer inquiries through these channels. 

Michael says that a lot of reps are now using AI to auto-generate specific proposals or custom sales experiences and solutions based on customer needs and input. He believes AI presentation software is going to become more prevalent and effective in field sales. 

AI can also help your reps track and adjust their sales conversations in the field with virtual ridealong software. Using Rilla’s virtual ridealong platform, Michael discovered that one of his reps missed a big cross-selling opportunity with one of their customers. 

During this interaction, the customer said he “wished he had a good plumber on speed dial,” but the HVAC salesperson didn’t mention Rescue Air’s plumbing services. Once Michael went over the sales conversation, he was able to have the rep reach out and explain what their plumbing department could do to solve the customer’s problem.

3. Get Out Ahead of Objections

Michael explains that HVAC sales reps need to build rapport with customers and be “out in front” of their concerns or potential objections. He says one of the best ways to overcome these objections is to front-load the in-home conversation with positive business-specific information like customer reviews. 

Then, when the homeowner brings up a potential objection, you can respond by referring back to this info: “Remember, we have more than 3,000 reviews at 4.9 stars — do you think we would have this reputation if we (fill in customer objection)?”

4. Use Discretion When Educating Customers

As mentioned, customers are smart. They know when they’re being “sold” to. Michael says reps should assess their HVAC knowledge first and then educate them accordingly. “You have to tailor solutions to each individual customer’s needs and wants.”

Maybe they’ll have a customer who is a former HVAC contractor — they’re going to have an advanced understanding of HVAC equipment, so reps need to treat them differently than another type of professional or business owner. It’s important to respect your customers’ current understanding of your HVAC products and services. 

During in-person sales meetings, visual aids are extremely helpful for HVAC sales professionals when explaining different circumstances and clarifying complex information. Reps should also ask their customers questions and then share similar previous experiences and success stories. During this exchange of information, your reps can explain to your customers how your company helped people just like them.

5. Prioritize Personalization and Follow-up

Again, the name of the game is tailored customer experiences. Michael says, “You have to personalize communication and use multiple streams of communication.” And ensure your HVAC sales representatives reach out to customers through their preferred communication channels.

In a perfect world, your reps’ communication skills would inspire all one-call closes — but that’s not likely to happen often. So follow-up is critical. The first step is to make sure your customer has opted-in for a follow-up contact.

Next, when your reps reach out to customers, they need “a reason or something of value” to offer them, Michael says. Make sure your reps stay away from generic “hey, just checking in” conversations that leave customers no better than they were prior to the contact.

Take Control of Your HVAC Sales Performance

In field sales — and particularly HVAC sales — it’s critical to ensure that your reps are effectively engaging customers and addressing key questions throughout the sales process. When customers are required to make a significant home services or HVAC repair investment, they need to know they’re in good, capable hands.

Michael says you should be asking yourself, “Are [reps] setting the call up properly? Talking about the company? Educating when needed? Presenting the right options at the right time? How are they handling objections?” These were all questions that relied on human memory and the honor system until now.

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With Rilla’s virtual ridealong platform, you can make sure your reps are actively engaging customers — every time. When you’re ready to learn more about how Rilla can help your reps close more deals and boost their HVAC sales, check out our customer stories and then book a demo with us.

In the plumbing sales industry, outside sales representatives face unique challenges that those in other home services sales don’t typically experience. There’s an urgency to plumbing services — if a customer’s pipe bursts or they have a severe leak, it could cause significant damage to their home (and their wallet!). And the nature of these emergencies often create high-pressure sales environments for reps. 

Silvia Nestares, Training, Plumbing, and Electrical Manager for My Plumber Plus, says the complexity of the plumbing industry — and hidden issues that arise once technicians begin working — complicate in-person customer interactions. Addressing compliance and safety concerns adds additional layers of intricacy to the plumbing business puzzle. So trust and effective communication are of the utmost importance for your plumbing sales reps. 

With Silvia’s help, we’ve put together a list of six plumbing sales best practices to share with your reps. Discover these tips and suggestions you’ll want to make fixtures of your plumbing sales strategy and watch the business flow in. 

1. Build Trust in Heightened Situations

Plumbing emergencies, HVAC issues, and other home services can be significant sources of stress for customers. Not only do they put customers’ lives on hold for as long as they take to repair, but they can also require customers to shell out a lot of cash. However, the way reps communicate about these issues can put anxious customers at ease.

One key to building trust and making customers feel relaxed is creating scenarios in which they’re able to share information and express themselves — this is known as a “customer story.” Longer conversations with more “interactivity,” the average number of speaker changes within each minute of a conversation, lead to better customer stories, longer time in customers’ homes, and more sales. In conversations that lead to increased average tickets, the average customer story is five minutes. This is the average reps should shoot for.

Demonstrating soft skills like active listening and empathy can also build trust with customers. And when reps educate customers about their urgent plumbing issues, it lends credibility to the process and establishes reps as reliable experts in the field. Silvia says education also helps to:

• Increase customer acceptance of services
• Justify purchases of plumbing supplies like faucets, pipes, and other plumbing products
• Clearly demonstrate value and benefits of services (i.e., improved efficiency, cost-savings)
• Reduce misunderstandings
• Build customer confidence 

When customers feel confident in their decision-making — especially in high-stress situations — it leads to higher satisfaction rates and reduced buyer’s remorse.

2. Simplify Complex Problems for Customers

Plumbing systems are often intricate, and issues aren’t always immediately visible, so it can be challenging for customers to really understand the problems they’re facing. And these aren’t just problems with their pipes — customers also have to navigate financial decisions, safety concerns, and who to hire to take care of it all. 

Silvia says it’s best to break down plumbing sales job complexities into layperson’s terms. A few techniques she suggests for reps:

• Visual aids and demonstrations: Display an agenda card (images that illustrate what will happen during the service visit), before-and-after photos (pre- and post-service photos that illustrate similar issues to those customers are having), and diagrams showing the functionality of plumbing systems.
• Detailed estimates: Provide pricing and financing options that give customers flexibility and control over their choices.
• Technician credentials: Highlight their company’s professionalism by sending customers brief plumber bios that mention their certifications, licenses, and any specialized training.‍
• Safety information: Explain any potential health risks associated with their plumbing issue (e.g., mold growth, contaminated water) and how professional plumbing services can mitigate them.

When reps simplify complex problems and make often unseen issues more tangible, it makes customers more confident in their investment. Peace of mind can help customers feel better about spending money repairing a problem they may not fully understand.

3. Highlight Preventative Solutions and Long-Term Benefits

Planning ahead helps customers keep their home systems running smoothly and avoid extensive repairs in the future. Silvia explains a few solutions and long-term benefits your reps can highlight for customers in the field:

• Preventative maintenance: Explain how regular upkeep can extend the lifespan of their systems.
• Energy efficiency: Speak to how certain upgrades (e.g., low-flow fixtures, energy-efficient water heaters) can reduce utility bills. 
• Avoiding future damage: Emphasize potential costs and damage that can be avoided by addressing plumbing issues early.

By leading with customer benefits — particularly benefits that help save money in the long run — reps put your business value upfront. And customers learn why their potentially large home service tickets are worth the investment.

4. Be Transparent When Addressing Concerns

“Handling objections and concerns effectively is crucial for converting calls and building trust with plumbing service customers,” Silvia says. And the best way to handle customer concerns is through transparent communication. 

When customers are considering common plumbing sales objections like price, timing, and competitor comparisons, it’s critical for reps to communicate clearly and openly. Here are a few ways Silvia suggests reps handle specific objections:

• Price: Reps can compare the cost of continued or extensive repairs to a one-time service cost and use visual aids to demonstrate the service’s value.
• “I need to think about it”: Reps should address the customer’s need for more time directly and provide them with reassurance. Help customers understand why it's urgent to address the problem now and remind them that they're already at their house and can move quickly.
• Competitor estimates: Reps can speak to your warranties, plumber qualifications, and products to differentiate your company from similar businesses or offerings.

Home services like plumbing repairs and HVAC sales are personal investments for homeowners. And for customers to fully understand and feel confident purchasing these services, reps need to walk customers through them. The more effectively reps can communicate with customers about their potential concerns, the quicker they can build trust and close deals.

5. Implement a Consistent Sales Process

Consistency is often the key to successes of all kinds — and plumbing sales are no different. One approach that Silvia’s team has found success with is the six-step sales process:

1. Prepare: Reps do research on the customer, then physically and mentally prepare for the interaction.
2. Greet: Reps first engage customers, ask them specific questions about their plumbing issue, and start building trust. This is where reps can also use their agenda card to explain the service process to customers. 
3. Explore: Reps continue to build trust with customers by asking lifestyle questions, listening, and taking notes about their concerns. This is also typically the step in which reps conduct a detailed needs assessment.
4. Present: Reps provide the customer with several personally tailored solutions that address their specific pain points and objections, and improve the quality of their life.
5. Execute: Technicians do the work and leave the area better than they found it.
6. 5-star service: Reps walk customers through the technician's work and request customers leave a good review.

By practicing and implementing this six-step sales process, reps can effectively — and consistently — demonstrate the value of your company’s services. And consistency breeds trust with customers.

6. Embrace Technology and Use Data to Your Benefit

As with most industries, digital tools have revolutionized field reps’ plumbing sales strategies, customer engagement, the way in which they track leads, and how their success is measured. And tools like Rilla’s virtual ridealong platform provide reps with real-time data that can help them optimize their sales techniques on-the-fly.

Other ways in which digital tools impact conversion strategies:

• Improved lead generation and management: Technology streamlines reps’ processes and makes it easier for them to identify, prioritize, and follow up with customers. 
• Improved customer engagement: Reps can provide timely information to customers through modern communication channels (e.g., email, text).
• Data-driven decision-making: Reps can review their customer and sales data through a customer relationship management (CRM) system and use metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine strategy adjustments.
• Performance monitoring and feedback: Virtual ridealongs allow managers to provide reps with instant feedback and remote coaching.
• Increased reach and visibility: Not only can plumbing companies attract customers beyond their immediate geographical areas, but managers can also coach reps in different physical locations.
• Mentorship and continuous learning: Reps can learn new strategies and tactics by reviewing top performers’ sales interactions. Managers can also design role-playing scenarios for reps using real-life customer conversations.

Technology can also keep plumbing reps updated on the latest industry trends, products, and sales training. It has provided reps with the freedom and flexibility to gain valuable experience and insights — from anywhere.

Help Your Plumbing Sales Flow Freely with Rilla

If reps want to stay competitive in plumbing, heating & air, and other home services sales fields, they need more than just basic industry know-how and a fancy sales pitch. They need a commitment to continuous improvement and access to technology and information to expand their reach beyond their city limits. 

Digital tools like Rilla can help reps and managers work together to improve the customer experience. Rilla’s real-time coaching and data-driven insights can give your reps a competitive edge both in commercial plumbing jobs with business owners and residential jobs with homeowners. And combined with informative demonstrations, a structured sales process, and open communication, it can help your reps build genuine relationships — and trust — with customers.

Ready to get started? Rilla can help. Contact us to book a demo and start closing more plumbing deals.

In-person ridealongs aren’t always fun for field sales managers. They’re time-consuming, you could face scheduling conflicts, and they often pose logistical puzzles. Coaching in real time is important to your reps’ processes and sales success — but it’s not always convenient and it’s impossible to do constantly. Until now.

Virtual ridealongs are the future of field sales coaching. It’s important for managers to build trust with their reps and their teams, and coaching can help establish this. It shows reps that their managers are there for them — and shows managers that reps are learning and growing as coaching progresses.

More importantly, though, are the physical limitations posed by physical ridealongs. Consider the amount of training and investment that goes into marketing — only to be completely in the dark when your team goes into customers’ homes. With physical ridealongs, a manager may only be able to do 10 per week if that were their only focus. And if they have a team of five reps, each running four leads per day, that’s 100 leads per week. Physical ridealongs would only allow visibility into 10% of the leads you’re running. This is revenue left on the table due to rep training limitations.

Virtual ridealongs offer a flexible and efficient way for sales managers to coach every rep’s sales conversation. They are an AI-powered solution for one-on-one field sales coaching that can scale along with your business. Discover everything you need to know about sales virtual ridealongs and find out how you can put them to work for your field sales team.

What are Virtual Ridealongs in Sales?

Virtual ridealongs are modern sales coaching techniques in which managers monitor and coach reps remotely using technology like call recording, AI transcripts, and real-time analytics. Unlike traditional, in-person ridealongs, virtual ridealongs enable managers to provide input and feedback without being physically present. And because of this, they’re scalable for your team’s needs.

Technology allows virtual ridealongs to not only mimic the benefits of in-person ridealongs, but deliver increased effectiveness and scalability.. With AI on their side, managers can efficiently collect sales conversation data, develop insights, and improve reps’ overall performance in dispersed sales teams.

In-Person Ridealongs vs. Virtual Ridealongs

In-person ridealongs allow managers to spend quality time with reps, building rapport and developing trust. In traditional ridealongs, managers can observe reps’ body language and non-verbal cues with customers. Then, managers can coach reps on soft skills along with their sales scripts. 

In-person ridealongs, however, are bound by constraints like time, distance, and visibility. Plus, with dispersed teams, in-person ridealongs pose scheduling and coordination challenges; further, managers must be reliant on their (maybe-not-always-reliable) memory to provide feedback for reps. And, perhaps most importantly, physical ridealongs may not be the best representation of actual rep performance. Since they’re bound by limitations, reps may only experience physical ridealongs once or twice per month — and this could mean they’re on their best (or worst) behavior during these times. Virtual ridealongs remove all of these barriers.

Sales virtual ridealongs offer sales teams a lot of flexibility. With the right tool and technology, managers can record reps’ sales conversations with customers and use AI to track specific language and data. This allows managers to coach reps in real time rather than long after customer interactions are over. Plus, you can then store your recorded material in a library and use it for enhanced new-hire sales training.

Why are Virtual Ridealongs Important?

Virtual ridealongs are important because they enable most of the benefits of in-person ridealongs combined with the versatility of digital tools. They provide managers with real-life, real-time data so they can monitor and coach reps from anywhere. 

They’re also much faster — AI can immediately flag your reps’ problem areas. A physical ridealong may take you two hours to find out that your rep isn’t properly presenting financing options at the end of the sales conversation. AI can tell you that immediately and automatically direct you to the areas in which your reps needs coaching.

With virtual ride-alongs, managers can provide instant feedback to reps. This teaches reps the “right way” to handle sales interactions so they can immediately apply these skills to their next in-home customer meeting.

Sales virtual ridealongs also let managers:

• Identify reps’ strengths and areas for improvement
• Help reps develop skills faster
• Dig into analytics and make data-backed decisions
• Track reps’ performance over time
• Scale their coaching across teams and sales regions
• Save money over time due to reduced travel and logistics issues
• Improve training efficiency
• Double sales percentages

Virtual ridealongs have also been shown to improve close rates and boost average ticket sizes when implemented. 

How do Virtual Ridealongs Work?

In order to conduct a virtual ridealong, you'll need the tech to support it. Virtual ridealong software, like Rilla, can help.

Rilla records and transcribes sales conversations between reps and customers, allowing managers to monitor and coach remotely. Then, through AI, the tool analyzes these interactions and offers insights into key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics like talk-to-listen ratio, adherence to sales scripts, and sentiment analysis.

Managers can review sales conversation insights and provide reps with specific, targeted feedback. They can also identify opportunities for coaching and track overall trends within reps’ performances. 

But before you begin using a tool like Rilla, make sure you talk to your reps about it and get their buy-in by framing it as the skill enhancement tool it is. Then you can use it with your teams and oversee multiple reps simultaneously without ever needing to get in the car.

How to Make the Most of Virtual Ridealongs

To make the most of virtual ridealongs, you need to have a strategy. Here are some steps you and your reps can follow to build out your strategy before you begin:

• Pre-customer preparation: Make sure you align your customer-specific and overall sales goals and expectations prior to the virtual ridealong.
• Customize your dashboard: Create a rep-specific dashboard to track their personal KPIs; this will help you pinpoint areas for improvement.
• Reinforce active listening: Emphasize the importance of eye contact, nodding and other non-verbal cues, and restating customer needs during the conversation.
• Post-conversation debrief: Develop a structured debrief to use with your rep after the ridealong. Determine the areas in which you’d like to offer specific feedback and provide actionable next steps.

Now that you have a plan of attack, make sure you’re also doing your part to support your reps:

• Steady scheduling: Put your reps on the calendar at regular intervals — consistency in coaching will lead to the best results.
• Customize coaching: The best input and feedback will align with hard figures; use data to customize your coaching sessions for individual reps.
• Set clear objectives: Define rep goals for each virtual ridealong session.

Managers’ primary goal for virtual ridealongs should be observation, not interference. Sales reps should be free to operate naturally during their customer interactions — this will help build a trusting relationship. The name of the game should be support, not micromanagement. 

Once you and your reps are ready for the ridealong, make sure you keep a few more things in mind:

• Improvement is a continuous process: Consistently refine your virtual ridealong practice based on customers’, reps’, and your own feedback.
• Use high-performers to teach others: Once you log enough sales conversations, use top reps’ interactions to help others learn the ropes or refine their skills.
• Don’t over-rely on technology: Explain to your reps that virtual ridealong technology is meant to complement, not replace, personal engagement and active participation during their sales sessions.
• Maintain reps’ motivation: Create and maintain positive feedback loops so reps consistently feel supported and receptive to coaching. 

Keep in mind that manager feedback should be provided as soon as the virtual ridealong is finished so reps still have the interaction fresh in their mind and can take immediate action on improvements.

Make the Switch to Virtual Ridealongs With Rilla

Virtual ridealongs offer a game-changing solution for field sales coaching. They combine the real-time benefits of traditional, in-person methods with the efficiency and scalability of modern technology. 

With virtual ridealongs, managers can provide immediate, data-driven coaching. This helps reps refine their skills and hit their sales targets more effectively. And Rilla is the go-to tool to help your team achieve these goals. 

Rilla’s features and easy integration into your existing workflows can turn your sales con-versations into sales proversations. (Sorry, we had to.) Sales management practices are constantly evolving — so now is the perfect time to discover what Rilla has to offer. When you’re ready to take your ridealongs into the modern era, contact us to book a demo.

The goal of successful sales coaching isn’t just to meet quotas and boost your bottom line — it’s also to continuously improve one's processes. And in the field of HVAC, windows, and other home services and remodeling sales, it’s important to really hone one’s home services field sales skills.

From setting SMART goals to leveraging technology, both managers and reps alike can dive into these 13 field sales coaching tips to get their wheels turning while they’re on the road.

1. Set SMART Goals and Develop Action Plans

Field sales managers should help their reps set SMART goals, which means each goal should be: 

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound 

This method of goal-setting ensures that each objective is well-defined and aligns with your sales organization’s overall targets. Once set, managers should help reps develop step-by-step plans, including deadlines and metrics to evaluate success.

2. Work on Good Sales Skills Regularly

Reps can’t be successful in their positions unless they practice. To foster a culture of continuous improvement that helps reps boost performance, managers can:

• Establish a rep development plan: Identify key skills and competencies that each salesperson needs to improve, including negotiation, strategic planning, product knowledge, and customer engagement. Create a plan that details reps’ current proficiency levels, then outline the target areas reps need to improve.
• Help reps form beneficial habits: Work with reps to establish disciplined routines, practice, and provide feedback that helps them adjust any necessary behaviors. For example, if reps tend to rush through sales pitches, coach them to adopt a more deliberate pace and thorough messaging.
• Encourage personal responsibility: Motivate your sales professionals to take ownership of their own growth and self-improvement. People (including sales reps) are more likely to engage with processes they help design, so get them involved with the creation of their action plans.

3. Provide Consistent Sales Coaching and Feedback

Training and sales coaching are an investment in your business. And like any investment, it requires time and attention to yield positive results. 

Studies like the Ebbinghaus “curve of forgetting” suggest that people forget approximately 75% of information a day or two after learning it. People need to hear and read material several times before they can recall it. 

Without consistent check-ins, reinforcement, and real-world applications, reps may never fully cement the skills you’re imparting on them.

4. Practice Role-Playing Sales Training Scenarios

Role-playing in field sales training scenarios helps reps master their sales pitches, navigate customer objections, and handle difficult conversations. When managers work with reps to simulate real-world selling scenarios, it enhances the team’s practical applications of the lessons they’re learning.

Say, for example, a rep just dealt with a challenging sales conversation. As a manager, you can set up a live role-playing coaching session to go over the exact script the rep just used in the conversation and the issues the customer raised.

5. Use Metrics and Data to Your Advantage

Field sales needs to be a measurable process that has explicit steps and a repeatable approach. Only then your reps measure their successes and progress. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Define what success looks like: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) like number of sales, average ticket or deal size, and revenue generated.
• Monitor team performance and adjust as needed: Metrics like conversion rates, customer engagement, and sales cycle length provide comprehensive insights that show managers the areas where reps are excelling — and where they need more support.
• Evaluate the effect of coaching: Look at pre- and post-coaching performance metrics to assess the impact of your support. If your reps aren’t improving over time, this indicates that your coaching plan needs to be tweaked.

Integrating data-driven performance metrics into your coaching strategy helps to ensure your efforts are grounded in real-world applications. 

6. Encourage Sales Teams to Learn Continuously

The world of field sales moves quickly — so if you want to stay ahead, you need to encourage and promote continuous learning among your reps. Consider the following:

• Create a learning culture: Make it public knowledge that your business values ongoing education as much as it values hitting sales targets. This means more than just providing onboarding and one-time training — it means offering development opportunities like workshops, seminars, and webinars. It also means leading by example.
• Lean on your team: Leverage the knowledge and skills of top sales performers within your team. During regular meetings or through scheduled presentations, ask these top performers to share their strategies for success.

7. Adapt to Sales Reps’ Specific Needs

When it comes to effective field sales coaching, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s important for managers to tailor coaching to reps’ individual needs, strengths, and challenges.

It all starts with personalized assessments of your reps using the previously listed metrics and your own observations. Once you understand their specific performance nuances, you can create a focused plan that targets their growth opportunities. For example, if a rep struggles to close deals despite a healthy pipeline, you may discover you need to work with them on their negotiation skills.

8. Foster Salespeople’s Autonomy

One critical component of effective sales coaching is instilling autonomy in reps — particularly in the field. Your team members need to have the confidence in themselves to make good decisions and manage their processes without hand-holding. Set clear expectations, give reps the sales enablement tools they need — then get out of the way. Give them the flexibility to decide how they approach sales conversations with clients.

When reps have the go-ahead to solve their own problems, make decisions, and take the initiative, they’re much more likely to develop the confidence they need to succeed in the field.

9. Focus on the Customer-Centric Benefits of Sales

At the end of the day, field sales is about meeting customer needs. So, your sales coaching process should focus on providing them with the solutions they desire. The most important aspect of customer retention and customer-centric sales is really understanding their needs. Train your reps to identify these by:

• Implementing a variety of coaching techniques (i.e., hard and soft skills) that cover the multifaceted nature of customer requirements.
• Using all data resources to their advantage — this includes customer relationship management (CRM) software — to identify unique customer needs and opportunities.
• Encouraging collaborative planning by getting customers involved in their process from the start.

As with most things in life, customer-centricity comes down to relationship-building and follow-up. And when reps demonstrate that they have their customers’ best interest in mind, they’re more likely to foster long-term connections.

10. Motivate Your Team with Recognition and Incentives

Once you understand what drives each member of your salesforce to excel, you can leverage that to boost their performance. For example, some of your reps may only strive for financial success. For them, using a monetary bonus will likely be the most motivating. Other reps may prefer public praise. So, for them, you can set aside a minute or two to speak to their achievements and win rates at your next organization-wide meeting. 

It’s important to design your incentives strategically. This means not only rewarding final “sales” results, but also rewarding the behaviors that led to these results.

11. Aim for Continuous Improvement in Sales Coaching Techniques

A player is only as good as their coach. Managers, like field sales reps, also need to strive for continuous improvement in their own techniques and skill sets. 

Managers provide reps with constructive feedback to make them better at their jobs — but reps can do the same for their bosses. Managers should regularly review and adjust their techniques based on reps’ insights and performance metrics. 

Soft skills are one area in which managers can consistently learn and grow alongside their teams. Factors like empathy, adaptability, and active listening are just as important for coaching effectiveness as they are for reps to demonstrate with customers.

12. Make Sales Coaching Tools Part of Your Team

Modern field sales teams will find it hard to succeed without technology on their side. And with tools like Rilla, managers can not only onboard reps with ease, but also provide ongoing training and performance assessments.

Rilla’s virtual ride-along capabilities allow managers to monitor sales interactions and provide instant feedback for field sales reps. Through AI analytics, Rilla tracks specific language and data so managers can discover exactly what reps discussed with in-home customers and how it impacted their performance.

Consider Rilla your assistant coach. You can have your reps review field sales conversations and engage with training program content and data that was captured on the platform.

13. Look to Future Initiatives (and Prepare!)

The field best sales leaders see AI and tech (tools like Rilla) becoming even more ubiquitous in their processes. 

Sales managers everywhere will soon be able to run reps through a variety of real-world in-home sales scenarios that help them sharpen their skills — resulting in better conversion rates and fewer missed opportunities.

If managers want to make sure their teams are at the forefront of their field, they need to make AI adoption a priority.

Coach Your Field Sales Reps Efficiently With Rilla

For field sales coaching programs, Rilla provides managers with data they can really use to teach reps the ropes and boost their confidence in the field. With AI conversation tracking between customers and reps, you can explain to your team exactly what they’re saying and doing that’s adding to your company’s bottom line — and things they could potentially improve.

And equipped with Rilla and these 13 tips, it’s easier than ever for managers to coach their reps to success in the field. Contact us today to book a demo.

Road trips are always fun. But what if you could take the “road” with you? If you think you know sales ridealongs, buckle up — because they just got a digital makeover.

The future of field sales coaching is virtual and uses AI to deliver smarter, faster performance notes and feedback for your reps. You can still ride shotgun with your team members but from the comfort of your office, home, or local coffee shop. Through virtual ridealongs, you can make every sales interaction an opportunity for growth — all without leaving your desk (or couch or weirdly expensive bean bag chair).

Pull up and discover sales ridealong basics, how ridealongs work, and why they’re important. Then, switch gears and learn three best practices for taking (and coaching) successful field sales calls.

What is a Sales Ridealong?

A sales ridealong is a practice in which a field sales manager joins a sales rep during a customer engagement or interaction, and observes and guides the rep with the goal of improving their sales process. 

Traditionally, sales ridealongs were done in person, face-to-face — but Rilla has modernized this concept by facilitating virtual ridealongs. Virtual ridealongs allow sales managers to coach reps remotely by utilizing AI to record and analyze rep conversations with customers. This not only boosts training efficiency, but opens the doors to new possibilities like long-distance coaching.

How Do Sales Ridealongs Work?

Before making the virtual jump, sales ridealongs typically involved a more senior salesperson or manager accompanying a rep — literally “riding along” in the car — to meet with existing or potential customers. This hands-on approach made it possible for the more senior sales professional to study the customer interaction and provide immediate feedback for the rep. 

The goal of sales ridealongs is to mentor the rep and increase their potential for sales. This is how the process works:

• Preparation: Before the ridealong, the manager and rep might discuss the day’s goals, client specifics (e.g., website, Facebook page, or Zillow profile), and any particular focus areas (e.g., financing, discounts or promos).
• Observation: During the customer interaction, the sales leader quietly watches and listens to the rep’s approach, communication with the customer, and inclusion of any relevant or timely information.
• Feedback: After each customer visit or at the end of the day, the manager or senior member can debrief with the rep during a coaching session. Effective feedback includes praise or acknowledgment of observed successes and constructive criticism about areas that need improvement. Managers may also suggest role-playing scenarios so reps can practice handling specific situations. Occasionally, sales managers will even take over the rep’s sale if they’re not able to close the deal. This helps to demonstrate to the rep how they can handle similar scenarios in the future.
• Development: Using the insights gained from the ridealong, managers can suggest ongoing education for their reps and tailor their training initiatives to reps’ individual needs.
• Follow-up: Managers may schedule subsequent ridealongs or meetings to review reps’ progress on their feedback and action items. This helps to ensure consistent improvement to their sales performance.

And now, with tools like Rilla, managers can turn this once-strictly-IRL event into a highly effective virtual coaching and mentoring process. The beauty of this is that it still fosters a supportive learning environment, and it can immediately address gaps in reps’ sales techniques.

Why are Sales Ridealongs Important?

Sales ridealongs are important because they help managers observe and enhance their reps’ sales techniques based on real-life customer conversations. It’s not coaching based on hypotheticals or “example” situations — it’s coaching rooted in genuine client interactions.

Benefits of ridealongs include:

• Contextual coaching: Managers can provide feedback and training about reps’ literal sales performances rather than imagined scenarios. 
• Immediate (potential) improvement: Although it’s up to reps to “walk the walk,” managers can provide instant feedback so nothing gets forgotten or slips through the cracks.
• Sales rep autonomy: Since managers simply observe and don’t overtake the sales process, they help reps develop confidence and trust in themselves, which are crucial components for growth and autonomy in closing deals.

Ridealongs help managers foster a proactive learning environment that provides the foundation and educational reinforcement sales reps need to perform their best. 

3 Best Practices for Sales Ridealongs

These days, sales coaching can be done from just about anywhere with a wifi connection. Tools like Rilla help managers up their reps’ game, instill confidence, and provide feedback without the pesky car sickness or exorbitant gas prices.

Discover three best practices for successful sales ridealongs and discover why “virtual” is the way of the future.

1. Extend Your Sales Coaching Reach Virtually

Although in-person practices can still be effective, you can extend your coaching reach by taking advantage of virtual ridealongs. This eliminates the need for physical travel — saving time and organizational budgets — and increases coaching opportunities. With virtual ridealongs, managers can provide real-time feedback that helps reps close deals, increase ticket sizes, and feel more confident in their abilities. And because of how time-consuming physical ridealongs can be, it’s often impossible to coach your whole sales team at scale. Virtual ridealongs allow you to coach every appointment, every time.

2. Tailor Coaching and Enhance Sales Strategies with the Help of AI

Virtual ridealong software can provide AI-driven insights about sales conversations that allow managers to customize their coaching to the individual rep. By analyzing interactions between reps and customers, and deep-diving into sales engagements, tools like Rilla help managers provide evidence-based feedback that lets reps take real action. This practice supports the setting and tracking of measurable goals, which allows sales teams to refine their strategies as needed.

3. Mind the Market’s Needs and Remain Relevant

When you use a tool like Rilla, you’re equipped with AI’s power to detect market changes — so you can quickly align your sales approach with economic and cultural demand. When you adapt your sales training based on the market’s conditions and your organization’s needs, you can ensure your feedback remains timely and relevant. AI-powered tools like Rilla help sales teams meet their target audience’s unique challenges and close deals more effectively.

Rilla is Your Best Sales Copilot

Embracing tools like Rilla means stepping into the future of sales coaching. And in this future, physical proximity is no longer a factor in whether or not a manager-rep feedback session is successful. Through AI analytics and insights, Rilla can turn every sales interaction into a data-driven teachable moment that helps your reps close deals and boost ticket sizes.

Once you’re ready to create new sales opportunities and accelerate your team’s growth, Rilla is with you in the passenger seat (metaphorically — you no longer need anyone there in-person, remember?). Contact us today to book a demo.

As the cost of living continues to eat away at consumers’ spending opportunities, discounts are still going strong. In fact, marketing spending on promotions is at the highest it's been in the last two decades. In the first quarter of 2023, sales promotions had the biggest increase of all organizational budget categories — growing 8.8% from the previous year (where it was trending negative at -4.4%).

All customers want a good deal, especially on large investments on their homes — but these deals are even more attractive to potential buyers now, given the economic landscape. Through a strategic conversation or two, your sales reps can share these deals with your clients and increase ticket sizes for your business. And using AI, Rilla can help track these conversations by recording, analyzing, and providing insights into every field sales meeting with customers.

Discover how effectively leveraging sales promotions can transform your reps’ sales results. And once they understand how promotions can boost your company’s bottom line, have them put our three tips to work to really get the job done.

The Effects of Offering Promotions in Sales Conversations

Promotions are a critical component of sales strategies, particularly in industries like home services, where purchase decisions are often significant. When reps integrate conversations about “promotions” into field sales meetings with customers, it can not only help close business more effectively but also increase average ticket sizes. 

To illustrate this point, let’s take a look at some data from a leading HVAC manufacturer.

Offering Home Services Promotions Impacts Close Rates by Over 1%

While promotions may not drastically increase the percentage of deals closed, they do foster an environment that’s conducive to closing because they solidify decisions for those already considering a purchase. Using Rilla Labs’ data breakdown of the HVAC manufacturer’s customers, it’s clear that conversations about “promotions” have at least some effect on home service close rates.

Close Rates: Home Service Conversations

• When a promotion was not mentioned: 0.459
• When a promotion was mentioned: 0.464
• % increase = 1.089%

Even though the increase is slight, the data indicates that promotions can subtly influence decision-making, nudging customers to seal the deal. And this effect is crucial in industries like home services where purchase decisions are sizable and require customer reassurance.

Offering Promotions Increases Average Ticket Sizes by More Than 92%

The impact of promotions on average ticket sizes is profound. When it’s time for your customers to “check out,” don’t think of promotions as just a tool to close a deal but a lever to pull to dramatically boost the value of each transaction. A well-timed mention of a promotion can really transform consumer spending behavior. And our HVAC manufacturer’s data from Rilla Labs backs this up:

Average Ticket Size: Home Service Conversations

• When a promotion was not mentioned: $2,413.59
• When a promotion was mentioned: $4,643.09
• % increase = 92.37%

When sales reps mentioned a “promotion” during conversations with home service customers, it nearly doubled the value of what customers spent. Nearly doubled — just by mentioning the right deal at the right time. This isn’t just good salespersonship; it’s a strategy that turns opportunities into impressive profits. 

Strategic mentions of promotions increases revenue per customer — which is vital in sectors like home services and remodeling that have relatively high customer acquisition costs (CAC).

3 Tips for Strategically Offering Promotions in Field Sales Conversations

If your reps want to successfully integrate promotions into sales conversations, it’s going to take more than simply announcing a discount. It has to be strategic but flow naturally with the conversation — and this can be a difficult tone to balance.

Following our actionable tips and best practices can help your sales reps present your promotions effectively and ensure that they resonate with customers. And, as we’ve seen, this can lead to higher sales conversions and bigger tickets.

1. Communicate Consistently

Effectively communicating promotions across your sales team isn’t just beneficial — it’s essential. The most direct way to ensure every team member is on the same page is through regular training, updates, and talks that refresh reps’ knowledge about company promotions. 

Consistent messaging means every potential customer receives the same information and options, and it enhances the likelihood of promotion uptake. A uniform approach to learning and talking about promotions with customers maximizes their impact while minimizing missed opportunities. This helps keep your sales strategy sharp and efficient.

2. Fight Objections With Offers

Promotions serve as a psychological incentive for customers who are hesitating due to price, so sales reps should be trained to introduce deals and offers as solutions to customers’ budget concerns. 

And by presenting a promotion as a limited-time offer, your sales reps can create a sense of urgency and leverage FOMO. This can make the deal seem more valuable, which encourages quicker decision-making and could be the deciding factor for customers who are still on the fence.

When your reps have conversations with customers that make higher-priced options more accessible through discounts or special financing terms, it can effectively counter price objections.

3. Adapt Promotions Based on Performance

In order to optimize your sales strategy, you need data. Sales managers should analyze how different promotions influence close rates and ticket sizes, and adapt their strategies accordingly. To do this, utilize sales data and virtual ride alongs to monitor the performance of promotions in real-time.

This type of proactive approach allows for strategy adjustments on-the-fly, which ensures that your organization’s marketing resources are allocated to the most impactful offers. It’s vital for you to keep a pulse on which deals and discounts resonate most with customers and drive sales, because then you can be more strategic with your deployment of promotional investments.

Get the Field Sales Conversation Insights You Need to Coach Your Reps

Leveraging sales promotions effectively is about more than just surviving the economic squeeze that today’s cost of living imposes — it’s about turning challenges into opportunities for both your home services customers and your business. And the best way to do this is by gaining insights into how these promotions are discussed during sales interactions. 

Equip your teams with the right strategies using Rilla. By tracking how promotions are being discussed with customers, Rilla turns every sales conversation into an opportunity for targeted coaching. And this means your promotions can remain beneficial to your bottom line. Check out our customer stories to learn how other companies have put Rilla to work for them. 

And when you’re ready to do the same, contact us to book a demo.

Society has always had a way of making its citizens feel like they need to “keep up”, e.g. “the good work”, “with the times”, And of course, “with the Joneses”.

It’s exhausting, expensive, and leaves little room for personal preference.

But having options — making choices for oneself — is as inherently American as those darn Joneses. And when it comes to customers making big-ticket investments on their homes, payment options are often the key to sales. 

There aren’t many purchases more significant than those you make for your home. And as inflation continues to rear its head in the economy, sales teams face the challenge of not just closing home service and home remodeling deals, but also upselling and increasing ticket totals. But Rilla can help by recording, analyzing, and providing visibility into every sales conversation through AI. 

Discover how leveraging financing in field sales conversations can better equip your field sales reps to boost close rates and ticket sales.

The Impact of Leveraging Financing in Sales Conversions

Giving prospects the option to finance can dramatically transform the dynamics of a sales interaction. By offering tailored payment plans, sales reps can not only meet their customers' immediate economic comfort levels but also open the door to bigger sales opportunities that may have been otherwise unreachable.

Introducing Financing Options Increases Close Rates by Nearly 3% on Average

When customers have financing options available — when they can spread out their payments for large purchases — they’re much more likely to consider these purchases. This makes higher-ticket items more attainable and increases the likelihood of your reps closing a deal. Let’s take a look at Rilla Labs’ data breakdown:

Close rates: home services customers

• When “financing” was not mentioned: 48.45%
• When “financing” was mentioned: 48.87%
• % increase = 0.42%

Close rates: home remodeling customers

• When “financing” was not mentioned: 16.35%
• When “financing” was mentioned: 21.68%
• % increase = 5.33%

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So when we consider all “home” customers together, the average increase when reps mentioned “financing” is 2.88%. This uplift, though subtle (especially for home services), can greatly impact overall sales volume over time.

Financing Also Increases Average Ticket Sizes by Up to 208%

The impact “financing” has on close rates is notable, but its effect on ticket size is even more substantial. Really substantial. Rilla Labs’ data illustrates how sales reps’ discussions about financing can transform a typical sales encounter into a high-value transaction:

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Average ticket sizes: home services customers

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• When “financing” was not mentioned: $2,375.38
• When “financing” was mentioned: $4,544.56
• % increase = 91.32%

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Average ticket sizes: home remodeling customers

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• When “financing” was not mentioned: $4,712.04
• When “financing” was mentioned: $14,558.66
• % increase = 208.97%

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When “financing” is mentioned in home remodeling conversations between sales reps and customers, the average ticket size increases by more than threefold.

Now that you know the what, let’s talk about the how.

Best Practices for Introducing Financing in Field Sales Conversations

Successfully integrating “financing” into sales strategies requires more than just the availability of options. Your reps need a plan for how to approach and implement this type of communication with customers. 

Your reps need to do more than just offer financing options — they need to weave it into the fabric of their sales conversations. And if they do so successfully, they can maximize both customer satisfaction and sales performance.

Here are some best practices for making “financing” a natural — and successful — part of sales conversations.

Clearly Communicate the Benefits

The key to getting customers on board with home service and home renovation deals is effectively communicating the benefits of financing. Your sales reps need to be well-versed in the financial plans your company offers, and they should emphasize how these plans can make customer purchases manageable. Reps should aim for transparency in their communication about your plans’ terms and benefits, as it will build trust and help ease any customer concerns about affordability.

Make It a Seamless Part of the Conversation

Great sales conversations shouldn’t feel like, well, sales conversations. Your reps should always aim to integrate “financing” naturally into customer conversations to prevent them from feeling like awkward add-ons or afterthoughts. Make sure your reps are introducing financing options as a “standard” part of the customer needs discussion so it feels organic rather than a forced or last-minute offer.

Address Objections Proactively

Not every customer will be open and receptive to talking about the details of their finances, so reps should be prepared to handle these types of objections. Money is a sensitive subject, so some customers may have concerns about debt that they’d rather not speak to your team members about. 

Customers may also be unclear on the terms of financing, so your reps need to be prepared to clarify these succinctly and respectfully. You may want to consider specific soft-skills training so reps feel comfortable and confident explaining — empathetically — how financing can be a smart financial strategy.

Leverage Success Stories and Testimonials

The best way to learn new information is often through observing others, and customer testimonials and success stories can serve as these “teachers.” By incorporating positive customer feedback, your reps can highlight the benefits of financing without needing to make a “hard sell.”

Reps should share real-world examples of how financing has helped previous customers afford the home services and renovations they desire — this builds credibility and trust. These narratives should focus on positive outcomes like enhanced home value, improved living conditions, and the financial peace of mind that payment plans can provide. 

By illustrating how former customers have successfully navigated their own home-related purchases, reps can help current customers visualize their own home success. This provides customers with comfort when making large purchase decisions and can be a motivating factor for those who are still on the fence.

Set Your Reps Up for Success in the Field (Without Ridealongs)

In a world where keeping up with the Joneses can often shape and dictate consumer behavior, offering financing options becomes not just a strategy but a necessary component of your reps’ sales pitches. And with Rilla, your sales reps can do this with ease without a manager in the (literal) passenger seat.

Society has moved beyond conformity and into the era of individual choice, so the approach to selling big-ticket products and services should evolve in kind. Financing isn’t just about making sales possible — it’s about empowering customers to choose the plans that suit their specific needs and financial situations. 

Rilla aims to be at the forefront of this evolution by turning every sales conversation into an opportunity to deliver customized home-investment (and other business) solutions that not only satisfy customers but also close deals for reps. So, when you’re ready to learn more about how Rilla can boost business and drive ticket sizes, check out our customer stories and then contact us to book a demo.

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