CAATSales Practice

User guide

Sales Practice field guide

Use this guide to pick the right persona, prepare with the Precision Selling framework, run a realistic practice call, and turn the evaluation into a better next attempt.

Quick Start

  1. Open the persona library and choose a prospect that matches the skill you want to practice.
  2. Review the persona profile: company facts, current situation, priorities, pain points, behavioral pattern, and voice.
  3. Start a practice session, select a scenario, and read the scenario brief beside the selector.
  4. Add per-call context, campaign details, custom instructions, or language policy rules when they matter.
  5. Fill the rep prep fields yourself, or click Generate prep for a scenario-specific starter plan.
  6. Run the call using your microphone, end the session, then open the evaluation.
  7. Use the coaching notes to run a second attempt against the same persona or a harder scenario.

How It Works

Sales Practice combines a buyer persona, a scenario, optional per-call context, campaign or custom instructions, uploaded visual materials, language policy, and your rep prep plan into a live voice roleplay. The persona receives the buyer-side facts and scenario behavior. Your rep prep and language policy remain evaluator-only and are used later to assess whether you prepared and executed against your plan.

PersonaBuyer facts, company context, voice, and behavioral pattern.
ScenarioThe type of sales moment you are practicing and what good looks like.
ContextCampaign notes, stall details, custom instructions, slides, and language policy.
Rep prepPOST, SMARTER objective, hooks, questions, resistance, and action plan.
EvaluationPrecision Selling scorecard, visual evidence, language diagnostics, and coaching notes.

Personas

Personas are realistic buyer archetypes. Curated CAAT personas include source company details, current benefits, trigger events, trust destroyers, likely objections, and social proof that matters to the buyer.

How to choose a persona

  • Pick a persona that matches the buyer role you need to practice: HR, Finance, Founder, Owner, CEO, VP People, Total Rewards, or technical validator.
  • Review the recommended scenarios before starting. They are the most natural practice fits for that buyer and are filtered to the active scenario catalogue.
  • Use the profile page to understand the buyer's vocabulary and word aversions before you speak.

A mismatch warning does not block practice. It means the selected scenario is less natural for that persona, so the call may be useful as a stretch exercise but less representative of a real opportunity.

Custom personas

Use Create custom persona when you want to practice a live opportunity. Provide role, company facts, situation, pain points, priorities, voice description, and a short behavioral brief. The system synthesizes the behavioral profile from your brief.

Scenarios

Scenarios define the sales moment. Each scenario has a difficulty, persona behavior rules, and objectives for what good looks like.

ScenarioBest For
Re-engagement After StallRestarting a paused opportunity by understanding what changed, what is blocking motion, and what low-risk next step restores momentum.
Inbound Campaign ConversationUsing campaign, event, referral, or content-response context as a bridge into discovery without assuming buyer intent.
Full Precision Selling ConversationCapstone practice across discovery, pivot, story, resistance, and activated agreement.
Custom Practice ScenarioA sales-user-defined scenario for live opportunities, manager exercises, specific stakeholders, or unique objections.

Use the scenario context field for campaign details, stall reasons, or custom scenario instructions. The custom scenario depends on your instructions more than the curated scenarios do. If you change scenarios after generating prep, generate again so the draft matches the new scenario.

Rep Prep

The prep plan helps you enter the call with intent. It is not shown to the persona. It is included in the evaluation so the system can compare your preparation against what happened in the call.

POST

  • Purpose: Why the meeting matters from the buyer's perspective.
  • Outcome: The specific result you want by the end of the call.
  • Structure: How you will run the conversation.
  • Timing: How you will manage pacing and time.

SMARTER Objective

Write one objective that is specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic, time-bound, environmental, and resourced. Example: "By the end of a 25-minute discovery call, confirm the buyer's top two decision criteria and book a 30-minute Finance follow-up for next week."

Generate Prep

Click Generate prep when you want a starting point. The generator uses the current persona, selected scenario, per-call context, campaign or custom instructions, and language policy. Review and edit the draft before starting the call.

If you switch scenarios, the previous generated draft is cleared so you do not accidentally carry re-engagement prep into a campaign or custom practice.

Language Policy

Language policy lets managers and campaign owners define phrases the rep should use or avoid. These rules can be global for the program or specific to a campaign, re-engagement motion, or practice call.

  • Do use: Terms, proof points, compliant phrases, or campaign language the rep should include when relevant.
  • Do not use: Words that create compliance risk, overpromise, seed doubt, or conflict with the current message.
  • One phrase per line: Keep each rule short so the evaluator can identify evidence cleanly.
  • Evaluator-only: The buyer persona does not see the policy as a script. The evaluator uses it to score language discipline.

Language policy is not a substitute for judgment. The evaluator looks for relevant use, avoided risk language, and whether the rep stayed clear without sounding robotic.

Live Call

  • Click Start call and allow microphone access.
  • Speak naturally. The persona will respond in realtime audio.
  • The transcript is captured as you speak and is used for evaluation.
  • Use Share slides to send PNG, JPEG, or WebP images during the call. Each image should be 5 MB or smaller.
  • Add a short note when sharing an image if you want the persona or evaluator to focus on a specific part of the slide.
  • Click End call when you are done, then open the evaluation.

Precision Selling Criteria

The evaluation is grounded in the Precision Selling framework. Use these criteria as a pre-call checklist and as the lens for reviewing your scorecard after the call.

CriterionWhat Good Looks Like
Know Their HooksThe rep identifies what the buyer already cares about, then places the message on those hooks instead of throwing generic hats at them. Evidence includes buyer language, specific pain, personal risk, business need, and clear reasons to say yes.
PrepareThe rep prepares POST, a SMARTER objective, likely buyer hooks, question funnels, resistance, proof, language policy, and a realistic action plan.
UnderstandThe rep builds rapport and gathers information before presenting. Strong calls use mostly open questions, follow-up probes, and buyer-specific language.
PivotThe rep summarizes needs, checks what else matters, asks the buyer to prioritize, and uses linking statements to move between topics without making the call feel scripted.
Compelling StoryThe rep uses a clear headline, sets the scene, sells the problem, sells the solution, keeps the story simple, and adapts the order to the buyer's priorities.
Agree To The Action PlanThe rep avoids manipulative closing and creates the next stage of the relationship. Good agreement includes who does what, by when, and why it matters to the buyer.
Make It HappenThe rep activates the plan with owners, deadlines, resources, and follow-up commitments instead of leaving with vague momentum.

SMARTER Objective

A strong objective is specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic, time-bound, environmental, and resourced. The evaluator looks for whether the objective shaped the conversation and whether the closing action matched it.

Questioning Standard

  • 80% open, 20% closed: Closed questions should mainly clarify, confirm, or commit.
  • Big open questions: Open the conversation and reveal why the topic matters now.
  • Probing questions: Find what is motivating the buyer and what is blocking movement.
  • Focused open questions: Use the FOQ formula: open lead-in phrase + reasons to say yes + benefit to them.
  • Mini pivots: Link question funnels with short summaries so the conversation feels coherent.

Needs Mapping

The evaluator looks for four levels of buyer understanding: the buyer's personal needs, business driving needs, secondary needs, and primary needs. Strong reps connect benefits to both the organization and the individual stakeholder.

Raising The Shield

When resistance appears, the rep should seek feedback, hear all concerns, isolate the key concern, explore the root cause, ask for possible options, then decide what can be done. Useful questions include: "What do you think?", "What else is a concern?", "Which concern needs to be solved first?", "What about that makes it a concern?", and "Realistically, how could this be solved?"

Evaluation

The evaluation scores the rep, not the persona. It uses transcript evidence and the Precision Selling framework.

CompetencyWhat It Looks For
Prepare With PrecisionPOST, SMARTER, hooks, buyer needs, likely resistance, and whether prep shaped the call.
Understand Before Being UnderstoodOpen questions, rapport, useful context, and checking before presenting.
Map Buyer NeedsPersonal stakes, primary needs, secondary needs, triggers, and buyer language.
Pivot And PrioritizeSummarizing, asking what else matters, prioritizing needs, and linking between topics.
Compelling StoryHeadline, scene, problem, solution, proof, three messages, and focused open questions.
Gain Agreement And ActivateShielding objections, modifying the proposal, and naming who does what by when.
DeliveryTranscript-visible clarity, buyer-fit language, concise phrasing, and low filler. Audio tone is not scored yet.
Language DisciplineUse of required language, avoidance of restricted language, and whether the rep stayed compliant without sounding scripted.
Visual ContextWhether uploaded slides or screenshots were used accurately and connected to the buyer's priorities.

In the Full Precision Selling Conversation scenario, the evaluation also summarizes stage progression across discovery, pivot, story, resistance, and action planning so missed stages are visible. When slides or language policy are provided, the evaluation adds diagnostics for those context layers.

Sample Scripts

Use these scripts to test the app and practice the current scenario model. They are patterns, not word-for-word scripts. Replace bracketed text with buyer-specific context.

Download all scripts as a single bundle: sales-roleplay-test-scripts.zip. Individual Markdown downloads are available in the table below, and the full script text is embedded after the table.

FileUse it to test
00-how-to-test.mdOverall testing workflow, setup, and what evidence to capture.
01-smoke-test.mdBasic login, session creation, prep generation, call, and evaluation path.
02-sandra-inbound-campaign.mdInbound campaign context, cautious HR buyer, and campaign-specific prep.
03-maya-reengagement-governance.mdGovernance-related re-engagement after stall and board confidence concerns.
04-wei-campaign-finance-model.mdFinance-modeling buyer, campaign context, and precision with numbers.
05-colette-reengagement-trades.mdRegional trust, trades workforce, and re-engagement after benefits hesitation.
06-diane-full-cycle.mdFull Precision Selling flow from discovery through agreement.
07-tyler-custom-alberta.mdCustom scenario instructions and regional skepticism.
08-weak-call-calibration.mdEvaluator calibration with a deliberately weak call.
09-slide-and-language-policy.mdSlide upload, visual understanding, and do use/do not use evaluation.

Full Downloadable Script Text

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Opening a Discovery or Campaign Call

Purpose: "Thanks for making time. I thought the best use of this call was to understand what prompted the response to the campaign and what a useful next step would need to do for you internally."

Structure: "I will ask a few questions first, play back what I am hearing, then we can decide whether it makes sense to look at CAAT in more detail."

Big open question: "Can you walk me through what changed that made this worth looking at now?"

Governance Re-engagement Shield

Buyer: "The governance review makes this hard to take to our board right now."

Rep: "That makes sense. What specifically would your board need to understand before this could move forward?"

Rep: "What else is a concern?"

Rep: "Of those concerns, which one would need to be solved first?"

Rep: "Would it help if the next step was not a recommendation, but a diligence conversation focused only on governance, decision process, and what is publicly known?"

Activation Close With Ownership

"Based on what we discussed, the useful next step sounds like a Finance-focused review, not a broad benefits pitch. I can send a short diligence pack by Thursday. If it looks useful, could you confirm whether Finance and HR should both attend a 30-minute follow-up next week?"

Troubleshooting

  • Microphone denied: Allow microphone access in the browser, refresh, and start the call again.
  • Prep generation fails: Check that a scenario is selected and try again. If it still fails, write prep manually; evaluation still works.
  • Persona feels too guarded: Use bigger open questions, ask permission, and avoid pitching too early.
  • Evaluation looks incomplete: Make sure the session was ended before running the evaluation, and re-run if transcript turns were still syncing.
  • Wrong scenario fit: Use the recommended scenario list on the session page, or choose a harder scenario intentionally for stretch practice.
  • Old scenario names appear: Refresh the page after a deploy. The app filters recommendations to the active scenario catalogue, but stale browser state can briefly show older text.