Why and how to analyze customer sentiment on sales calls

Not even trained professionals can claim to make a 100% accurate assessment of human sentiment. Effective methods like reading body language and facial expressions too fail when communicating over phone or video calls.

Remember ! An emotion is a response to an experience, while sentiment is the belief or attitude that arises from emotion. For instance, if a customer is happy or in a good mood, that's an emotion. But if the customer is excited or impressed by your product, that is a sentiment they have towards the product.

As a sales leader, there are important reasons to spend time analyzing customer sentiment, beyond metrics like talk ratio or closures:

• You no longer need to second guess why your customers like or dislike what you have to say or offer. You can decode what leads to customer satisfaction and what turns them off.
• You can make better decisions based on what your customers want and gather unfiltered feedback for product improvement and innovation.
• You can get customers to spend 140% more if you can provide your customer with a positive experience.
• You can get deeper insights into your sales team’s performance to uncover:
• How did the prospect react to the solutions your sales rep offered?
• Did they accept your sales rep’s handling of their objections?
• What was the tone of the prospect at the beginning of the call, versus the end?
• Did your prospect show signs of irritation at not being heard and only responded to?
•  Was there any levity in the conversation, or was it all nerves-meets-no’s? 

How to analyze customer sentiment

Of course, measuring something as intangible and complex as sentiment is tough. But there is a way that technology can help transition from gut feeling to facts. The answer lies in Conversational Intelligence.

Salesken is a conversational intelligence platform that analyses speech – words, tone, inferences – to detect meaning as well as emotion. Salesken leverages this data to give your sales reps real-time conversational cues through its Help Zone based on what’s worked best for your top performers. Salesken thus guides your reps in real-time on how best to respond to what your customers say (and don’t say).

As a sales leader, you can use the post-call analytics Salesken provides to:

• Benchmark the nuanced ways your top sales reps handle complex confrontations and tough conversations and update your playbook for the rest of the team to follow.
• Reduce instances of annoyed customers who feel like they “weren’t really heard” or “got the same ol’ product pitch, with no acknowledgement of what they needed”.
• Boost your reps’ confidence to deal with more challenging customers with the help of real-time support, saving you time and effort on coaching.
• Build a more accountable and efficient sales team that brings in greater revenue.