Coach Card
You clearly know bikes — frame materials, component tiers, fit, indoor trainers — and you explain it in a way that's easy to follow. That's the hard part, and you've already got it. What's missing is the structure around it: the greeting jumped straight to a category guess, no real discovery questions got asked before the product talk started, and the visit ended without a close. Small shifts at the front and back of the conversation would change the outcome a lot.
✓ What you did right
Your product knowledge carries this one. Explaining carbon fiber, component tiers, and bike fit in plain language — and being upfront about what's in stock — is exactly the kind of transparency that builds trust. Walking through the free bike assessment service was a genuine value-add, and it's clear the customer responded to it. That's real credibility. Keep it.
↑ Level up: ask before you tell, and your knowledge lands twice as hard
"So you're thinking more like road and gravel oriented?"That's a guess dressed up as a question — and it skipped straight past finding out what the customer actually needs. The fix is small: before naming a category or price tier, ask two or three open questions first — "What kind of riding are you picturing?" "What are you riding now, and what don't you love about it?" Let the answer guide the pitch instead of the other way around. Same expertise, now aimed at a real person instead of a guess.
🎯 Catch the opening when it's handed to you
"If you find one, you can pop back here. We get like skis and boots and all that."The customer brought up indoor trainers on their own — a wide-open door — and the conversation moved right past it. When that happens, it's worth a direct follow-up: "Actually, we carry a couple of trainers that pair really well with a bike like this — want me to show you?" Same knowledge, just pointed at the opening instead of past it.
👋 A specific greeting beats a generic one
"Hey, how are you?" is a fine start, but it doesn't give the customer anything to respond to beyond the category guess that followed it. A quick, specific opener — "Welcome in! Shopping for yourself today, or someone else?" — starts the conversation on the customer's terms instead of assuming where it's headed.
Store GM Summary
Sample Location · Sample Date · Rep: Casey B.🏆 Strength to protect
Product-knowledgeable, low-pressure associate who explains technical concepts in plain language and is transparent about inventory. The free bike-assessment walkthrough is a genuine value-add the customer responded well to.
🎯 Top coaching priority — the front of the sale
Discovery (Questions 1/5) — no open questions were asked before product information started; the conversation went straight from greeting to a category assumption. This is the skill worth building over time.
Opening (2/5) — the greeting was generic and jumped immediately to guessing the customer's needs. Correctable with one specific, non-assuming opening line.
Suggestion Selling and Closing also scored low (1/5 each) — both improve naturally once discovery is in place. Handling Objections was N/A; no objection came up on this visit.
Sample Location · Sample Date · Rep: Casey B.
Strong product knowledge, soft on structured sales process — especially discovery, suggestion selling, and the close.
Not a knowledge problem. The gaps here are process gaps, not competence gaps — the product knowledge and communication style are already strong.
Biggest headroom: discovery. Product information arrived before any real question about the customer's needs — this is the step with the most room to grow.
Suggestion selling and closing need the same rebuild. Both scored 1/5, and both become significantly easier to coach once discovery is consistently in place ahead of them.
Confidential — for internal coaching use. Generated from a recorded customer interaction and scored against the Sales Ninja 7-Step Framework (v5). Scores reflect observable behaviours in the transcript only.