Practice Recruiting Role-Plays with AI
Practice Recruiting Role-Plays with AI
Would Microsoft CoPilot come work for you? Let's find out!
This week on our Monday morning Mastermind Call we discussed the power of role-playing for sharpening our skills. We usually think of roleplaying as a key component of salesperson training, but what about using it on ourselves? Don’t worry - you don’t need to hire another coach. Just ask your favorite AI to practice with you for a few minutes every day.
Let’s see how.
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Would You Like to Play a Game?
I was curious to see if I could get Microsoft CoPilot (my preferred AI) to role-play one of the most important conversations a leader must have each week: recruiting talent. There are so many parts of the process that are perfect for role-play — from the initial prospecting call to the interview to negotiating the terms of a final agreement. And while most of us may have tried AI for rewriting our marketing pieces - like recruiting emails or interview questions - I wondered whether the system actually “plays” the conversation with me, at least sufficiently to exercise my thinking, my vocabulary and my ability to listen. So here’s what happened - and how you can try it out, too.
First, I asked CoPilot to role-play with me using ordinary language:
Once it paused, I offered an initial response:
PRO TIP: One thing that was important was to keep asking questions at the end of the responses. This way, the AI could play with the scenario, and not just provide positive feedback.
I found myself actually writing a lot - which meant I had to gather my thoughts, be logical, and simulate the process in my head — all important components of practice.
Notice I suggested to the AI that we might discuss generating leads, and it immediately took me up on the issue:
Wow, I write a lot….
One thing I immediately noticed was that I was writing a lot back to the AI. On one hand, it was good practice to know my stuff but on the other hand, it made me think I’d probably be doing too much of the talking (which, of course, if you know me, I would!). Thankfully, I remembered to end with a question.
We went back and forth on a few other topics - such as converting leads, coaching, and onboarding. Each time, CoPilot responded positively (it didn’t really push back) but it asked questions that were reasonably curious, which caused me to have to answer with solid information.
It even asked me to share some stories, which was pretty clever!
So I made up an example of an agent who was “similar” to the struggling agent but improved her customer conversion performance over six months. I even suggested she didn’t have to cut her commissions to close deals, to which it replied….
The AI shifted the conversation in realistic ways
One cool move the AI made was to switch the conversation away from coaching, training, and leads to the matter of culture and the nature of the other people at the firm. That was a complete surprise to the parameters, although it made perfect sense to what an ordinary person might be concerned about. Nice move, CoPilot!
So I decided to see just how realistic it could get by answering the question, and then asking for the sale.
What about the Money?
Interestingly, the AI didn’t ask about compensation. I don’t know whether it didn’t think about it, or it was following the lead too closely. Certainly, a human role-play would go there (maybe humans are more worried about pay than computers?) and even when I gave it an opening, it didn’t “think” about asking about commission splits:
Take Yes for an Answer
Well, I wasn’t going to dwell on the issue if the AI wasn’t 🙂. So I decided to take yes for an answer and secure the deal. I’m sure we will get to the commission question once the contract hits the table. “Is there anything else you might like to know before we proceed,” I asked.
Welcome Aboard - Your New Role Play Partner is Ready!
Pretty impressive, don’t you think? No, it’s not perfect, but it’s certainly good. And the funny thing is that I found myself rethinking my answers and wishing I’d said this or that instead while writing it all up for you. In other words, the role-play worked! It got me to practice in real-time, make some mistakes, and even review my own performance simply by re-reading my responses (almost like watching a video if I’d been doing it with someone live). And given that I stacked the prompt with specific conditions, the fact that the AI “wandered” a little bit during the “dialogue” even caused me to have to play in new directions, too.
So, is your mind popping with ideas? Can you see the opportunities to play with role-playing, using your favorite AI? Five years ago, I could never have imagined that it would have been this easy, instant, and fluid to simulate a role-playing situation as a leader. We have always had “practice software” in the form of question/answer scripts or “what would you do” but it’s been stilted and somewhat contrived because there was always a “right” and “wrong” answer.
But role-playing with CoPilot brings a whole new level of realism to the process. Maybe it was all in my head - certainly, a bit of anthropomorphizing happened as I imagined the conversation (did I even hear the voice? Maybe.)
Now it’s up to you. Give it a try. See what happens.
And take role-playing seriously enough to not only recommend it to your salespeople but to recruit yourself and other leadership colleagues into practicing with it, yourself!
—M