TL;DR. Your internal rep doesn't need an 80-page playbook. They need 30 days of focused coaching around four core skills: discovery, qualification, objection handling, closing. Here's the week-by-week blueprint we use — including exercises you can start today.
Every Flemish SME has either one sales rep who's actually a project manager, or a junior who's still searching for their vibe six months in.
In both cases the problem is the same: there's no structured coaching. There's an old proposal flow. There's a CRM nobody uses. There's an owner who keeps saying they'll "sit with it" but never does.
We turn this kind of situation around in 30 days. Not with a thick playbook PDF. With four weeks of focused coaching around four skills.
Here's the full blueprint. Free to implement, even if you don't hire us.
Week 1 — Discovery: stop pitching, start asking
Diagnosis of most Flemish sales reps: they open a conversation with the product. That's been taught for years. That's also why they lose 70% of deals in the first 15 minutes.
Core skill of the week: letting the prospect explain what's actually going on with them, before you say one word about your product.
Daily exercise: The Five-Question Drill.
Explain to your rep that in every first call they must ask at least five open questions before they mention a single product feature. Question framework:
- "How do you handle [process you help with] today?"
- "What works well there, and what doesn't?"
- "If you could change one thing, what would it be?"
- "What's held you back from doing that already?"
- "Say that gets fixed — what changes in your business?"
Exercise cadence: one discovery call per day, recorded. End of the day: listen back together, count how many questions they asked before pitching. Goal end of week: minimum 5 open questions per call, zero pitch in the first 10 minutes.
What you'll see by end of week 1: the rep is quiet at the start of calls. They feel uncomfortable. That's normal and correct — the discomfort is the muscle growing.
Week 2 — Qualification: not every prospect is a customer
Diagnosis: the average Flemish SME rep never lets go of a prospect. They keep following up for months on conversations that will never close. Result: a pipeline full of "warm" leads that are actually cold.
Core skill of the week: being able to decide within 15 minutes whether a prospect qualifies — and if not, ending the conversation respectfully without wasting time.
Framework: MEDDIC adapted for the Flemish SME context.
- M — Metrics: What number can improve in your business with our solution? (No answer = no pain)
- E — Economic buyer: Who ultimately signs the proposal? (Owner? CFO? Both?)
- D — Decision process: How do you typically make this decision? (Alone? With partner? With team?)
- D — Decision criteria: What do you use to compare providers? (Price only? Proof of results? References?)
- I — Identify pain: Have you tried to solve this before? What didn't work? (No prior attempt = low pain)
- C — Champion: Is there someone internally who really needs this and will defend us in the internal discussion?
Daily exercise: at the end of each call, do a MEDDIC scoring (0–2 per letter). Score ≥9/12 = real pipeline. Score 6–8 = nurture. Score <6 = let go, thanks and goodbye.
What you'll see end of week 2: pipeline shrinks by 40–60%. That's good. Capacity for the real deals doubles.
Week 3 — Objection handling: understand, don't convince
Diagnosis: at every objection the average rep goes into defense mode and starts piling up arguments. That never works. Prospects hate it.
Core skill of the week: hearing objections, reformulating them, exposing the real underlying concern, and only then responding.
The 4-step ORRB framework:
- O — Observe: hear the objection, write it down literally
- R — Reformulate: "If I understand correctly, the point is [reformulation]. Right?"
- R — Root cause: "What's underneath that? 'It's too expensive' is often really 'I don't see the ROI.' Is that the case here too?"
- B — Bridge: only after confirming the real objection — respond with concrete info, reference, or a ROI example
Daily exercise: build a list of the top 10 objections they hear in their market. Role-play 20 minutes per day, you're the prospect, they practice ORRB. Record. Listen back. Watch where they skip to step 3 or 4 (always happens the first few days).
Common Flemish objections for this drill:
- "We don't have budget for that right now."
- "We do that ourselves internally."
- "Just send me a proposal and I'll look at it."
- "We already work with another provider."
- "We're busy with [other project], this can only happen in X months."
Week 4 — Closing: ask, don't push
Diagnosis: the average Flemish rep doesn't ask for the deal. They hope the prospect says "I want to buy." That happens in 5% of cases.
Core skill of the week: asking for the commitment naturally, without being pushy.
Four closing techniques that work in Flanders (not in US):
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Assumptive close: "I hear you. Should we start next Thursday with the onboarding call?" — works well when all discovery and objection handling went strongly.
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Alternative close: "Do you want to start with package A or package B? Both work, here are the differences." — gives choice without yes/no question.
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Summary close: "Let's summarize: you want [X], your pain is [Y], your budget for this is [Z]. Right? Then [solution] fits perfectly — shall we start?"
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Ethical urgency close: "I have one spot left this month. If you want to start next month, also fine — but then it starts on [date]. What works for you?" — only use if true.
Daily exercise: from day 1 of week 4 they close every conversation with one of these four closes. Not hoping, not waiting — asking. Track how many conversations actually lead to a next step vs. how many disappear into "I'll let you know."
Typical result end of week 4: conversion from discovery call to next step (proposal, demo, pilot) rises from ~20% to ~45%.
Week 5 and beyond: stabilization
After 30 days the rep isn't finished. They're startable. The next three months are for:
- Weekly 1:1 of 30 minutes with call review
- Scorecard with 5 KPIs they track themselves
- Pipeline review every two weeks — re-run MEDDIC scoring on every deal
- Objection library kept up (new objections logged as they come in)
After three months they should handle 70–80% of their conversations themselves without intervention. After six months they're senior-ready.
How we do this
When a client buys our sales coaching module for their internal rep, we follow exactly this 30-day track — plus a 90-day follow-up where we listen in on calls weekly, run pipeline reviews, and targeted adjustments.
For SMEs with KMO-portefeuille, coaching is up to 30% subsidy-eligible. That brings the cost of a three-month coaching sprint down to effectively €3,150 — less than the first-month salary cost of an uncoached SDR.
FAQ
Can I do this without an external coach? Yes, if you can free up 5–6 hours per week for structural coaching including listening to recordings. In practice, 2 out of 10 owners manage this because time is the first bottleneck.
Does the rep need prior experience? No. This 30-day track works equally well for a 6-month junior or a 15-year veteran who's fallen into bad habits. Veterans resist the exercises more in week 1, then it goes faster.
What if they're not autonomous after 30 days? It happens — typically because one of the four core skills was too weak for the planned schedule. Then you extend that week with another 5 days of focused practice.
Can I use KMO-portefeuille for this coaching? Yes. Coaching for commercial development typically qualifies under advisory or training in the VLAIO KMO-portefeuille, up to 30% subsidy depending on company size.
Does this work for BDR/SDR roles or only closer roles? For both. Week 1 (discovery) and week 3 (objections) are essential for SDR roles. Week 4 (closing) is less relevant for pure appointment setters. You can adapt the track.
Ready to move?
Got a rep who's stuck? We do a free coaching audit: one hour where we listen to one of their conversations together and give you three concrete coaching priorities — even if you don't hire us.