37 Sales Training Games, Activities, & Ideas to Ramp Up Your Team

There are over 13 million salespeople working in the US, they usually spend weeks and even months coaching for fulfillment of their roles.

Given the completely different obligations, industries, and staff buildings salespeople encounter, it’s exhausting to advocate a one-size-fits-all method to gross sales coaching. Your reps must be taught and retain all the company-specific expertise and information with a view to succeed of their jobs.

That’s why we’ve made an inventory of the most effective gross sales coaching concepts, actions, and video games. Learn by means of the listing to find out the most effective techniques and packages to make use of when coaching your gross sales staff.

1. Use a gross sales coaching template. [Featured Resource]

Obtain This Template for Free

A gross sales coaching and onboarding plan consolidates function expectations, coaching timelines, and assets into one place on your newly employed salespeople.

Since each gross sales staff has completely different objectives and expectations, it’s essential to craft a customized coaching plan particularly on your new gross sales hires.

This template is pre-filled with the sections you’ll discover on most gross sales coaching plans. You need to use it to construct out a extra detailed and particular onboarding plan on your group.

2. Subscribe to business publications, newsletters, and podcasts.

One of many mottos we love right here at HubSpot is “All the time be studying.“

Complacency can kill in a gross sales job, so encourage salespeople to take heed to gross sales podcasts and subscribe to newsletters from the most effective gross sales blogs, no matter the place they’re of their profession. Because the business shifts and new thought leaders emerge, reps can use the information from these publications to remain in contact with new finest practices and repeatedly construct their information base.

3. Have the staff do objection-handling coaching workouts.

I as soon as spoke to a software program engineer who described his job as “coming in and determining learn how to break our software program each day.” He and his staff labored to find out the most effective methods to make sure that the break or breach wouldn’t occur.

Why not take an identical method together with your gross sales staff?

Have your reps provide you with all the causes they’ve heard why somebody would reject your product. Then, have them develop — on their very own or in teams — essentially the most convincing counters to these objections. That approach they’ll be locked and loaded when somebody brings that concern up on a name.

4. Get licensed.

Strengthen your staff’s understanding of promoting finest practices by requiring or suggesting they purchase a helpful gross sales certification. For instance, HubSpot Academy has a free Inbound Gross sales Certification and Course accessible on-line, together with insights and recommendation from business specialists. The course has been taken 1000’s of occasions and is usually a useful step in making salespeople higher at their jobs.

5. Host success (and failure) panels.

Honesty goes a good distance in coaching, as do private connections.

Internet hosting panels with salespeople in your org that spotlight their tales of success can function steerage and inspiration to each new and present salespeople.

Nevertheless, what could be much more invaluable is a gross sales failure panel. Reps can open up a few time the place they fell brief, didn’t make the deal, or didn’t obtain the result they had been anticipating. Extra importantly, they’ll clarify what they discovered and the way they addressed the issue subsequent time.

6. Take heed to and assess name recordings.

Generally known as “What did you hear?” this gross sales coaching train includes taking part in recorded gross sales calls or conferences and discerning the great, the dangerous, and the ugly.

Take heed to the decision alongside your rep, with every of you writing down what you heard that would have been mentioned higher, or what was mentioned that caught out in an effective way. Evaluate notes to see how attentive your rep is and to listen to their opinion on how the decision went.

This equips reps to enter calls with extra confidence, the precise vocabulary, and a transparent path during which to take the dialog.

7. Current your purchaser’s journey.

After new hires are educated, have them give a presentation on what the everyday purchaser’s journey appears like on your services or products.

The presentation may observe one in all your purchaser personas realizing their drawback, searching for options, how they stumbled upon your small business, and what made them select to do enterprise with you.

This can make salespeople sympathetic to their future prospects’ issues, get a grip on the complete gross sales cycle, and perceive how your product/service is definitely useful.

8. Conduct a aggressive evaluation.

“Preserve your folks shut, however your enemies nearer.” Chances are high, your organization has some perception into your competitors. You may even have a complete aggressive evaluation staff. Nevertheless, your new gross sales rent won’t know all your comparative strengths and weaknesses, regardless that these factors could come up on their very first gross sales name.

Having reps conduct their very own aggressive evaluation affords many advantages for you and your organization. For instance:

• It exposes your reps to what inner documentation you have already got on the topic.
• It will possibly deal with one particular facet of your product/service for a extra thorough deep dive.
• It compares you to your competitors with a contemporary set of eyes, which may provide new speaking factors and arguments for future gross sales conditions.

9. Present alternatives for shadow packages.

Right here’s the place you’ll pair a brand new gross sales rep with a extra established, profitable one. The prevailing rep can stroll new hires by means of the day-to-day of the job, present what success appears like, and function a mentor for private {and professional} progress.

10. Listing your potholes.

Dan Tyre, a gross sales director right here at HubSpot, recommends a tactic to foster self-reflection and private progress in new hires. He suggests new reps arrange a written listing or spreadsheet of the three “potholes” they fall into every day, as a approach of holding themselves accountable, taking dangers, and reviewing progress alternatives.

11. Conduct newcontact icebreakers.

Even essentially the most seasoned reps want just a little assist breaking the ice with new contacts and prospects. An effective way to maintain contacts engaged (apart from sending the dreaded “checking in” emails) is to ship content material your contacts could also be involved in to maintain the dialog going. Whereas it might sound easy, there’s an artwork and a science to utilizing this methodology to maintain contacts engaged.

Spend a while together with your staff taking them by means of completely different engagement strategies to assist them keep away from being ghosted by their contacts. This is also a good time to have a few of your senior reps share finest practices with newer members of the staff.

Picture Supply

In case your gross sales staff wants a extra strong resolution for retaining the dialog going, think about coaching your staff to make use of software program equivalent to Icebreaker by UpContent. Icebreaker integrates immediately together with your CRM to trace and log the effectiveness of third-party content material shared together with your leads.

Gross sales groups want time and house to work together and bond in non-competitive methods. Strengthen your staff with these participating video games that anybody can take part in.

1. Determination-making simulations.

Determination-making is without doubt one of the key expertise that gross sales folks want to amass and hone within the function.

Create life like eventualities the place contributors should make advanced selections through the gross sales course of. These eventualities may embody role-playing a consumer with a restricted finances however could be a powerful customer-fit, or promoting a customized enterprise resolution to a big consumer.

The objective right here is to flex these critical-thinking muscle tissue in order that when an actual life situation comes up, the gross sales rep is ready for the problem.

2. Thriller procuring workouts.

There is no higher approach to practice for a gross sales function than to be bought the product you promote! 

Assign staff members to behave as thriller consumers, offering suggestions on the gross sales expertise. This can assist them determine areas of enchancment and encourage a customer-centric method to gross sales.

3. Gross sales negotiation workshops.

As soon as your gross sales staff has accomplished formal coaching, this interactive enrichment train is the proper follow-up.

Conduct an interactive workshop the place contributors can observe negotiation strategies they discovered by means of role-playing workouts. Present suggestions and steerage on the effectiveness of the negotiation methods they used. 

4. Gross sales boot camps.

Studying in group is without doubt one of the finest methods to soak up a number of data in a brief time period. In case your gross sales onboarding is fast-paced, strive a gross sales bootcamp to manage conventional and interactive studying curriculums.

Host a multi-day immersive gross sales coaching program that features workshops, staff challenges, and simulations, specializing in varied elements of the gross sales course of. Finish this program with a celebration or certificates of completion to finish the expertise on a grand observe.

5. Gross sales know-how demos.

It is one factor to learn advertising and marketing supplies in regards to the product you promote. It is one other to strive it out for your self.

To provide your gross sales reps an genuine promoting expertise, conduct gross sales tech demos as a part of the gross sales coaching course of.

Organize hands-on demos of various gross sales instruments and applied sciences, permitting contributors to discover and perceive their advantages and performance. 

6. Cross-department shadowing.

Flip interplay on its head with the shadowing method. 

Pair up gross sales staff members with colleagues from different departments (e.g., advertising and marketing, customer support) to advertise collaboration and understanding of the complete buyer journey.

Gross sales reps will stroll away from this coaching with a distinct perspective on the way in which a buyer interacts with the enterprise when making a purchase order. 

7. Discipline journeys or web site visits.

If your small business has brick-and-mortar places, implement a web site go to on your reps who work in a distinct location or remotely. 

Arranging these visits permits them to look at and be taught from real-life gross sales interactions. Plus, fostering networking alternatives throughout these occasions is an added bonus.

8. Gross sales pitch makeovers.

Gross sales coaching would not cease at onboarding. Ongoing refinement of gross sales expertise, particularly pitches, is critical all through a gross sales particular person’s profession.

Have contributors evaluation and enhance their present gross sales pitches with the assistance of peer suggestions and steerage from gross sales trainers. Encourage creativity and experimentation for the most effective outcomes.

9. Social promoting challenges.

What higher approach to shake issues up than to go digital with the promoting course of? Prospecting is one a part of gross sales the place reps can get artistic, however that does not imply it must be a free-for-all. Coaching round social promoting will pay dividends in the long term.

Encourage the usage of social media platforms for prospecting and constructing relationships. Set targets for engagement and content material creation, and reward the best methods.

10. Mock gross sales conferences.

Conferences will be among the alternatives to promote as a result of it is a concentrated setting of your audience who’re open to studying in regards to the services or products you promote. 

To assist your reps put together for these events, arrange a simulated gross sales convention, the place contributors can observe presenting and networking in a practical convention setting. Present suggestions and tips about public talking expertise.

1. Promote Me This Pen

Ever seen The Wolf of Wall Avenue?

As real-life investor (and criminal) Jordan Belfort, Leonardo DiCaprio delivers this line to a bunch of colleagues in an impromptu promoting train, difficult them to create a necessity within the eyes of a possible purchaser.

The problem may contain choosing something within the room or workplace. Process your reps with figuring out what the issue is to which the obscure merchandise is the answer. From there, in a mock promoting state of affairs with a prospect (both one other new rep or somebody on the coaching staff), have the rep attempt to get the prospect to determine the necessity themselves, and supply the answer (on this case, the obscure product).

2. Match Recreation

If your small business sells a number of merchandise, software program, or upgrades, make an inventory of the important thing ones. Then, write out a one or two-sentence situation the place a possible buyer would profit from it.

Shuffle each lists and have salespeople match the issue to the answer to allow them to decide when somebody is an efficient candidate for a sure resolution. Right here’s an instance of what that may seem like.

3. What’s a …?

Preserve new hires on their toes with this enjoyable exercise.

After a brand new gross sales class is onboarded, inform them that the remainder of the corporate has been instructed to — at any time through the workday — method new gross sales hires and ask, “What’s a…” adopted by the title of your organization, your product, or your software program.

At a second’s discover, and with out hesitation, salespeople must be prepared to clarify what it’s that they’re promoting in a concise, convincing, and clear approach. That is very true if your organization sells advanced software program or if it’s a more moderen, lesser-known firm.

As an added bonus, this could function an introduction for brand new hires to staff from different departments.

4. Jeopardy!

On the finish of your coaching, quiz new hires on 5 to 10 completely different classes, with every class containing 5 questions of accelerating issue and level worth. This recreation is especially efficient with a giant onboarding class or for retraining a big group of present reps.

When you’re in want of a Jeopardy! model template, Lifewire has compiled a resourceful listing of templates you need to use to quiz your salespeople on product coaching.

5. Elevator Pitch (or E-Pitch)

The idea of the elevator pitch (or e–pitch) is easy — you’re in an elevator with someone you’re attempting to promote to, and have solely 30-60 seconds to make your case earlier than that particular person will get off the elevator.

E-pitch competitions are a staple for brand new rent coaching, as they power reps to get the worth of a product out clearly and rapidly. Nevertheless, you may as well run e-pitch competitions for continued gross sales coaching, placing random objects or concepts in a hat and difficult present salespeople to select one at random and brainstorm a pitch to work on their public talking, persuasion, and brevity expertise.

6. Pop Quiz

Among the best methods on your reps to retain data may very well be so that you can reinforce it through the coaching. Spontaneous pop quizzes throughout coaching and onboarding periods can preserve your salespeople engaged, notably if the testing is gamified.

You need to use mobile-based quiz platforms like Kahoot to place the quiz proper within the fingers of your trainees, guarantee everybody’s involvement, and analyze the place the gaps in information are in your group afterward.

7. Make a Industrial

On this recreation, the gross sales supervisor or coach splits reps into a number of groups and distributes a random object to every staff. The thing will be one thing summary like an odd Lego construct, or it may very well be an on a regular basis merchandise laying across the workplace.

Every staff then collaborates to provide you with a function for the merchandise, determine the ache it solves, and script messaging for a “business” to “promote” the merchandise to the group.

On the finish of the shows, maintain a vote and provides a prize for the most effective business.

This recreation develops creativity, positioning, and presentation expertise.

8. S’up

S’up is a standard gross sales recreation for constructing reps’ confidence.

Take your staff to a public place, like a mall or networking occasion, and have them pair up for accountability. Every rep should provoke a dialog with a stranger and “prospect” for private data through the course of the dialog.

Larger factors are awarded for data that is harder to acquire (e.g. what that they had for lunch is value lower than a narrative about their childhood).

9. Nonetheless Do not Get It

Much like S’up, this recreation can be performed in public. Instruct every rep to method a stranger and ask a query. (This recreation is commonly performed by asking for instructions to someplace, however any query will do.)

When the stranger supplies the reply, the rep should probe for extra data as in the event that they “do not get it.” Factors are awarded to reps based mostly on what number of occasions they’re able to push the stranger for extra data. This develops gross sales reps’ muscle tissue for studying prospects and understanding when to push additional or give up.

10. Chilly Name Bingo!

Have one in all your reps make a chilly name whereas the remainder of the staff listens on speakerphone. Every listening rep has a Bingo! card with widespread gross sales techniques and milestones (equivalent to “worth objection” or “want/ache recognized”). The purpose is to get the staff actively listening for and figuring out prospect dealing with strategies whereas studying from a reside instance.

Reward the Bingo! winner and the chilly caller for a profitable Bingo! achieved.

11. Subsequent Logical Query

In giant new rent lessons, function play as a prospect and have reps take turns asking the subsequent logical query following the assertion you’ve made.

For instance, a rep may ask you “What made you attain out for extra data?” You’d then specific a standard drawback a possible buyer may look to your organization to unravel. Then, the rep wants to determine the most effective query to ask in response to that want.

If the reply is all unsuitable, or if there’s silence within the room, you get to chime in and provides steerage on what may very well be requested. Preserve monitor, and the one who asks essentially the most logical subsequent questions wins.

It doesn’t matter what gross sales coaching concepts, video games, or actions you’re utilizing in your workplace, they need to serve the final word function of creating salespeople higher at their jobs. Ross Nibur, Director of Income Operations and Technique (and former Director of Enterprise Growth) at Toast, proposes a four-step course of to growing and implementing any gross sales coaching thought.

Sequentially, gross sales trainers ought to reply these 4 questions:

1. What information or talent do I need salespeople to amass?
2. Why are these expertise essential to them and to enterprise progress?
3. How can we guarantee salespeople retain this information?
4. How can we help salespeople if they’re struggling to be taught the talent?

So, for instance, you could determine you need your salespeople to develop into specialists in your product. That solutions query one. This data is essential so reps can converse knowledgeably about merchandise to prospects, set correct expectations for the end-user, and earn the belief of these they’re speaking to, answering query two.

Query three is the place you match a coaching thought or exercise to show or define the educational you wish to spotlight, so possibly you determine {that a} gross sales rep giving a profitable product demo is the most effective coaching thought for addressing this want.

As for query 4, new reps who fall brief on their demo could be given entry to extra documentation, recordings of profitable demos, or demo teaching periods to strengthen their expertise.

That’s an instance of a coaching thought carried out with function, a transparent objective, and actionable subsequent steps to make sure the information and expertise and retained.

1. Widespread Floor

This recreation works notably properly for groups working in digital environments. Cut up members of your staff into smaller teams through your digital assembly software program’s convention room characteristic and have them provide you with three issues all of them have in widespread that don’t contain work.

Ideally, members of every group will discover a wide range of subjects earlier than determining what all of them have in widespread. This train helps construct belief and familiarity amongst staff members, which is crucial for making a supportive work setting.

2. Guess Who

Have every particular person in your staff submit a enjoyable truth about them that the remainder of the staff doesn’t know. When it’s time to play, undergo every enjoyable truth (you are able to do this by making a presentation with one slide per truth, with enjoyable GIFs to maintain it fascinating) one after the other and have your staff guess who the actual fact belongs to.

3. Digital Escape Room

An escape room train will be an effective way to assist your staff bond and work by means of problem-solving eventualities collectively. Due to know-how, digital escape rooms make this exercise much more accessible.

Whereas collaborating in a digital escape room, groups typically must work collectively to unravel a difficult riddle, acquire digital clues, and work by means of advanced puzzles below a time crunch to maneuver on to the subsequent degree. Corporations equivalent to The Escape Recreation provide guided digital escape rooms groups can play from anyplace through Zoom.

Let’s be sincere, gross sales staff conferences should not all the time essentially the most thrilling a part of you or your staff’s week. In case your gross sales staff conferences are all about diving into the numbers, strive one in all these actions to liven issues up.

1. Product Jeopardy

How properly does your staff know your organization’s services or products? Assist them brush up on their expertise by creating your individual Jeopardy recreation centered in your firm historical past and merchandise. Begin by creating 5 classes associated to your organization’s choices. Pattern classes can embody particular product names, firm mission, and values, or buyer stats.

Then create 5 questions for every class with assigned level values between 100 and 500 correlated to the problem of the query. You can also make this recreation distant work-friendly by making a template utilizing PowerPoint or Google Slides.

2. Circle of Kudos

Gross sales reps can typically really feel underappreciated working in such a high-stakes, aggressive area. Be sure that everybody in your staff feels appreciated with this “circle of kudos” train.

One after the other, have every member of your staff give a shoutout to a different staff member about strengths they’ve or one thing they’ve carried out properly not too long ago. As soon as a staff member has acquired their kudos, it’s then their flip to share their type phrases about one other member of the staff. Proceed popcorn model till all your reps have shared and acquired kudos.

These concepts and video games are excellent methods to sharpen the talents of your present staff or as a part of onboarding coaching for brand new gross sales hires.

Editor’s observe: This publish was initially printed in September 2019 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.