How to prepare your team for success?
There are many ways to prepare your sales team for the next deal. These 8 exercises are quick and easy to do in your next team meeting.
Sales is all about people. It’s crucial to make your team feel comfortable with the role of a customer so that they can deliver with confidence. You’ll want to get your team on their best behavior, so you can prepare. You might ask your team to not approach customers too fast and to use “sales”, rather than “hi”, when starting conversations.
Sales can be a difficult job and requires hard work, especially when you have to close deals. It doesn’t have to be hard. But it is still fun. Role playing games can actually be a great way for your sales team to get in the right mindset to close deals and teach them how to deal with the inevitable rejections.
This is how most sales role-playing exercises go.
- The manager gathers his crew and announces (a bit too enthusiastically) that he will be conducting some role-playing.
- The first exercise addresses common objections that everyone is familiar with.
- The second exercise is far too fictional to be of any use. The third exercise is the most serious.
- The remainder of the workshop was a poorly planned, uncomfortable, ineffective, and unproductive goof-off session.
- Role-playing is essential to improve communication skills and message delivery. It is amazing at how little attention is paid to the details.
- Although medals can be won during competitions, they must also be earned through practice. It is past time to take role-playing seriously.
- I have participated in and led many sales role-playing exercises. These are the eight exercises I found most helpful, as well as some tips on how to do them properly.
8 Sales Role-Playing Exercises that Work
- Listening is an important part of learning.
- Island of Objection
- Mixed bag of Persona
- Unusual Situations (Hot Seat).
- Reversal in roles
- Brawl in the Boardroom
- “The Ringer” is a fictional character that was created by
- Pros Get Paid
The first step is to listen.
Before we can help anyone on the other side of our sales efforts, we must be great listeners. This must be done regularly!
You can do it with several people or a large group. Split up into smaller groups if you are in a group. Or, play “telephone” with the entire group.
The first person to make a comment will be the one who makes it. This may be directly related to your company, or it could be completely unrelated.
The person next in line will begin their speech by repeating the last three words from the one before.
Continue to circle the entire group until the timer goes off or until you are done.
Reps will be able to listen to others and not dwell on their agendas or prepared answers through this improv comedy method.
Objection Island (Exercise 2)
This is a great activity for team building. This is a great way to train rapid objection response. It also allows team members to share their experiences, listen to ideas and participate in peer coaching.
Start by identifying a representative, then start to address a common complaint that was raised during team meetings.
Each rep has five seconds to respond. They must make sure the discussion continues in a positive direction or they will be removed from Objection Island.
If the salesperson succeeds, he/she will call another person and continue the process.
Each objection and each answer must be unique. The sales leader usually makes the final decision about the timeliness of the answer, quality and uniqueness in comparison to other responses.
You can spice things up by asking the sales leader to present an identical objection to each member of the team, and receive the same response.
Persona Mixed Bag (Exercise #3)
This role-playing exercise can help a rep develop a range of skills, including the ability connect with many people within your target company.
Start by creating a list of people who are frequently targeted and encountered. These personalities include CXO (Director of X), or gatekeeper. By adding personality traits such as “very direct,” ‘in a hurry,” or “distracted,” you can also show creativity.
Each one should be printed on a small piece of paper and folded. Then, place it in a bowl or hat.
After the session’s objectives have been set, the prospect will take a piece from the hat and pick up a piece of paper.
Do the role-play now, make comments, and start from the beginning.
After at least two attempts with the previous one, you can create a new character or persona.
Remember that the rep’s goal and methods should remain the same regardless of feedback.
Extreme Conditions (Exercise #4)
This activity is not for the weak of heart and should only be attempted by teams that can withstand some heat. This will add an extra layer of complexity to real-world calls (hopefully).
A hitter will use a weighted bat before stepping up to the plate. They can quickly move across the swing plane by removing the weighted bat.
The sales manager will start the process.
- Pitches must be perfect. If the rep is not up to standard, a “buzzer” (or “gong”) will be heard. The rep will then be removed from the line.
- If the rep does it correctly, the role-play will continue with objections and additional opportunities for the rep or to exit the hot seat.
- This may be a prolonged process if the sales leader is really determined to turn up the heat.
- You can also ask the next person in line to start exactly where the previous one left off.
