37 Gross sales Coaching Video games, Actions, & Concepts to Ramp Up Your Group

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

Given the totally different tasks, industries, and workforce buildings salespeople encounter, it’s arduous to suggest a one-size-fits-all method to gross sales coaching. Your reps must study and retain all the company-specific abilities and data with a purpose to succeed of their jobs.

That’s why we’ve made an inventory of the very best gross sales coaching concepts, actions, and video games. Learn by means of the listing to find out the very best ways and applications to make use of when coaching your gross sales workforce.

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

Obtain This Template for Free

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

Since each gross sales workforce has totally different targets 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 should 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 hearken to gross sales podcasts and subscribe to newsletters from the finest 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 data from these publications to remain in contact with new finest practices and repeatedly construct their data base.

3. Have the workforce do objection-handling coaching workout routines.

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

Why not take an identical method along with your gross sales workforce?

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 workforce’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 consultants. The course has been taken hundreds of occasions and is usually a useful step in making salespeople higher at their jobs.

5. Host success (and failure) panels.

Honesty goes a great 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 may be much more worthwhile is a gross sales failure panel. Reps can open up a couple of time the place they fell quick, didn’t make the deal, or didn’t obtain the end result they have been anticipating. Extra importantly, they’ll clarify what they realized 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 entails taking part in recorded gross sales calls or conferences and discerning the great, the unhealthy, 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 a good 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 correct vocabulary, and a transparent route through which to take the dialog.

7. Current your purchaser’s journey.

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

The presentation may comply with certainly one of your purchaser personas realizing their drawback, searching for options, how they stumbled upon your enterprise, and what made them select to do enterprise with you.

This may make salespeople sympathetic to their future prospects’ issues, get a grip on the whole 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 whole aggressive evaluation workforce. Nevertheless, your new gross sales rent won’t know all your comparative strengths and weaknesses, despite the fact that these factors could come up on their very first gross sales name.

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

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

9. Present alternatives for shadow applications.

Right here’s the place you’ll pair a brand new gross sales rep with a extra established, profitable one. The present 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. Checklist 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 a little bit assist breaking the ice with new contacts and prospects. A good way to maintain contacts engaged (apart from sending the dreaded “checking in” emails) is to ship content material your contacts could also be focused on to maintain the dialog going. Whereas it could sound easy, there’s an artwork and a science to utilizing this technique to maintain contacts engaged.

Spend a while along with your workforce taking them by means of totally 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 workforce.

Picture Supply

In case your gross sales workforce wants a extra strong answer for maintaining the dialog going, take into account coaching your workforce to make use of software program akin to Icebreaker by UpContent. Icebreaker integrates instantly along with your CRM to trace and log the effectiveness of third-party content material shared along with your leads.

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

1. Resolution-making simulations.

Resolution-making is without doubt one of the key abilities that gross sales individuals want to amass and hone within the position.

Create life like eventualities the place individuals should make advanced selections in the course of the gross sales course of. These eventualities may embody role-playing a consumer with a restricted funds however could be a robust customer-fit, or promoting a customized enterprise answer to a big consumer.

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

2. Thriller purchasing workout routines.

There is not any higher method to prepare for a gross sales position than to be bought the product you promote! 

Assign workforce members to behave as thriller consumers, offering suggestions on the gross sales expertise. This may 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 workforce has accomplished formal coaching, this interactive enrichment train is the proper follow-up.

Conduct an interactive workshop the place individuals can apply negotiation methods they realized by means of role-playing workout routines. Present suggestions and steerage on the effectiveness of the negotiation methods they used. 

4. Gross sales boot camps.

Studying in neighborhood 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, attempt a gross sales bootcamp to manage conventional and interactive studying curriculums.

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

5. Gross sales know-how demos.

It is one factor to learn advertising supplies concerning the product you promote. It is one other to attempt it out for your self.

To present 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 individuals to discover and perceive their advantages and performance. 

6. Cross-department shadowing.

Flip interplay on its head with the shadowing approach. 

Pair up gross sales workforce members with colleagues from different departments (e.g., advertising, customer support) to advertise collaboration and understanding of the whole 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 website visits.

If your enterprise has brick-and-mortar places, implement a website go to on your reps who work in a distinct location or remotely. 

Arranging these visits permits them to watch and study 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 does not cease at onboarding. Ongoing refinement of gross sales abilities, particularly pitches, is critical all through a gross sales particular person’s profession.

Have individuals assessment 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 very best outcomes.

9. Social promoting challenges.

What higher method 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 inventive, however that does not imply it needs to be a free-for-all. Coaching round social promoting will pay dividends in the long term.

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

10. Mock gross sales conferences.

Conferences will be a number of the alternatives to promote as a result of it is a concentrated surroundings of your audience who’re open to studying concerning the services or products you promote. 

To assist your reps put together for these events, manage a simulated gross sales convention, the place individuals can apply presenting and networking in a sensible convention setting. Present suggestions and tips on public talking abilities.

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. Activity 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 workforce), 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 Sport

If your enterprise 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 state of affairs 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 effective candidate for a sure answer. 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 in the course of 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 needs to be prepared to elucidate 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 will function an introduction for brand spanking new hires to staff from different departments.

4. Jeopardy!

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

In case you’re in want of a Jeopardy! fashion template, Lifewire has compiled a resourceful listing of templates you should use to quiz your salespeople on product coaching.

5. Elevator Pitch (or E-Pitch)

The idea of the elevator pitch (or e–pitch) is straightforward — 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 spanking new rent coaching, as they drive reps to get the worth of a product out clearly and rapidly. Nevertheless, it’s also possible to run e-pitch competitions for continued gross sales coaching, placing random objects or concepts in a hat and difficult present salespeople to choose one at random and brainstorm a pitch to work on their public talking, persuasion, and brevity abilities.

6. Pop Quiz

Among the finest methods on your reps to retain data might be so that you can reinforce it in the course of the coaching. Spontaneous pop quizzes throughout coaching and onboarding classes can hold your salespeople engaged, notably if the testing is gamified.

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

7. Make a Business

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

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

On the finish of the shows, maintain a vote and provides a prize for the very best industrial.

This sport develops creativity, positioning, and presentation abilities.

8. S’up

S’up is a typical gross sales sport for constructing reps’ confidence.

Take your workforce 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 in the course of the course of the dialog.

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

9. Nonetheless Do not Get It

Much like S’up, this sport can be performed in public. Instruct every rep to method a stranger and ask a query. (This sport is usually 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 can push the stranger for extra data. This develops gross sales reps’ muscle mass for studying prospects and realizing when to push additional or stop.

10. Chilly Name Bingo!

Have certainly one of your reps make a chilly name whereas the remainder of the workforce listens on speakerphone. Every listening rep has a Bingo! card with frequent gross sales ways and milestones (akin to “worth objection” or “want/ache recognized”). The purpose is to get the workforce actively listening for and figuring out prospect dealing with methods whereas studying from a stay instance.

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

11. Subsequent Logical Query

In massive new rent courses, position play as a prospect and have reps take turns asking the following 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 typical drawback a possible buyer may look to your organization to resolve. Then, the rep wants to determine the very best query to ask in response to that want.

If the reply is all mistaken, or if there’s silence within the room, you get to chime in and provides steerage on what might be requested. Preserve observe, 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 last word goal of constructing 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 creating and implementing any gross sales coaching concept.

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

1. What data or ability do I would like salespeople to amass?
2. Why are these abilities essential to them and to enterprise progress?
3. How can we guarantee salespeople retain this data?
4. How can we help salespeople if they’re struggling to study the ability?

So, for instance, you might resolve you need your salespeople to change into consultants 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 concept or exercise to show or define the educational you wish to spotlight, so perhaps you resolve {that a} gross sales rep giving a profitable product demo is the very best coaching concept for addressing this want.

As for query 4, new reps who fall quick on their demo may be given entry to extra documentation, recordings of profitable demos, or demo teaching classes to strengthen their abilities.

That’s an instance of a coaching concept applied with goal, a transparent objective, and actionable subsequent steps to make sure the data and abilities and retained.

1. Widespread Floor

This sport works notably nicely for groups working in digital environments. Break up members of your workforce into smaller teams by way of your digital assembly software program’s convention room characteristic and have them provide you with three issues all of them have in frequent that don’t contain work.

Ideally, members of every group will discover quite a lot of subjects earlier than determining what all of them have in frequent. This train helps construct belief and familiarity amongst workforce members, which is crucial for making a supportive work surroundings.

2. Guess Who

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

3. Digital Escape Room

An escape room train will be a good way to assist your workforce 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 resolve a difficult riddle, accumulate digital clues, and work by means of advanced puzzles below a time crunch to maneuver on to the following degree. Firms akin to The Escape Sport provide guided digital escape rooms groups can play from anyplace by way of Zoom.

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

1. Product Jeopardy

How nicely does your workforce know your organization’s services or products? Assist them brush up on their abilities by creating your personal Jeopardy sport 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 issue of the query. You may make this sport 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 discipline. Be sure everybody in your workforce feels appreciated with this “circle of kudos” train.

One after the other, have every member of your workforce give a shoutout to a different workforce member about strengths they’ve or one thing they’ve carried out nicely just lately. As soon as a workforce member has obtained their kudos, it’s then their flip to share their sort phrases about one other member of the workforce. Proceed popcorn fashion till all your reps have shared and obtained kudos.

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

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