Eight brilliant sales games for training and upskill
A team’s sales performance not only determines your capabilities and efficiency – but also says a lot about your contribution to the company.
Companies look at your sales performance to determine the bonus you’re going to get for the year.
This article will provide eight very effective sales games for training that teams may peruse to advance skills and performance further.
How can you improve your team’s sales skills?
The best way to improve a team’s sales skills and performance is continuous learning and development. However, training and skill-boosting don’t always have to be super tough and rigorous.
It’s advisable to inject a little fun into any activity in order for it to be effective. This is where sales training games come into the picture.
What are call center games for sales?
Sales games apply the typical elements of game playing while training and skill-boosting. These games can be used by any team of sales reps, no matter how small or big.
Games for the sales team can also be modified according to your company’s preferences and needs.
And the best part is, you can create your own!
Is it necessary to conduct games for the sales team?
Sales training games improve morale and make working life more enjoyable. Giving your call center agents something to compete with will help them perform better.
Adding friendly competitiveness to your team and rewarding them for their efforts can help re-energize a stale team for the responsibilities ahead.
Sales training games can be a short-term tool for improvements, and they should not be used to replace regular coaching sessions or proper mentoring in sales techniques.
8 effective sales games for training and skill-boost
Gamifying your tasks, training, and skill-boosting activities provides an enjoyable and productive way of promoting new learning, teamwork, and collaboration.
In gamification, we want to hit the right balance between fun and gaining new knowledge and skills.
Here are some effective call center games for sales and skill development:
1. Gamified cold calls
In the age of social media marketing, we tend to forget the importance of phone calls. Phone calls are still a necessary component of the sales process, as they provide a human touch and customized customer service.
However, cold calls may bring out pressure and nervousness in most salespeople. Almost everyone is afraid of rejection, after all.
Gamified cold calls are done through speakerphones.
Participants will be making a sales call, while their manager and colleagues will listen and keep score. Points will be based on an agreed set of criteria, like scheduling a follow-up call or getting an email address. The sales rep with the most points wins.
2. The e-pitch tournaments
The elevator pitch (or e-pitch) tournament is a must, especially for training a new team member.
Participants will be given 30 to 60 seconds to talk to the person they’re selling to. Within this timeframe, the salesperson should make their case before the other person gets off the elevator.
E-pitch tournaments can also be regularly done for continued sales training and skills boosting. It challenges participants to work on their public speaking skills, persuasion, and conciseness, as well as quick thinking.
3. Make a commercial
This game is a fun way of promoting creativity and passion to your sales staff while learning all the benefits of the products you sell.
Break your team to at least five people per group, and make them do a commercial that features your product.
The criteria of the game are the commercial has to be informative and exciting for the viewers. If someone was watching the commercial, they should be willing to go out and buy the product as soon as they can.
A panel of judges, or audience members, will decide which commercial is the most exciting and well-executed.
4. Mr. David Schmidt
To teach your team the value of research and proactivity, play this game.
Split your team into groups of three to four people, and introduce them to Mr. David Schmidt.
Mr. Schmidt is the CEO of a large multinational company. Each team will have to go and make a sales pitch to this CEO and his company. The players should come up with anything vital about the company and its employees.
Each team should find anything useful when selling your products or services to this particular company. They can look up the company’s website, LinkedIn, and other social media to find additional relevant information.
This game promotes the importance of proper preparation, proactive research, and of course, teamwork.
5. Seat 4C
Seat 4C is more of an individual game but promotes sales-boosting skills nevertheless.
In this game, participants should pretend that they are traveling for work and that they’ve just received a first-class upgrade to Seat 4C.
The lady in Seat 4D sits down, and on her water bottle, you see the logo of a company that you are planning to approach for the business. The lady asks, “So what do you do?”
Each participant should then craft an answer.
This game should let every salesperson realize the importance of a good introduction. It also teaches them that they should always be prepared to make a new business contract.
You never know when and where you’re going to meet your client!
6. Sell me this pen
You don’t have to be a “The Wolf of Wall Street” fan to be familiar with this game.
Sell me this pen has become a very common question since, but it still surprises many. Answering this question will make the audience see your quick-thinking skills, how you compose your answer, and how you close the deal.
Continuously practicing or coming up with better answers for this question expands a salesperson’s sales strategies and boosts communication skills.
7. Pair selling
Pair selling is a simple game of teaming up the high and low performers on your team. The pair with the highest contracts or sales wins.
This game promotes camaraderie and mentorship. The low performer could learn a thing or two from the top performer, which will result in the team’s overall performance going up.
8. Description jamboree
In the description jamboree, all participants will be asked to form a vast circle.
Pick a random object in the room, and everyone will pitch to the group its notable and “sellable” features.
You may modify the description requirements and say, for example, why that particular product is beneficial for a specific target audience.
When someone can’t think of a new feature, they’re out. The last person standing wins the game.
This may be a straightforward game, but it hones a person’s creativity and promotes light fun and team-building as well.
How can your team benefit from sales training games?
As mentioned above, a lot of skills can be sharpened in a fun way through the help of games for the sales team.
A sales training game can provide the following advantages:
1. It increases engagement and provides a fun way of learning
Work can be hectic, intense, and tiring. Games for sales teams offer a different environment without sacrificing learning and development.
Sales games also boost engagement, and having an engaged sales team is vital on a sales floor.
2. It encourages friendly competition
It’s safe to say that sales professionals thrive on a dash of healthy competition.
Combine it with instant rewards and a little break from the busy sales world, and your salespeople will be more likely to get fired up to hit their targets faster.
3. Promotes open communication and mentorship
Call center games for sales training can provide a chance for top performers to share their tips on working more efficiently, and low performers may feel more comfortable asking any questions.
Not just your sales team but the whole company can benefit from increased communication, teamwork, and mentorship.