Every organization has different sales best practices, playbooks, and competency gaps. How do you ensure that your reps take the right actions at the right time? Having the right sales training strategy can make all the difference.
26% of reps say that their sales training could be more efficient. How can they meet their targets without the proper training? Well-trained sales reps close more deals and generate higher revenue. But only when this is a priority for your organization.
Skilled salespeople can build stronger, lasting connections with clients. It allows them to better use their CRM, overcome objectives, and close deals faster. It may also lead to higher job satisfaction as reps feel they have the support they need to perform at their best.
In this article, we’ll explore the best sales training ideas, including sales activities, interactive exercises, and games to use in your sales training program.
31 examples of sales training activities, exercises, games, & ideas
- Role-playing scenarios
- Sales pitch practice
- Objection handling drills
- YouTube sales influencers
- Cold calling exercises
- Storytelling workshops
- Negotiation practice
- Mock sales demos
- CRM certifications
- Sales newsletters and podcasts
- Customer persona workshops
- Sales offsite
- Elevator pitches
- Lunch and learns
- CRM hands-on sandbox training
- Live call reviews
- Guided or pre-recorded product demos
- Mock sales meetings
- Real-time feedback sessions
- Scenario-based training
- Group discussion
- Sales challenges
- Live demonstrations
- Interactive e-learning modules
- Still don’t get it
- S’up
- $2 game
- Sales stamina
- Sell me this pen
- Cold call bingo
- Jeopardy!
- Kahoot!
- Quizlet
- Mentimeter
- ProProfs Quiz Maker
- Google Forms Quizzes
- Socrative
- SurveyMonkey
- FlexiQuiz
14 Ideas for Sales Training Activities
Where to start with sales training? Try these practical sales training ideas in your organization.
1. Role-playing scenarios
Put your team in real-world situations to hone their skills. Create scenarios that mirror everyday sales interactions. From initial prospecting calls to high-stakes negotiations. Here’s how to make role-playing effective:
- Assign specific roles (like demanding customer or indecisive prospect).
- Provide detailed backstories for each scenario.
- Rotate roles for reps to experience different perspectives.
- Follow up with constructive feedback and group discussion.
2. Sales pitch practice
Work on your team’s ability to communicate value. Regular sales pitch sessions allow reps to receive feedback. They can also iterate on their approach and perfect their delivery. Implement these pitch practice techniques:
- 30-second elevator pitches
- 5-minute formal presentations
- Peer feedback sessions
3. Objection handling drills
Equip your team to tackle customer concerns head-on. Create a list of common objections and work through effective responses. Maintain a database of objections and effective responses your team can reference and contribute to.
This way, your reps can prepare as objections change. This prepares reps for challenging conversations and boosts their ability to guide prospects toward a sale. Try these objection-handling exercises:
- Rapid-fire objection response rounds
- Objection role-play scenarios
- Team brainstorming sessions for creative solutions
- “Worst-case scenario” objection preparation
4. YouTube sales influencers
Tap into the wealth of knowledge available online. Curate a list of top sales influencers on YouTube and incorporate their insights into your training sessions. This gives your team access to new perspectives and cutting-edge strategies.
5. Cold calling exercises
82% of buyers say they’ve accepted sales meetings after a connection that began with a cold call. How do you make sure those first calls go off without a hitch? Sharpen those cold-calling skills.
Set up practice sessions where reps make calls to fictional prospects. This builds resilience, improves communication, and helps reps become comfortable with rejection. You can use these cold-calling drills:
- Timed calling sprints
- Improvised calls
- Peer listening and feedback sessions
6. Storytelling workshops
Teach your team the art of narrative. Compelling storytelling can captivate prospects and create emotional connections. Encourage reps to develop a “story bank” of anecdotes. Reps can draw on these in all kinds of sales situations. Host workshops that focus on crafting compelling sales stories. Include these elements:
- Basic story structure (beginning, middle, end)
- Character development (relatable protagonists)
- Conflict and resolution (how your product saves the day)
- Practice sessions with peer feedback
7. Negotiation practice
Help your team create win-win situations. Set up mock negotiations. This helps reps learn to balance assertiveness with flexibility. This can increase deal value. Try these negotiation exercises:
- Negotiations with multiple stakeholders
- Time-pressure scenarios
- High-stakes role-plays (like enterprise-level deals)
8. Mock sales demos
Have reps conduct full demos as if presenting to a potential client. This improves product knowledge and presentation skills simultaneously. Implement these effective demo practice techniques:
- Q&A sessions with “difficult” prospects
- Timed demos
- Industry-specific demos
9. CRM certifications
Encourage reps to earn CRM certifications in your CRM system. For example, Mircosoft’s Dynamics 365 Fundamentals. This ensures they use all available tools to manage relationships and close deals effectively. Here’s how to make CRM training engaging:
- Gamify the certification process with rewards
- Create custom training modules specific to your sales process
- Pair tech-savvy reps with those who need extra support
10. Sales newsletters and podcasts
Keep your team informed on industry trends. Curate a list of top sales newsletters and podcasts. Then, encourage discussions about the takeaways. Try these ideas:
- Assign team members to summarize
- Create an internal “recommended listening” list
- Encourage reps to share how they apply
11. Customer persona workshops
Help your team understand your target market and customers. This helps reps tailor their approach to different types of prospects. Include these elements in your workshops:
- Data about your best customers
- Customized pitch development
- Updates based on market insights
12. Sales offsite
47% of workers prefer in-person meetings. Take your team out of the office. Offsites provide a distraction-free environment for focused learning. These events also contribute to team bonding. Consider these offsite ideas to make the event effective:
- Inviting expert guest speakers
- Team challenges
- Including informal networking opportunities
13. Elevator pitches
Practice crafting and delivering compelling 30-second pitches. This skill is valuable for networking events and prospect interactions. Try these elevator pitch exercises:
- Random product pitch challenges
- Peer-to-peer pitch battles
- Video recording and analysis
14. Lunch and learns
Make learning a regular part of your team’s routine. Host weekly lunch sessions. During them, let team members take turns presenting on sales topics. This powers peer-to-peer learning. Implement these lunch and learn best practices:
- Create a topic schedule
- Rotate presentation responsibilities
- Follow up with action items
Interactive Sales-Training Exercises
Are you looking for specific ways to engage your sales team? These are specific, interactive elements you can include in your training.
1. CRM hands-on sandbox training
Give your team a safe space to experiment with your CRM. Set up a sandbox environment of your CRM where reps can practice inputting data and generating reports without fear of mistakes.
Whatfix Mirror provides organizations with a no-code tool to create replicant IT sandbox environments. This provides end-users with a hands-on interactive training experience where they can engage with your sales and its workflows without impacting your real-life application and its data.
2. Live call reviews
Listen to actual sales calls as a team. Analyze what went well and identify areas for improvement. This real-world feedback is valuable. It allows you to identify “gold standard” calls. You can also track skill development over time.
3. Guided or pre-recorded product demos
Create a library of demo videos that reps can reference. This supports consistent messaging. It also helps new team members get up to speed. Consider these demo best practices to get the best results.
- Segment demos by product feature or use case
- Update demos to reflect product changes
- Encourage reps to create demo recordings for review
4. Mock sales meetings
Run entire sales meetings from start to finish. This exercise helps reps practice everything from greetings to closing statements. It allows reps to practice preparing for meetings and running them with confidence.
5. Real-time feedback sessions
Provide input during role-playing exercises. This helps reps make adjustments and reinforces positive behaviors. For example, hold space for group input while reps are role-playing. Encourage peers to share their thoughts.
6. Scenario-based training
Present your team with complex sales situations. This builds critical thinking skills and makes them more resilient. Try these scenario ideas:
- Competitive displacement opportunities
- Crisis management situations, like PR problems
- Long-term relationship nurturing
7. Group discussion
Set up channels where team members can share experiences and ask questions. Encourage senior reps to mentor newer team members. Also, be sure to recognize top contributors. This can keep the conversation going and inspire others to improve.
8. Sales challenges
Research shows that the growth of the gamification market is partly driven by the growing use of gamification in sales. This adds an element of fun while driving improvement. Consider these challenge ideas:
- Prospecting contests
- Quarterly team vs. team competitions
- A point system for sales activities and achievements
9. Live demonstrations
If you have a physical product, give reps the time to interact with it. This empowers them to communicate features more effectively and troubleshoot any issues that may be common for customers.
10. Interactive e-learning modules
Use technology for self-paced learning. Create engaging employee training programs that cover everything from product knowledge to advanced sales techniques. You can also give reps the tools to learn as they interact with your systems.
With a digital adoption platform (DAP) like Whatfix DAP, enable your sellers with in-app guidance and on-demand support embedded into their CRM workflows. Use Tours and Task Lists to accelerate time-to-productivity for new sellers.
Flows guide complex sales processes or infrequently done tasks. Smart Tips provide additional context or nudge sellers to take specific action. Self Help provides sellers with an in-app resource center that integrates with your knowledge repositories.
7 Sales Training Games to Try
You can bring a competitive spirit and fun to your sales training. Consider these seven games to get your reps engaged.
1. Still don't get it
This game builds persistence. Reps must continue asking questions about a topic, even after getting an explanation. It teaches the value of digging deeper with prospects. Here’s how to play:
- Pair up team members
- One person explains a concept, the other pretends not to understand
- The “confused” person must ask questions and push for more information.
- Switch roles and repeat
2. S'up
In this game, reps start conversations with strangers to gather specific information. This game builds confidence and rapport-building skills, which are important because Top-performing sales reps “pitch” their offer only 7% of the time. Open dialogue and conversation is key.
These are the rules to follow for this game:
- Set a time limit
- Assign point values to different types of information
- When time’s up, tally the points to find your winner
3. $2 game
Test your team’s persuasion skills. Give the rep a $2 bill and ask them to split the value with someone else. This exercise helps them work on their negotiation skills. The rep who ends up with the more significant share wins.
4. Sales stamina
Build your team’s endurance. Have a leader mention a random object. Then sales reps take turns mentioning positive things about the object. Once a rep hesitates to respond, they’re eliminated from the game.
5. Sell me this pen
This game is a classic for a reason. This exercise forces reps to think on their feet, identify needs, and communicate value. But there are variations you can try to make this sales game more challenging.
- Set a time limit for the pitch
- Have the “buyer” present objections
- Have a bracket-style tournament
6. Cold call bingo
Make cold calling fun. Create bingo cards with common objections or phrases. Reps listen in on calls. Then they mark off squares as they come up in the calls. Here’s how to set up this sales game.
- Create bingo cards with a mix of common and rare phrases
- Set a time limit or call quota
- Offer prizes for the first bingo or most bingos
7. Jeopardy!
Test your team’s product and industry knowledge. Create a Jeopardy-style game with categories relevant to your business. For easy setup, use a digital Jeopardy template. Think through what categories will make the game as effective as possible for your organization.
Tools for Creating Sales Training Quizzes
Ready to start making quizzes for your sales reps to use? These tools can help you put them together.
1. Kahoot!
Create interactive, game-based quizzes. Kahoot’s format makes learning fun and competitive. This is great for quick knowledge checks at the start of meetings. You can also use it to reinforce points after meetings.
2. Quizlet
Build flashcards and study sets. Quizlet’s versatile platform is great for learning product details and key sales concepts. You can use it to help reps memorize your product features and benefits.
3. Mentimeter
Engage your team with live polling and Q&A sessions. Mentimeter’s real-time interaction keeps everyone involved. Use it for brainstorming sales strategies as a group. It also serves as a good way to collect feedback.
4. ProProfs Quiz Maker
Design professional-looking quizzes in just a few clicks. ProProfs offers a range of question types and customization options. It’s ideal for product knowledge assessments or even sales certifications.
5. Google Forms Quizzes
Google Forms is user-friendly and integrates seamlessly with other Google tools. It’s perfect for creating self-grading quizzes. That powers quick knowledge checks. Especially if your team is already familiar with the Google ecosystem.
6. Socrative
Want a real-time assessment option? Socrative‘s instant feedback feature is perfect for checking understanding during training sessions. It also gives you the insight you need to adjust training strategies based on response patterns.
7. SurveyMonkey
Get in-depth feedback on training effectiveness. SurveyMonkey‘s analysis tools help you refine your training program over time. You can use it for post-training satisfaction surveys. You can also encourage sales reps to rate their skill sets and growth.
8. FlexiQuiz
Craft quizzes that adjust difficulty based on performance. FlexiQuiz helps you challenge each team member at their level. This creates personalized learning paths. You can also create branching scenarios for more complicated situations.
Whatfix provides sales organizations and application owners with a no-code platform to enable reps with in-app guidance and on-demand support to drive adoption and achieve business outcomes with frictionless experiences. With Whatfix:
- Enable users with role-based in-app onboarding and training with Whatfix In-App Guidance.
- Provide on-demand user support with Whatfix Self Help.
- Analyze in-app guidance consumption and identify common Self Help troubleshooting issues with Guidance Analytics.
- Build sandbox environments for simulated hands-on training with Whatfix Mirror.
Ready to get started with Whatfix? Request a demo today!
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