I’m not surprised if salespeople are tired of applying the traditional sales training learnings.
The same old monotonous training programs and sales strategies make sellers bored to sleep and dull.
You may have already spoken to a few representatives and a few leaders to find out the best online sales training methods(virtual engagement) and still landed on the usual traditional rut.
What about gamification and the creative approach?
Have you tried that one?
Today, we’ll cut through the standard ways of sales training methods and explore a fresh set of techniques that are gaining popularity in the online selling community. Here’s a list of 13 sales training ideas we’ll discuss today.
We’ll help you understand the technique, the requirements, stakeholders, time investment, and the expected outcome. You can decide how many are suitable for your sales team:
What’s the need for sales training gamification?
Gamification is a method to improve the engagement or productivity of stakeholders by converting a routine activity into a game.
Usually, you’d see gamification techniques applied by HR teams to encourage employee engagement and team-building spirit or training employees on new technology.
While it’s an old technique, it’s catching more attention due to the virtual setup and the need for more employee-friendly and exciting activities.
Sales training exposes the SDRs and AEs to new concepts–sometimes fascinating, while primarily mundane. Sales enablement teams must understand sellers’ requirements and add some spice to the usual virtual sales training plans.
And nothing beats a contest and a game-based activity.
Sales training gamification not only attracts participation but also produces results unconsciously.
Let’s deep dive into 13 such techniques that can make it to your sales training program in 2022.
13 Best Sales Gamification Ideas for Virtual Teams
1. Storytelling King/Queen
Storytelling is a popular method of selling nowadays. Most sellers are trying to adapt the skill and convey the sales pitch better using stories, but how can sales coaches help?
Make storytelling enjoyable by asking every sales representative to come on a video call. Prepare a customer success story to explain the use of a product or service. Ask the reps to perform with call recording software and measure each rep’s performance. At the end of the contest, offer a company-sponsored family dinner or an Amazon gift card to the winner. Circulate the call recording to the other team members for setting standards.
Pro tip: Your junior reps must be lost and suffocated at the initial stage. And may be expecting a little hand-holding. Not to worry! While we understand you can’t spend time training them, you can introduce them to conversation intelligence software that looks after your trainees. Try Convin free for 15 days.
2. Gamified cold calls
Cold calls are tricky but not dead. They are still one of the most powerful means to attract leads and convert them into prospects. But how to put your best foot forward in cold calling?
Generally, companies record cold calls to ensure quality and regulate compliance. One new addition to the activity could be scoring the cold calls and announcing a monthly winner. The yearly winner makes it to a company-sponsored trip.
Scoring shouldn’t only look at conversions and the quality of the calls and techniques applied by the rep.
Recommended reading: How To Cold Call: 21 Cold Calling Secret.
3. Sell me the pen!
Sometimes, a seller capable of selling a B2B software remains enclosed in a shell where they cannot add anything new to their selling techniques. They are insanely knowledgeable about the product but stammer when selling an item as silly as a pen.
Break the monotony of your sales team by making them sell simple office furniture and stationery items. Keep the item a surprise and let your sellers develop a sales pitch on the spot. This activity is fun and highly mind-churning. These sales training sessions are also a refreshment for your sales teams occupied in technical meetings all day.
4.Role play Championship
A little drama is all we need. Isn’t it? Also, a little grind from time to time.
Making sellers experience the harsh reality of selling situations is one element of the sales training plan that every seller deserves.
Enroll your AEs in a role play championship. Challenge them on the demo call. Ask questions and expect questions. Check for call quality and don’t go easy on them. These contests will definitely give exceptional outcomes on the actual calls.
Pro tip: Sales coaches can add the best role plays in the sales playbook for reference.
5. Give value over feature
If you are concerned about your team selling a product and not selling benefits then that’s a genuine concern. But how to solve this pressing issue?
Handover a paper with a product feature list to your reps and ask them to write benefits against each feature. Be specific and explain in detail what you are expecting, an example may help. Score the activity and help their mind churn and think about value over feature.
Value-based selling will also impact storytelling skill and aid in crafting a meaningful story.
6. The Ugli Orange
One of the biggest fears of new sellers is to negotiate and pull the deal in their favor. But warming up on sales call is risky and should be avoided. Alternative?
The Ugli orange activity is what you need for your sales team. Divide the team in two and assign one supervisor to manage the ugli orange auction. Both teams will learn to negotiate and put healthy arguments on the table. It’s good to warm up the team in these activities before facing reality.
7. Switch Places
I’ve often read how a seller wants to step into the shoes of a buyer–just for fun and see how it feels to be on another side of the fence.
Switching roles is a simple task where one representative or a sales leader acts as the sales rep and another the buyer. Whoever wears the buyer's shoe needs to make sure they behave like one and remain assertive with the acting rep. These role-switching games often help learn more about the persona and build confidence while facing the actual buyer.
8. Product and persona
Not every buyer want to purchase a product. A few products are specifically designed for a niche audience. How do you identify the audience?
Firstly, the activity is applicable in companies that offer more than two products and deal with multiple personas in multiple industries. Create two columns on a paper and add the list of products on one side and the list of personas on the other. Ask your participating reps to map the products to the personas listed on the other side. Even if your representatives are wrong, the activity will help them know your personas better.
9. Discovery calls contest
Discovery calls are one of the determining factors of the sales cycle. A sales rep is bound to waste time behind the wrong account and buyer without real qualification.
Running a remote sales training on quality discovery calls is another excellent method to improve the existing reps and new reps in warming up for discovery calls. The sales coach needs to continuously listen to parts of a call on a call recording software and check how the discovery call is going. Is it an in-depth call or performed on a surface level? Does the rep smartly sell the product/service in the call? Does the rep stick to a script or narrow it down to tailored counter-question on the call?
Recommended reading: Is Your Sales Coaching Missing these 30 Discovery Questions To Pinpoint Real Pain?
10. Prospect hunter
New reps are prone to making the mistake of finding minimal information about prospects. During the research phase, they don't push themselves hard enough, which results in lost opportunities.
The activity is most effective for new reps. Still, seasoned reps can also be involved to sharpen and polish their research efforts. Reps need to refer to a pre-defined template and find full details about their prospect in a given time( let’s say 30 minutes). The rep that offers the most in-depth and quality research( using an authentic source) is named the winner.
11. Unique selling points
Thanks to the cutthroat competition, sellers need to make a little more effort to cut through the noise and make an impact in front of their target audience.
Simply using the traditional selling techniques will not make sellers stand out. As part of the online sales training program, encourage sellers to use creative social selling techniques such as interacting with videos and social media to warm up clients. Sales leaders must encourage and reward sellers for using innovative ideas to reach clients.
Recommended reading: How to sell faster in 2022? | Sales best practices
12. Team selling champions
A salesperson is good at selling skills but often hits the wall regarding product technicalities, legal requirements, product design, price negotiation, etc. Also, the salesperson should know the principles of presentation design to create compelling visuals that effectively communicate complex details, allowing them to convey information clearly and build credibility with the audience.
Team selling and cross-functional collaboration are the best alternatives for handling queries and objections around product technicalities. Often the product manager turns the sales meeting in your favor. Or, the presence of a senior sales leader in a high-ticket deal can shorten the sales cycle and lead to contract sign-off faster. In the sales training program, sales managers must watch the recorded meetings and identify how many sellers are leveraging cross-functional collaboration compared to being a lone wolf. Reward the salespeople who get other team members on board during meetings or get direct help on technical documentation like the proposal.
A salesperson can achieve great results, but a team can make a lifelong impact.
Recommended reading: How to leverage cross-functional collaboration?
13. Product testing
Last but not least, a salesperson with maximum product/service knowledge will stand out as a consultant and make a higher impact on the audience.
Product managers seek help from customer-facing teams to get their feedback on new product design or feature changes. Usually, a salesperson is busy and avoids making time for these activities. However, adding product testing as part of the sales training plan solves the problem. Announce a reward for maximum participation in the year and ensure they are encouraged to make time for product testing sessions.
Don’t invest in boring sales training programs-add a little creativity and fun!
I understand innovative sales training programs need a lot of preparation and sometimes an increase in budget to make them effective. However, the preparation and practice will go a long way in showing exceptional results from sellers.
Moreover, adding a tad bit of healthy internal competition and creative contests keeps your seller motivated, especially in the virtual selling world.
And if you are in search of top-notch sales training material? Download the free Sales Resource right away!
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