Sales Training Games
by Graham Roberts-Phelps
Gower, 2000
Hardback, 251 pages, £55.
ISBN 0 566 08206 3
The author writes, and I think most of us will go along with him completely, that selling skills should not be limited to sales staff, but to customer service or any other staff who have contact with potential customers and therefore have the opportunity to sell a produce, service or even goodwill. This mix is one of over 80 activities which are roughly, generally or specifically related to ‘sales’ and are contained in eight subject sections, following brief summaries of all the activities. These sections are Icebreakers and energizers; Subject breakers; Models and methods; Quizzes and questionnaires (answers provided at the end of the book); Group energizers; Problem-solving and planning; Role plays, practice sessions and case studies; and Skill boosters (a collection of trigger questions, tasks and ideas). The activities – as are most activity collections nowadays with so many published – my running record of activity sources with the major UK publishers now stands at 7244 activities in 186 resources – are a mixture of old and well-known ones, variations on existing activities, replaced data examples and original or new (to me). The activities range from specific problem-solving exercises, self-awareness questionnaires, discussion topics, objective and goal-setting, writing skills and the sales success formula e=mc2 (not the Einstein version, but e = enthusiasm, m = motivation, c = confidence).
The activities are supplied with all necessary briefs and handouts, widely use the ‘open approach’ in which the participants supply their own experiences and examples, are built around groups of 8-10 members, and have durations of from a few minutes only (eg Icebreakers) to about 90 minutes, the majority falling in the 30-40 minutes sector.
If you are seeking an extensive selection of sales activities for sales, customer services or marketing programmes, this collection will supply most of what you need.
Leslie Rae
