5 Responses

1. Sales team exercises
   Carolyn
   Wow. With a brief as clear and focused as that, how could you go wrong. Seriously, I wouldn’t even attempt to suggest anything based on such scant information. Why not ask your contact for a copy of the objectives, details of the size and profile of the group, and any other vital information such as the time available, how the event has come about and its overall purpose, what they have done before (and liked/dislike; changed as result of/not changed), what they will be doing immediately before and after, and the level of facilitation expertise of the person who will be running it. Oh, and the budget.
   And I’ll do you a deal. Post all that here and I’ll promise you a response (if before 6/5 when I go on hols).
   Graham

2. And…
   As well as completely agreeing with Graham that this needs far more investigation, I suspect that by asking for “experiential training” your colleague is looking to avoid ‘chalk n talk’ or ‘death by PowerPoint’ type training, so once you’ve established a more detail brief of what’s required I would highly recommend Accelerated and Brain-Based Learning design techniques. In my experience, sales people appreciate this type of training as it engages and stimulates them.

   Two of my favourite authors on this are Colin Rose and Eric Jensen.

   Oddball Training
   http://www.oddball.co.uk

3. Got some great ideas for you!
   Here at Unique Solutions we have used forum theatre or interactive theatre very sucessfully for sales training. Essentially 2 actors start a sketch which has been written to reinforce a key learning point. The audience can stop the action at any stage and direct the actors to do things differently. The action can be re-wound to any stage and played out until the audience is completely happy with the eventual scene. The whole process is facilitated by the trainer in order to meet the objectives of the training session. At the end of each scene the actors take a seat and can be quizzed by the audience as to their background what they were thinking and feeling etc. The actors remain “in character” so that the audience can learn more about the customers and what motivates them and how they think about selling/buying.

   This is an exceptionally powerful and fun way to learn.

   I have had delegates step up to the mark and swap places with an actor and demonstrate how they want the scene to go.

   We have also used a load of team activities with clients and customers written in. There are too many to write down here though.

   It is very difficult to know if thae above is useful without a clearer brief and some more background which I can get through a short chat on the phone.

   01629 691 691

   Go on give me a call!

4. Thank you!
   Useful stuff here. I’ve passed the link on to the trainer who asked me the question. Hopefully he will be able to apply some of what was discussed (or even give you a call Alun!). Meantimes, if you have any resources that I could promote for you – you know where I am! Thanks, Carolyn

5. Experiential training
   Carolyn,
   Visit cotswoldconferencecentre.com
   and go to the Team Building page.You’ll find details of 8 off the shelf ,self facilitating experiential exercises ready built into the grounds of the estate.
   Call me if you need any further info.My number is on the website