Sales Team Building Exercise

Rapport in sales is a critical ingredient in developing client loyalty and paving the way for future sales.  A sales team that has a strong degree of rapport with one another will function more effectively than a team with a set of individual performers.  Together Everyone Achieves More, right?

Want a quick and fun exercise to build rapport within your sales team by helping them realize each others innate talents?  Try this during one of your sales meetings.

Get everyone the book Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath.  Have everyone read section 1, 30 pages, and then take the online StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment.   Ask them to skim the rest of the book, which has details on the 34 most common strengths based on 40 years of research by Gallup.  In the back of the book there is a code that they enter on the StrengthsFinder website which provides them with a detailed custom report on their strengths.  Have them print their report and bring the results to the meeting.

Put a flip chart on the wall for each person in the room.  Ask the participants to keep their assessment results private until you complete the exercise.

The exercise is for each person to write what they believe are the top 2 strengths of their teammates on each person's flip chart.  Participants should use the book to review details of each strength to determine if it fits the their teammate. If you have 5 people participating, each flip chart should have 8 strengths written on it.  The exercise should take about 5 minutes per person - so for 5 people allot 25 minutes.

Once each person's flip chart has everyone's input, have each person stand next to their flip chart.  Have the team provide input on why they feel the assigned strengths fit the person.  Then have the person reveal their top 5 strengths and describe why they agree/disagree with their assessment.

Not everyone is going to agree with their strengths,  but through the team feedback, they just might get a better understanding of how they're perceived, and everyone will learn a few things about their teammates in a fun and impactful exercise.

Probe Flow

Asking open and closed probes will typically occur several times throughout a sales conversation. When and what probes you ask depends on what you are looking to achieve. There are no rules on when to ask particular probes however there is typically a flow that leads to a more successful call. At the start of a conversation you begin to “know” the customer by probing to explore their circumstances. From their circumstances, you may realize opportunities to investigate. Then you move onto understanding their needs and confirming needs. Along the way customers respond to your probes and that’s where you’ll react by probing for effect and drilling down to get further information. A customer’s expression of need (I’m looking for XYZ) and a customer’s expression of pain (I worry about ABC) represent opportunities for us as salespeople. It may require more probing to find out the need behind the need or the source of the pain before providing solutions.

Potential Probe Flow

Probe for circumstances - Who are you currently doing business with?

Probe for a need - What are you hoping to achieve?/What are your goals?

Probe for the effect (to create an awareness of a latent need) How do you feel about your current situation?

Probe to peel back the onion - Why is that?/Tell me more about that.

Probe in response to expressions of pain - When you say you don't want to worry, what do you mean?

Probe to confirm a need - Do you want to change that situation?/So what you're saying is....