Sales team building is important because it can help sales teams to understand each other better, build trust, and improve communication. If you’re having trouble with your sales or want to take things up a notch, read on for some tips to help you build a strong, successful, and productive team!
The Purpose of Sales Team Building
If team members felt a sense of responsibility for working together, your organization would be much more successful.
The purpose of team building is to promote collaboration between teammates rather than competition. Investing in activities promoting teamwork can create a sales team that works together more effectively.
Sales team building exercises help team members identify their strengths and improve their weak areas. By engaging in these fun, collaborative events, your sales team will be better equipped to work together and excel.
You’re not the only one who works there. You have coworkers with whom you have a lot in common. Getting to know them outside of work will help strengthen your relationship.
To further cement those working relationships, try team-building exercises for your sales team that let them get to know each other on a more personal level.
Team building is meant to develop relationships based on mutual respect and trust between members of a company’s virtual teams. By focusing on these key areas, team members can learn to work together more effectively and efficiently.
When it comes to developing strong relationships with your fellow team members, don’t limit yourself to just email chats. Make an extra effort to connect with them in other ways as well. This will give everyone something powerful to carry forward when tackling challenging events.
Most salespeople have a love-hate relationship when it comes to team building. Some see it as corny and annoying, while others find it fun and a good way to get to know one another.
However, they can help establish relationships between sales reps and allow them to play out their team’s core values.
Company culture and employee engagement are closely related, and something as simple as a game can establish a rapport with employees, help them feel comfortable, and improve their communication skills.
And honestly, the most fun sales activities are also the most effective.
Learning and Development
Professional development activities for sales teams can either focus on individual team members or learn about the industry.
One of the best ways to understand your team members’ strengths is for each to take a personality and discuss it.
Tests can help introduce a shared vocabulary better to understand communication preferences, weaknesses, and areas of comfort. They can also help increase empathy for one another. By taking personality tests and discussing the results, you and your team can better understand your collective strengths.
Psychometric profiling can help sales leaders and HR professionals find common traits among their most successful employees.
Two of the most common personality tests are the DISC and True Color assessments, which allow groups of people to take the same test.
For a DIY approach to sales training, have reps take an assessment on their own time, then meet as a group to discuss their results.
Or, you can hire a professional to facilitate your tests. These sessions are powerful and usually only take a few hours.
If neither of the popular assessments above appeals to you, there are plenty more options. Here’s a great article that breaks down some of the most popular ones.
Building strong teams means making sure everyone is on the same page. One way to do this is by learning new skills as a team. This way, you can all focus on a new goal and become more knowledgeable.
Developing your skills and learning new things are great ways to keep yourself sharp and keep up with industry trends.
- You could watch a TED Talk, attend a webinar, or follow it up with a roundtable or brainstorming session with your teammates.
- You can also take classes, attend conferences, or bring in someone to facilitate a workshop on presentation skills.
- Another great idea is to take an unrelated course, such as learning a new skill like archery or attending a course on woodworking or wine tasting.
Sales team-building activities are a great way to bring your team together, and employees will appreciate the investment their employers make in their development.
4 Techniques for Building a Successful Sales Team
Team-building activities help motivate your sales staff and keep them happy. This increases sales, which leads to more revenue. According to a recent study, only 34% of workers in America are actually engaged in their work.
Too many US workers are disinterested in work, leading to lower productivity and revenue.
Since I have been a Salesforce Administrator for one year, I share best practices with teams to help them reach their potential. These are some great ideas to help spark your sales team engagement.
1. Mini offsite
A mini-offsite is a great way to build teamwork for sales teams. Imagine yourself and your team sharing a room for three hours. There will be food and role-playing exercises to test your sales skills. Team Building exercises can reveal a professional’s weaknesses and strengths to their boss.
It can be difficult to admit that you lost a client or did not meet your quarterly quota. It can be a learning opportunity for you to improve your skills.
2. Strategy games
One of the best team-building exercises is splitting your reps into smaller groups to strategize and compete against other teams. The egg drop game is one example.
The classic egg drop is an activity that involves a team being divided into small groups and each group having a budget of $5,000. The egg is then placed in a container, and the straws are used to seal it. Each straw costs $250, and each masking tape is $100. The sales team tested their math skills by staying within budget.
These group-strategy exercises aren’t related to sales but allow reps to have fun and work together. It can be very productive to change up your workday.
3. Team contests
Team contents foster healthy competition, and team members are more likely to share best practices.
Sales managers need to have contests outside of work.
Some contests can help sales managers identify personality traits that can benefit from guidance.
- Sports games: table tennis, baseball, bowling
- Charity: Ask your team to raise funds for a charity organization and reward the team with the most donations.
- Holidays: The best costume contest award for the most original outfit
4. Displaying your sales results in the office
I recall being a Salesforce Administrator, creating sales dashboards for the entire team. The team could view line graphs and pie charts of each team member’s quarterly performance once the CRM was on the opening page.
To keep clients happy, a company with a flat-screen TV in its lobby can afford to add visuals to the office.
The goal is not to call out low-performing reps but to improve the team’s overall performance with a healthy contest around sales figures. Here are some places where you can increase the team’s annual revenue, reputation, and progress:
- Televisions in a lunchroom. Having televisions in the break room can help motivate your sales team. It can also help executives stay involved by having them see the data around your office. Your reps will thank you for the acknowledgment.
- Mobile Sales updates. To automatically notify specific departments of sales wins, you can set up email reports in customer relationship management (CRM) software.
Sales reps who feel isolated won’t perform as well as those who feel part of a team. To personalize the activities, you can ask your team members what interests them so they find the activity that will keep them engaged no matter how difficult sales are.
How do you have a fun sales team?
There is no one answer to this question as every team is different, and what works for one team may not work for another. However, some tips on creating a fun sales team environment include: Encouraging friendly competition among team members, hosting regular team-building activities, setting clear and achievable goals, and celebrating successes together.
The environment you create for your salespeople will directly impact their success. When your team enjoys what they do and feels like they are a part of something, they will naturally perform better.
How do you get a sales team to work together?
There are a few key things you can do to get a sales team to work together.
First, ensure a clear and concise sales process that all team members understand.
Second, hold regular team meetings to discuss deals in progress, new leads, and any challenges the team faces.
Finally, create incentives for the team to work together towards common goals. For example, you could offer bonuses for hitting monthly or quarterly sales targets.
Why is team building important in sales?
Team building is important in sales because it allows people to work together more effectively and efficiently. When salespeople can work together as a team, they can share information and resources more easily, leading to more sales and higher commissions.
Additionally, team building can help salespeople develop relationships with each other, making them more effective at selling to customers.
Conclusion
Sales team building exercises are designed to improve communication, collaboration, and cooperation. By engaging in these team-oriented tasks, your sales team will be better equipped to work together towards a common goal. You can build a strong, successful, and productive team with the ideas provided.
