Salespeople are not known for being introverts. Yet for a profession populated by outgoing, friendly people who enjoy making connections with others, there are an awful lot of lackluster sales pitches and presentations out there. It’s as if reps stifle their natural social instincts the minute they press “play” on the slideshow.
Well, maybe the problem isn’t the messenger or the message, but the way the message is being delivered. With some new tools and training ideas, you’ll be surprised at how much more energized your sales team can be, and how much better they will perform as a result. In this article, we’ll share some innovative training approaches and ready-to-use templates that you can start using right away to create a foundation for sustained sales success that keeps teams motivated and customers satisfied.
Key highlights:
- Why having an energized sales team matters (and how to get them there)
- Training techniques to help sales teams deliver better pitches that close the deal
- Ready-to-use templates for training and engaging your team
Why energized sales teams outperform the competition
No company is actively looking to build a low-energy sales team. But what are the benefits of having a highly energized sales team? For starters, sales reps who are energized and enthusiastic about what they’re selling can come from a more honest place, which will invariably make the client feel excited as well. Energized sales teams approach challenges with confidence, stay resilient during tough times, and consistently seek opportunities for growth and improvement. When salespeople feel excited about their work, they communicate more effectively with prospects, build stronger relationships, and close deals more efficiently.
How does energy and enthusiasm translate into better sales outcomes? Studies show that highly-engaged teams are 17% more productive and 21% more profitable. Get the energy up, and profits should rise with it.
Benefits of an energized sales team include:
Increased motivation and drive
Energized sales teams are more motivated to achieve, leading to more consistent and successful prospecting activities and follow-up efforts. The flywheel effect of improved sales outcomes results in fuller pipelines and more opportunities to close business.
Higher levels of engagement and participation
When team members feel energized, they actively participate in team meetings, share valuable insights, and collaborate more effectively on complex deals. This engagement creates a positive feedback loop that elevates team performance, creating a culture of success.
Improved knowledge retention and application
If you’re disinterested in a topic, it’s tough to retain information about it. It’s much easier to absorb information effectively and learn new skills when you’re engaged and energized. So, when sales teams are energized, it’s more likely that training methods will stick and deliver better long-term results.
Stronger team cohesion and collaboration
High-energy teams develop stronger bonds and work together more seamlessly. When teams are working together well, it strengthens sales pipeline management and improves overall team effectiveness.
Better customer interactions and results
Enthusiastic salespeople create and nurture more positive customer experiences, leading to higher conversion rates, larger deal sizes, and stronger client relationships that generate repeat business and referrals.
Innovative sales training ideas to spark engagement
If you want to get your team energized to create better sales experiences, a good first step is to improve how you’re training them.
In recent years, there has been a movement in education toward “active learning,” that is, abandoning the one-way lectures of the past and creating opportunities for students to engage directly with what they’re learning. Test scores have shown that students have 54% higher retention rates when they’re learning actively vs. passively.
In other words: Ditch the boring PowerPoint lectures and create a new model for your team that combines hands-on learning with real-world application. Effective sales training should feel less like school and more like an engaging workshop where participants actively solve problems and practice new techniques. Mural is great for this kind of active learning, with visual tools that enable everyone to collaborate in one space and facilitation features to keep meetings on time and on task.
What are some examples of successful interactive training methods? There’s plenty to get you started in our template library. There you’ll find numerous premade templates you can use as-is or customize to incorporate your own material and learning methods. Other great ways to increase engagement include:
Focusing on interactive and experiential learning
Roleplaying isn’t just for Dungeons and Dragons. Let your team practice for real-world customer scenarios in a safe space with role-playing activities that help them learn how to think on their feet. Some skills don’t really set in until you use them, like learning how to respond to “no,” negotiating deals, and cold calling. This experiential approach can make your reps more flexible and teach them how to respond to a wide variety of possible scenarios.
Incorporating fun and friendly competition
If “extroversion” tops the list of traits common to sales reps, “competitiveness” would probably be a close second. Adding gamified elements to your trainings, like trivia quizzes, leaderboards, and team challenges, can increase sales performance while making training a lot more fun. Competition naturally gets people engaged and encourages participation from even the most skeptical sales rep.
Providing opportunities for recognition and rewards
Public recognition during training sessions reinforces positive behaviors and motivates continued engagement. Implement peer nomination systems where team members can acknowledge each other's contributions and improvements. Although recognition from leaders and management is always great, recognition from colleagues can improve team bonds and help reps feel appreciated.
Tailoring training to different learning styles
Some team members learn best through visual demonstrations, others through hands-on practice, and still others through discussion and analysis. Take the time to get to know your team members and how they like to learn so everyone can walk away with new skills and knowledge.
Making training relevant to daily sales activities
Since the ultimate goal of training is to improve real-world performance, you should always make an effort to connect your training sessions to real-world scenarios. Instead of creating imaginary customers at made-up companies, use your actual customer data and interactions to make the learning immediately applicable.
The power of ready-to-use templates in sales training
Why are templates a valuable asset for sales training? Putting an effective sales training together requires a lot of time and attention. It’s even more difficult when sales leaders and enablement teams feel like they’re having to reinvent the wheel every time. Templates are a helpful starting point so trainers can spend more time focused on the content of the training than the structure.
For example, if you’re running a training on stakeholder interviews, the Mural Stakeholder interview template would give you the structure and questions you need to get started, so you can work on customizing the exercise for your team instead of getting hung up on the layout.
How do templates save time and ensure consistency? Well-designed templates eliminate the guesswork from training preparation and guarantee that all participants receive the same experience regardless of who facilitates the session. Starting from a standardized place can be particularly valuable for organizations with multiple locations or training facilitators.
Saving time and resources
Pre-built templates can eliminate a lot of prep time by giving trainers a base from which to work. Instead of creating materials from scratch, trainers can use existing frameworks that have been proven to be effective with sales teams. This gives trainers more time to customize their material and work on how that material is delivered, rather than wasting time on design.
Ensuring consistency and structure in training materials
Using templates makes it easier to enforce consistency across trainings to ensure that all team members are getting the same information in the same way. Templates can be especially useful with larger teams, where multiple facilitators might be running the same training for different groups. For example, you can host a training on objection handling to ensure that your entire team is on the same page when a customer has hesitations or concerns.
Providing practical tools for immediate application
As I mentioned earlier, the best sales trainings should be based on real-world scenarios. Likewise, the most useful training templates will be things reps can immediately start using on the job. For instance, trainers could use Mural’s QBR template to teach reps how to run successful quarterly business reviews … and then hand the template off to the reps for use in their actual reviews.
Facilitating easier tracking and measurement
When trainings are inconsistent or too varied, it’s difficult to track progress or observe any patterns from session to session. When everyone is working from the same templatized training, however, trainers can compare results for different reps and sessions and identify areas where the team may need additional support.
Fueling sales success through engaging training and templates
Effective training is the foundation for sustained sales success. By transforming your trainings from passive to active, through the use of practical, ready-to-use templates, you’ll inspire deeper engagement with your sales team that helps them uplevel their skills and deepen their understanding of clients.
The most successful sales teams are those that embrace continuous learning through dynamic, interactive programs supported by proven templates and frameworks. The key is finding the right balance between creativity and structure, ensuring that training remains both engaging and practical. By implementing these approaches, you'll create an environment where team members feel motivated to grow, equipped with practical tools for success, and supported by consistent processes that drive results.
Your next steps should include evaluating your current training methods, identifying opportunities to incorporate more interactive elements, and building a library of templates that support your team's specific needs. Start with one or two high-impact areas, measure the results, and gradually expand your approach as you see positive outcomes. Remember, the goal isn't just to train your sales team – it's to energize your sales team for sustained performance and growth.
Ready to start using Mural templates for more engaging, interactive training sessions? Request a demo to see how Mural can help uplevel your sales trainings today.
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