17 Fun Sales Games to Play with Teams at Work

By: | Updated: August 23, 2024

You found our list of the best sales games.

Sales games are fun activities that can improve selling skills and foster a sense of camaraderie among workers. Examples include Pair Selling, the Sales Sleuth, and Stranger Chats. The purpose of these activities is to provide a fun learning atmosphere that will boost the effectiveness of sales training. The right choice of sales games will promote teamwork and provide workers with vital lessons.

These activities are examples of relationship-building activities, games, and ideas or 5 minute team building activities, games, and ice breakers and are ways of improving company culture.

This list includes:

  • virtual sales games
  • morning sales meeting games
  • sales games for teams
  • sales games to motivate employees
  • sales training games

Here we go!

List of sales games

With the pressure of a sales job, injecting some fun into the training process can be a game changer. However, selecting the right games for workers is often a challenge. From Sell Me This Pen to Pitch Scattegories and Trade-Off, here is a list of the best games to engage your sales team in for better performance.

1. Pitch Tournaments

Pitch Tournaments are some of the best sales games for teams. Participants will learn the importance that teach of learning a customer’s needs before selling products.

For example, for the Pitch Tournaments, you could have a setup that has different office supplies such as note holders, paper clips, sticky notes, calculators, or files. Just make sure that the items are enough for each pair of participants.

Instructions:

  1. Ask teams to pair up and decide which partner will play the role of the customer and seller
  2. Let the seller pick a random item that is within their reach and sell the product to the customer
  3. After two to four minutes, stop the game and have the buyers give a short brief of the sales process. You can then congratulate sellers who were keen on the buyers’ needs and correct players who failed the activity.

The goal of the Pitch Tournaments is to remind your team to focus on solving the customer’s problem rather than selling the service or product. You could also have a Pitch Tournament game variation with different types of prospects. For instance, some team leaders can play grumpy, critical, or smart prospects. The game variation will offer tips that sales reps can use when dealing with different clients.

2. Flight Seat Partner

The Flight Seat Partner game is a simple sales activity that teaches teams proactivity to approach new prospects. For this activity, participants only need a pen and paper.

Instructions:

  1. Players will take on a scenario where they are flying abroad for a work trip
  2. A lady who is sitting next to the player has reading materials for a company that they are set to approach for a huge sale
  3. Soon, the two start a conversation, and the lady asks ‘so what do you do?’
  4. Players will then craft an answer that leads to a successful sales pitch

After the activity, you can let each player write down how the conversation went. Then, each participant will give a brief presentation of their conversations. Other participants could weigh in on the success rate of the pitch. The Flight Seat Partner game is a clever way to measure participants’ individual sales skills.

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3. Sell Me This Pen

As one of the most popular sales training games, the Sell Me This Pen activity is a must-try for teams. You can select one representative to play the game if you have a large team. You could give the player a pen and request them to sell the item to any attendee. Then, host a discussion and let players know the biggest mistakes salespeople make while answering the question. We advise that you play this game as a spontaneous activity. The Sell Me This Pen game will teach your team quick thinking skills and sale-closing tips.

4. Pitch Scattegories

Scattegories is a game where players compete by listing down words that start with the same letter. You will need a letter spinning wheel, pens, and writing materials for this activity.

Instructions:

  1. You can start by making a table with products on a row and characteristics in one column. Some good characteristic ideas include product features, benefits, and disadvantages.
  2. Let 10 to 15 players spin the wheel and mention products that start with the selected letters
  3. Give players two to four minutes to fill in the categories
  4. You can then have an open discussion about the importance of product features in closing a sale.

Pitch Scattegories will teach your sales team quick thinking skills and help your employees learn how to apply sales techniques to different products.

5. Product Descriptions

If you are looking for hilarious sales games to motivate employees, then Product Descriptions is an excellent pick. For this activity, you will need a large space that will accommodate all participants.

Instructions:

  1. Gather your team and let all players form a circle
  2. Pick a random item within your reach and give each player up to 60 seconds to pitch to other participants
  3. Players will focus on the notable features and must not repeat a sellable attribute that another participant mentions
  4. Any player who cannot remember a feature within 60 seconds exits the game
  5. Let the game continue and announce the last standing player as the winner

To avoid the monotony of pitching with office stationery, you could carry some non-office supplies for the activity. You can even use the pointing technique where you mention an object, such as a table, and let participants pitch using notable features. The Product Descriptions game is a light-hearted activity that will boost participants’ creativity and selling skills.

6. The Sales Sleuth

The Sales Sleuths is an exciting and engaging game for a sales workforce. In this activity, sales representatives will play detectives and uncover clients’ needs.

Instructions:

  1. Let participants pair up and settle on which employee will play detective and prospect
  2. The prospect will list challenges that they imagine customers face leading to the purchase of a product
  3. Give each pair five to ten minutes and encourage the detective to get as much information as possible about the prospect’s needs
  4. The detective who manages to build rapport with the prospect and get the most information wins takes the departmental investigative title

By asking practical questions, the sales rep will uncover strategic and hidden ways that will improve the performance of their sales efforts and results. The activity will also equip your sales team with listening skills and cultivate the right attitude for a successful career. You could use the game to identify which sales representatives need to refine their questioning and research skills.

7. Gamified Cold Calls

If you are looking for virtual sales games, then gamified cold calls are a great option. For this activity, let participants make cold calls for up to five minutes as other employees listen. The activity has a twist in that participants get points based on the buying process and the success of the cold calls.

For instance, you could give:

  • 20 points for going for a minute without phrases such as ‘uh’, or ‘um’
  • 30 points for making the prospect laugh
  • 30 points for scheduling a follow-up
  • 50 points for getting the prospect to ask questions about the service or product
  • 60 points for getting an email address
  • 200 points for closing a deal

You can introduce ave a point-based system that rewards employees as per the selling techniques used and the quality of calls. Cold calls are some of the most powerful ways sales reps can use to get new leads and convert them into prospects.

8. Stranger Chats

The Stranger Chats game is a great activity that will boost your team’s confidence to approach new prospects. For this activity, you can give participants prompts that they will complete during their sales trip. Be sure to include significant token prizes based on the prompts that each participant completes.

Examples:

  • Get a prospect’s favorite quote
  • Get a prospect’s best international cuisine
  • Get a prospect to reveal their favorite destination

The Stranger Chats game will also help players know how to initiate talks leading up to a sale. For instance, participants who start the conversation by asking strangers for a selfie are unlikely to succeed. However, players keen on building a rapport and asking for a selfie later may be successful. You can use this analogy to explain to the team the importance of building relationships with customers leading up to a huge sale. Ensure that participants have means of recording the prompts while also being respectful of the prospects’ reservations.

Here is a list of get to know you questions for inspiration.

9. Pair Selling

The Pair Selling activity is one of the best sales training games. For this activity, you will pair existing salespersons with new employees. Then, give each pair similar sales targets and enough time for the teams to sell the company’s products. For instance, if you have a computer reselling business, then you can give the pair 12 hours to sell at least five computers. The pair will report back after the lapse of 12 hours. This activity allows low performers or new employees to learn selling tips from leading sellers. The Pair Selling game is also a clever way to promote mentorship and camaraderie.

10. Trade-Off

If you are looking for sales games that will teach teams negotiation skills, then the Trade-Off idea is a good bet. In this game, two teams will compete against each other in trading for better items than the products they have at hand. You could start by giving each team an office stationery item, such as a pen or a stapler. Then, let teams trade the item for a more valuable product from other colleagues. Players who manage to trade off for better items win the game. After the game, have a review session where players reveal their negotiation tips and future lessons. Be sure to set out strict negotiation guidelines to ensure fair play.

11. Cold Call Bingo

If you are looking for light-hearted sales games for teams, then you will love Cold Call Bingo. In this activity, junior sales reps will listen to their seniors as they make cold calls. You can start by giving each junior rep a Bingo card with 24 sales-related actions. Then, instruct the junior reps to listen to conversations between the senior sales rep and the prospect. Junior reps will shout ‘Bingo’ once they hear a statement made by senior reps on the bingo cards.

Examples of sales bingo statements:

  • Call back tomorrow
  • Not interested
  • Can we reschedule?
  • Free after-sale services
  • No answer
  • Mail me the info

Cold calls may be among the least appealing parts of a sales job. However, these activities offer important skills for sales reps. You can host regular Cold Call Bingo games to boost your team’s confidence.

You can also check out icebreaker Bingo.

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12. Sales Jeopardy

Featuring a quiz-show format, sales Jeopardy is one of the best virtual sales games that challenges workers’ knowledge. Since Jeopardy is a popular game, most participants may already know the rules. However, we advise you to review the rules for the sake of employees who are playing the game for the first time.

Instructions:

  1. Get an online Jeopardy slideshow template such as this form from Jeopardy Labs
  2. Fill in your questions and answers and share the screen with all participants. You can also check out the pre-made questions from Jeopardy Labs
  3. For the final contest, you can form several breakout rooms and let participants share answers via private message.

You can include five product categories related to your company’s offerings, such as the company’s mission, product names, customer stats, and values. Sales Jeopardy games can be pivotal in helping your reps understand the sales process, customers, products, and competitors better.

Check out this guide on how to play Jeopardy at work.

13. Match the Product

The Match the Product activity is one of the best morning sales meeting games companies can use to train new hires. You only need a pen and paper to run this 20-to-30-minute activity.

Instructions:

  1. Start by making a list of products that your company sells. If you have less than three products, then you are free to add other items to your list
  2. List down the product features and pricing plans beneath each item and the pricing plans
  3. Provide participants with a list of short-sentence descriptions of different prospects, their needs, and wants
  4. Let the reps match the products and the short sentence descriptions

The Match the Product game is an interesting activity that will teach participants to listen to the prospects’ needs and match them to the right product.

14. What’s in the Box?

One of the most important lessons that salespersons can learn from the What’s in the Box game is asking the right questions. For this game, you will need boxes with random products. You are free to use office supplies or other items that would take teams longer efforts to guess.

Instructions:

  1. Start by grouping players into teams of 10 to 20 participants
  2. Select one team leaders for each group who will get a peek at the contents of the box
  3. Set a five-minute timer and let each team member ask a closed-ended question about what the item in the box could be. For instance, one player could ask ‘Is the item large?’ If the answer is no, then another participant will ask another closed-ended question.
  4. Players can then ask open-ended questions for another five minutes. For instance, one player could ask the team leader to describe the shape of the item.

The first team to get the correct guess wins. The What’s in the Box game will teach salespersons the right questions that may lead to successful sales.

15. Prospect Take Down

Team leaders looking for sales games to motivate employees could try the Prospect Take Down idea. You can carry out this game in the morning before reps start their daily sales tasks. For this game, reps will pair up and do role plays that will impersonate the most difficult prospect. Encourage reps who are impersonating the toughest prospect to be difficult and portray realistic issues that players face every day. After the activity, have a session where each rep states how they dealt with the difficult prospect. The customer impersonator can also provide their views about how the reps handle the situation.

16. The Dice Game

Landing sales can be number-intensive and time-consuming. Hence, your team should learn that the more they interact with prospects, the more sales they are likely to make. The Dice Game is a fun activity that you could use to encourage your team to be persistent in their selling efforts and not give up quickly.

Instructions:

  1. You can start by grouping participants into teams of up to eight players
  2. Give each group one die and set a 30-seconds-0timer
  3. Let each group’s team leader take records of how many players manage to get a six and the number of tries it takes

Players will learn that the chances of making a sale increase with consistent efforts. You may also notice that players will start throwing the dice more as the second lapses. You can use the scenario to teach the importance of starting the selling process as soon as reps get a prospect rather than rushing to close a sale at the last minute.

17. Trivia

Team trivia sessions are a great choice of morning sales meeting games. For large teams, you could have trivia competitions with incentives based on the points that each group gets. You can tailor the trivia to your organization or use random sales questions.

Examples:

  • What are our current sales projections for the month?
  • What are the three sales strategies that we discussed during our last meeting?
  • Which is the most memorable part of a presentation? -The last five minutes
  • Which among these two does the human brain process faster?- Visuals or texts?
  • Name five Fortune 500 companies and give a brief stat of their sales performance

You are also free to include non-sales trivia questions. You can use sales trivia to quiz your team’s knowledge about key terms and concepts in sales.

Here are more trivia topics that you can include.

Conclusion

One of the best ways companies can scale is by investing in workers’ learning and career development. Sales games allow employees to get experiential training in a fun setting. Through these activities, employees can also boost their knowledge about products. However, knowing the right sales game for your team requires prior research. Regular sales games will create a fun work atmosphere and increase employees’ productivity.

Next, check out our list of creative sales meeting ideas to motivate your team, team meeting ideas and topics that are out of the box, sales training programs, and best sales books to read.

Next, check out our list of .online team building games for remote employees, importance of employee engagement, and connection games and activities for adults.

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FAQ: Sales games

Here are answers to common questions about sales games

What are sales games?

Sales games are fun activities companies can use to teach teams vital industry skills. These activities are also great icebreakers that will promote the sharing of theoretical knowledge and practical application in a fun way.

What are some good games to play with sales teams?

You can determine the best choice of sales games based on the skills you want to build, the team’s capability, and the available time. Some good games to play with teams include Pitch Tournaments, Prospect Take Down, and the Dice Game.

What are the benefits of playing sales games?

The differences in industries, responsibilities, and team structures make it difficult to have a one-size-fits-all approach to sales training. However, we encourage companies to take advantage of simple games that workers will enjoy while still learning vital industry skills.

Here are some benefits of playing sales games:

  • Easy ways to onboard new hires
  • Boost healthy competition
  • Encourage team building
  • Increase employee engagement
  • Improve communication skills
  • Help sales reps have a better understanding of their products and services
  • Encourage teams to build critical thinking skills

Effective sales games will help teams to learn new techniques and sharpen existing skills.

Author avatar

Author:

People & Culture Director at teambuilding.com.
Grace is the Director of People & Culture at teambuilding.com. She studied Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, Information Science at East China Normal University and earned an MBA at Washington State University.

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