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Role Play and Eat Your Lima Beans

Role play is undeniably uncomfortable—it’s awkward, cheesy, and feels like a chore. Let’s be honest, no one loves it. But here’s the thing: it’s one of the most effective tools to prepare your sales team for real-life customer conversations. It’s no fun, but it’s good for them.  I hated lima beans as a kid, but I still had to eat them.  So why should you make your sales team “eat their veggies” and role play pricing conversations?  Let me use two everyday examples that illustrate the power of live practice vs. passive training:

  1. Do you remember life before cell phones? How many phone numbers did you know?  Most of us knew dozens of phone numbers (or more!) by heart.  How did we know all those numbers?  Because we had to dial them over and over and over.  You remembered them easily because you practiced. Dialing the same number repeatedly etched a well-worn path into your brain. It’s the same with role play. Repetition creates a different kind of mastery: one that is always available at your fingertips, automatically, without having to think about it.
  2. What’s the difference between driving a route yourself versus being a passenger? If you’re a passenger being driven somewhere for the first time, your ability to recall the route is likely very different than if you were driving it yourself.  Your recall would be stronger behind the wheel.  As a passenger, it’s easy to tune out.  That’s why role play works better than just listening to content – saying the words out loud ingrains them in a way that listening alone never will. The power of role play is in making your sales reps “drive the car” instead of just sitting in the passenger seat.

Practicing real conversations gives salespeople the muscle memory they need to confidently handle price objections, communicate price increases, and respond to tough customer questions without freezing up. It forces them to say the words that are often the hardest to get out in the moment, which they might otherwise hesitate to use when dealing with customers​​.

Here’s where you come in as the leader: How do you get your team to buy in? How do you make role play less like forcing veggies down their throat and more like something they can stomach—maybe even enjoy? Start by creating a consistent, low-pressure environment for practice. One of our clients has a “First Fridays Pizza & Pricing Party:” on the first Friday of the month, the sales manager gathers the team for lunch.  Over pizza, they practice role play scenarios, taking turns as the customer and the sales rep.  The manager awards a $25 Dunkin Donuts gift card for the best role play performance to keep the atmosphere light. The first few times, the team resisted and grumbled, but over time, it became part of their culture—something they expect and (dare I say?) even look forward to.

Your team will balk at role play, but they have to eat their veggies!  With consistent practice in a fun environment, your team will go from hating role play to accepting it as a valuable training tool. And that, in turn, boosts their confidence when it matters most – during those live customer interactions where they need to nail the conversation​​​.