Algeco
Embedding sales mindset and performance by turning investigation into sales practice
How do you turn learning sales techniques into memorable, immediately applicable training for a seasoned sales force ? At their national offsite, the sales leadership team atAlgeco France wanted to work on the essential art of questioning with their sales team of 100 people. To meet this design challenge without falling back on theoretical sales training , Arcane Experience created a sales techniques serious game built on the perfect parallel between the mindset of an investigator and that of a salesperson.
The challenge: training without PowerPoint to sharpen sales behaviour
Classic classroom formats often overload teams’ attention without delivering real skills on the ground. For Algeco’s sales director , the aim was to embed lasting behavioural reflexes in thesales meeting, while tapping into the competitive spirit of the sales team. Facing similar challenges around shifting behaviours? Explore our dedicated expertise in change management.
Training salespeople through action
Favouring immersive learning methods built on true-to-life role-play scenarios .
Handling objections with finesse
Training teams to master the sales process and pinpoint client needs.
The difficulty was designing a programme able to test each salesperson’s agility against demanding counterparts.
Our answer: an immersive fictional world to unlock sales skills
To break the mould of sales training, our team devised a counter-intuitive scenario where participants play, for once, the “bad guys” inside a notorious mafia family. That narrative sidestep clicked instantly with this competitive audience. Over one hour of intensive roaming gameplay, the 100 sales professionals turned detective to hunt down the traitor eating away at the empire of the theatrical Furia.
Reading the sales situation
Teams progress independently with a roadbook, gathering and decoding clues.
Face-to-face confrontation
Four strategic workshops led by professional actors playing hard-to-crack suspects.
Precise assessment of the pitch
A strict points-based scoring system driven by the relevance of the questions asked.
Training design: a sandbox for sales coaching
The real strength of this sales techniques training lies in its sandbox mechanic and its supportive approach to assessment. Facing the teams, the actors played deliberately difficult witnesses, in no rush to give up their secrets. If a salesperson’s wording lacked precision, the conversation didn’t shut down: the game is a safe space to experiment, so the actors gave players the chance to adjust their approach, use rephrasing with empathy and rework their sales pitch to move forward. Scoring was based on a strict points system assessing the structure of their questioning.
The highlight of the programme was a mirror debrief led by Algeco’s own trainers and sales managers , who have been coaching these teams for years. The parallel between investigation and business spoke for itself: just as a witness won’t reveal everything at the first question, a prospect in a B2B meeting never shares their deeper challenges in the first exchange. The coaches were able to embed the importance of digging deeper in the discovery phase to enrich client relationships. To align your teams on these skills, explore our solutions to optimise training.
The impact: energised sales activity and skills that transfer
Developed over 2 months of production, this immersive programme turned a skills session into a memorable team challenge, endorsed by the sales directors.
Smoother objection handling
Building the reflex of never settling for a prospect’s first answer.
A galvanised sales force
Mobilising 100 employees at once around a challenge focused on behavioural excellence.
A sharper sales cycle
Making the transfer from game to everyday negotiations immediate.
FAQ: serious games for sales performance
Why is the parallel between an investigator and a salesperson so effective for training?
An investigation and a sales meeting share the same cornerstone: the art of asking the right questions to surface a hidden need. By casting the salesperson as an investigator, the sales techniques serious game disarms the defence mechanisms of experienced sellers. They stop reciting a method learned by heart and naturally draw on instinct, active listening and agility to crack the case, which is exactly how you work on genuine sales behaviour.
How does the sandbox mechanic help salespeople learn?
The sandbox concept creates a safe professional training environment where mistakes become learning tools. Facing our actors, a salesperson using the wrong technique isn’t stuck: they’re invited to iterate, try another approach and rephrase on the spot. That freedom to experiment, combined with points-based scoring, embeds learning far more powerfully than a top-down theory session.
How does this game format work with our internal coaches or trainers?
That’s the strength of our co-design approach. We don’t replace your support teams, we give them an extremely powerful facilitation tool. As in the Algeco project, your internal trainers attend the sessions to observe how teams behave in real situations. They lead the final debrief, which lets them connect the experience perfectly to your internal sales management and drive long-term follow-up. Want to boost your teams’ performance? You can contact us directly to shape your project.
