Is it a standard, "canned" presentation? Or does each salesperson have the freedom to create their own presentation?
If is a company canned presentation, then the only benefit from group practice is to get feedback on the "sincerity" and polish of the presentation (and to give management an opportunity to evaluate how well or poorly their "message" is getting out--and who to come down on).
On the other hand, if each salesperson has the opportunity to develop their own presentation, the practice sessions can be very beneficial. It's a great opportunity to get feedback on what is good and want needs to be worked on. It gives everyone else the opportunity to pick up some tips on what one salesperson is doing that is really good. It gives those with less confidence and polish the opportunity to work on their presentations. It can give the group opportunities to present to different types of "buyers" and in different "situations." It can give people the opportunity to try new things. The benefit list is almost endless.
But the benefits of group presentations are only there if the salespeople take the task seriously. That's where the tough part comes in--getting buy-in by everyone that the exercise can be helpful.
Typically, if it is a company canned presentation, it's pretty useless because the only objective of most people is to get the words down exactly without the slightest interest in what they're really doing. But, then, company canned presentations tend to be pretty worthless anyway. But that's a whole different discussion.
