Sales training has always had a performance problem. PowerPoint fatigue. Long, rigid learning cycles. Subjective assessments. Now imagine a platform that takes your best sales reps, turns their best practices into repeatable simulations, and trains your team to close with precision—in any language, with any buyer persona, in minutes.

That’s not a fantasy. It’s Cicero—the AI-powered role play and coaching platform created by CGS Immersive.

We recently sat down with Paul Hanson, VP of Enterprise Learning at CGS Immersive, who shared the inside story of Cicero’s development and its transformative impact across industries, from pharma to finance. Originally designed to help cabin flight crews deal with unruly passengers, Cicero has evolved into a lifelike AI roleplay engine that helps salespeople master even the toughest conversations—on-demand, in real-time.

From Skeptic to Evangelist

Hanson admits he was once a late adopter. “I had a six-year-old laptop, a six-year-old phone, and a seven-year-old car,” he joked. But after testing Cicero himself, building hundreds of simulations, and watching companies respond in real time—he became its biggest believer.

“In Geneva, I created a role play in five minutes on a hotel lobby sofa. Within hours, a global pharma company was using it with their sales team,” he said. “That kind of immediacy was unheard of in traditional training.”

Real-Time, Realistic, Real Results

Unlike traditional role plays that are clunky to scale or require weeks of prep, Cicero lets trainers build intelligent role plays in under five minutes. You describe the scenario, choose an avatar, set the difficulty (easy to very hard), and hit generate. It’s that simple.

Want to train a team to sell a medical device to a skeptical surgeon? Done. Need to prep your call center for wildfire-related insurance calls? Done. Cicero lets you simulate any conversation—from pitching to objections, negotiations to compliance—with avatars that talk back using real-world behaviors.

“We even had one user say, ‘It’s not role play, it’s real play,’” Hanson recalled.

AI Coaching That Goes Beyond Scripts

Beyond role play, Cicero includes a “coach” module. You can drag in an RFP, a sales playbook, or a product brochure—and ask it anything. Need an elevator pitch before a board meeting? Done. Want to compare five competitive RFPs and identify who offers the lowest price? It’s all possible. Even better: the data remains secure and siloed—perfect for regulated industries like healthcare and finance.

And if you’re on the road? Use Cicero’s speech-to-speech mode to prep while driving. Ask questions. Get answers. Practice aloud. Your mobile coach rides shotgun.

Multilingual, Multiuse, Multiplier of Revenue

Cicero supports 29 languages and includes avatars with localized accents and behaviors—British English for your European reps, Brazilian Portuguese for Latin America, and everything in between. Whether you’re training cabin crews, pharmaceutical reps, or wealth advisors, Cicero meets them where they are—linguistically and emotionally.

Better yet, sales leaders can analyze performance objectively. Each session ends with a score, a transcript, and personalized improvement suggestions. It’s scalable, repeatable, and trackable.

Why This Matters Now

In an era where sales cycles are tightening and reps face increasing complexity, you can’t afford hit-or-miss training. Cicero turns your sales process into a living, breathing simulator—empowering reps to learn fast, fail safe, and win more deals.

If you’re still relying on slides, scripts, and once-a-year sales kickoffs to train your team, it’s time to upgrade.

Ready to experience Cicero for yourself?

Sign up for the insightful free webinar – Drive sales success: master the art of persuasive conversations.