We know the humor is an extremely powerful force, sometimes even life saving (Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins).

Children are natural learners. Children learn very fast and a lot before they turn five. They put together ideas, experiences and things creatively and freely. We also see that they laugh a lot. I read somewhere that a 5-year-old laughs over 400 times a day! But as we grow older, we become more constrained and goal oriented when we learn. And we laugh much less.

We tend to agree with Elliott Massie when he says that every great classroom-based class that he had attended contained humor and laughter. Off hand, we agree that positive humor will help establish a climate conducive to learning, reduce stress, aids retention of information, breaks down barriers between facilitators and learners, and foster cohesiveness.

But the question is how?

I know humor is like creativity. It is intuitive. It is very difficult to structure and tame it with a process. Some people are humorous, some are not. (I find Indians notorious for their lack of humor; I think we take ourselves too seriously L) Can we learn to be humorous and entertaining? Are there any tried and tested means and methods?

And how much?

Now coming to how much of entertaining or humor is good? When we see advertisements that make us laugh a lot and those we find very entertaining, we often remember the advertisement not the product they endorse. Similarly, I think too much of entertaining in training will actually impede learning. Participants will have a good time. Your reaction level feedback will be great but learners’ level may not be that great! Again are there any norms? Should we use humor only during ice-breaking or towards the end of the session?

What about humor in eLearning?

I think eLearning poses the greatest challenge. The only piece of humor I ever encountered in an eLearning course was the humorous feedback in an assessment. Any ideas and experiences?

Thank you for reading my blog and I welcome your comments and sharing of experiences.

RK Prasad

CEO

We have a tendency to solve all performance problems with training interventions, even though a majority of performance-related issues are more amenable to non-instructional interventions.

I think a performance support system or a job aid is appropriate when:

1. The task has to be done quickly or speedily
2. The task is infrequently performed
3. The task is complex, involves many steps, or has many attributes
4. The consequence of error is intolerable
5. Performance depends on a large body of information
6. Performance depends on knowledge, procedures, or approaches that change frequently
7. Performance can be improved through employee self-assessment and correction with standards in mind
8. There is high turnover and the task is perceived to be simple
9. There is little time or few resources to devote to training

In these tough economic times, it makes a lot of sense to do some kind of study (like Harless Front-end analysis and the thirteen smart questions: http://www.ue295.com/xtranet/html/timeline/harless.html) to ascertain if the issue at hand can really be treated instructionally or we should just go for a simple job-aid.

I welcome you to share your experiences where a performance support system or a simple job aid like a checklist worked very well for you.

Thank you for reading my blog.

RK Prasad

CEO

Last weekend, I was reading an old tattered booklet on Elmer Wheeler and his selling techniques which I picked up from one of the booksellers who sell old, second-hand books of a wide variety of subjects from the pavements (in front of stores that are closed on Sundays) here in Hyderabad, India. These pavements are a fascinating place to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon, pottering among literally thousands of books, collected from across the country from owners who for reasons unknown sell these precious books to vendors for a couple of rupees.

Wheeler was quite a pioneer in way. As a newspaper advertising space sales person, he discovered that the weak link between effective advertising which bring prospective customers to the stores and the actual sale is the salesperson. He realized that getting his clients ads in the newspaper is probably just the beginning of his job. That started him off on a ten-year research on what words or sentences spoken by a sales person will substantially increase sale. He purportedly tested about 1 million words on more than 19 million people before he came with his “wheeler points”.

He was fond of saying that the best-looking merchandize won’t sell for itself and prettiest dotted line won’t sign itself without the intelligent persuasion of somebody’s words.

Wheeler Point 1: Sell the sizzle, not the steak

Discover the main benefit which will appeal to the customer and convey that very benefit. Don’t sell drill 4” drill bits; sell 4” holes. In other words, talk in terms of benefits not features.

Wheeler Point 2: Don’t write; telegraph

As a salesperson, use minimum words. Every unnecessary word jeopardizes the sale. It is what you say in the first 10 seconds that will make or break the sale.

Wheeler Point 3: Say it with flowers

You ‘sizzles’ should be demonstrated. Any physical action, gestures, expressions or still better showing how the product works. Get action with action.

Wheeler Point 4: Don’t ask if, ask which

Always give the customer a choice between something and something; not something and nothing. Don’t ask if, ask which, when, where or how.

Wheeler Point 5: Watch your bark

The finest ‘sizzle’ said is telegraphed in 10 seconds with a bouquet of flowers, and enough ‘which’, ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ will not work if your voice does not have enough sincerity and enthusiasm.

There are some more wheeler points. But even these five have achieved such stupendous increase in sales that it is almost unbelievable. You must read the book to appreciate the effectiveness of these ‘tested sentences’. I found a free online version at http://www.sentencesthatsell.com

I am sure that the current day sales training is doing a good job. But I think for product training, a training program on Wheeler’s methods can do wonders. And it can be done online, with a carefully designed eLearning course.

What do you think? Thank you for reading my blog and I welcome your comments and sharing of experiences.

RK Prasad

CEO

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