Over the weekend, I went shopping at a supermarket with my family. On my way out, we were cornered by a sales rep from a well-known travel company. Not wanting to sound rude, we listened to him present his travel packages to us. To sound a bit interested, we asked him few questions.

Finally, we told him that we are not interested and walked away. When I replayed the conversation in my mind, I realized that despite being polite with him, the sales representative was nervous and fumbling while answering our queries. It made me wonder if he was trained to answer questions other than those mentioned in his list.

A sale is the single most important part of any business. Hence, it is imperative that a business should have a well-trained sales staff. And, what other way than sales training to make sure that your sales people know and understand all the methods and approaches to gain sales?

During the training period, the company should explain minute details about itself, its products and services offered. The sales person should be updated with features, benefits and the competitor’s products or services, et al.

Using scenario-based and role-play approaches, he should be asked to make a sales pitch to a prospective client… The sales people should also be trained on verbal and written communication skills, computer skills for basic reporting, soft skills, dress sense, etc. They should be made to realize that a confident sales professional is bound to create a lasting first impression on potential clients.

Sales person should be trained to be an effective listener and should be prepared to answer and act accordingly. When a customer answers, he can restate it for clarity, try to gain insight into the customer’s need and wants by asking the right questions.

Customers buy not just the product or a service, but a solution through the product or service. He should be able to identify those solutions. While talking about the features and benefits of the product or service, he should allow the customer to see the benefits, solutions and results offered through the product or service.

Customer loyalty, ethics and integrity are important components of sales. An ethical sales person will be honest and tell the customer that he does not know the answer to a specific question, unlike making up an answer just to create sales.

Some companies may think training sales staff is a waste of time and money. However, trained sales professionals have an edge over their untrained counterparts.

However, in today’s competitive business environment, any advantage, businesses give their sales staff pays rich dividends. Online technology has created an entire new way of conducting sales and it is important that business and sales personnel train themselves in these methods. Businesses should consider sales training for everyone, be it the front desk receptionist, customer service or office boy that has direct contact with customers.

Do you agree that sales training really pays-off?

Thank you for reading my blog and look forward to your comments and opinions.

As we are entering into a new year, I thought of having quick review of the most appreciated blogs in the year 2009. The list represents some of the most interesting and active learning topics.

Training Needs Analysis: To Skip or Not to Skip is the Question

Usually, training needs are identified during an annual performance appraisal done by HRD. These needs are handed over to corporate training to initiate involvement to address them. The needs are classified and collated; training calendars drawn; training budgets projected and so on. Most line managers want the training to be delivered yesterday! There is always a dearth of time, resources and money, which makes us think twice before we jump into a full-fledged analysis. So, the question is when can we skip and when can we not?

How can you learn, unlearn and relearn?

There is so much we unlearn without much effort. Knowledge not often revised, skills not regularly practiced and beliefs shattered by contradictory experience are all day-to-day examples of unlearning. But what about a situation where person’s knowledge, skills and beliefs serve him well and is therefore reinforced? How can he unlearn them in the face of a superior learning, which will serve him better?

Singular delivery environment for instruction (i.e. class-room only) versus a blended delivery instructional environment – when to use them?

In today’s technology and availability of multiple delivery media days, we are tempted to use a blended approach (more than one medium of delivery) to deliver training. In corporate training, many a times, singular delivery method is enough to do the job. Before we zero down on the criteria for selecting a delivery environment, let us know more about the typical singular and blended learning environments.

Sage on the Stage or Guide on the Side?

A leader motivates, envisions, inspires, communicates, cajoles, reprimands… so does a teacher. A leader is driven by his ego. Who among us can deny the thrill of self-gratification when we stand in front of a group and lead them? So, why belittle the ‘sage’ in us? On the other hand, how much of empathy does trainer need to relate to his flock? Does being a ‘guide by the side’ depend upon the kind of learners, the trainer is dealing with? Or are we just donning the role of ‘guide’ only to mollify the egos of learners? What exactly we mean by ‘facilitating’ learning?

Learning Styles and Instructional Design: Do they go hand in hand?

Kolb’s learning theory introduces us to four distinct learning styles (or preferences), which are based on a four-stage learning cycle – learning by feeling, watching, thinking and doing. My question is how practicable or feasible it is to try and accommodate various learning styles while designing a course, be it classroom or online?

How much of ‘Entertaining’ is advisable in Training?

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

Sales Training in a Classroom or Online?

Sales Training can comprise product knowledge, sales procedures & reports and selling skills. We have been developing sales training courses for automobile major in Europe, with market presence in Europe and Asia. During the development, we realized that this client company is using a blended approach by addressing certain aspects of training via online delivery and certain others in the classroom. What do you think? Is eLearning or online mode of delivery suitable for selling skills training?

Software Product Simulation – Captivate or Flash?

Software product training using authoring tools like Captivate or Adobe Flash is an effective mode of eLearning. Screenshots of the software acts as a raw content for developing an online course. The learner is taught on how to use the software by creating a simulated environment. The effectiveness of learning can be enhanced by using audio. Both Captivate and Flash can impart training. Let’s see, which one is more suitable.

What Are The Real Elearning Standards?

In the eLearning field, we usually come across SCORM/AICC as the standards to which the courseware should adhere to. But how far are these standards learner-centric? Are these standards impeding learning?

How to market social media as a learning tool?

How do we ‘market’ the use of social media as a new tool or avatar of learning? First, are we sold on it? Many of us have mixed experiences and opinions about using social media in an organizational setting to learn and improve workplace performance. I think I find blogging and LinkedIn more useful than Face book or Twitter. I am sure many of you have opposing views.

Wishing all a Happy, Prosperous and Peaceful New Year!

RK Prasad

CEO

As most of you know, Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual world whose content is open-ended and created by its users based on their imagination. The access to SL is free to casual users, while additional benefits and services come with a price tag.

When I first heard about SL, I promptly created an account and explored it. Can SL change the way product training or sales training is done now? Will its three dimensional (3D), visually intensive and information rich learning environment offer us a powerful medium to address these critical training needs… were some of the questions that raced through my mind.

My first impression was that product and sales training will be ‘born again’. [But then, I can get very excited with new technologies] I started dreaming that companies can take initiatives of educating their sales staff and customers on their products, given its 3-D environment. But after some exploration, I think, although SL is “cool” and shows a lot of promise with its visual and functional capabilities; it is not something that you and I will happily welcome with open arms. More specifically, we will encounter obstacles such as:

1. A steep learning curve needs to be maneuvered due to lack of awareness about SL in the first place.
2. Internal Learning & Development teams may not have the required skills to deliver this kind of training online.
3. The current navigation structure is not intuitive. It is slow, awkward and confusing. Many a times, I got stuck.
4. It will definitely be expensive to develop custom applications.
5. Some organizations may have bandwidth limitations.
6. Integration with existing learning management systems will be a real challenge.

I am still convinced that Second Life has potential (I don’t know why; more of a gut feeling), but it looks like as of now, that it is overshadowed by a steep learning curve for new users, a non-intuitive interface, and the high investment of time and money required for programming content to justify the costs.

I would greatly appreciate your comments and sharing of your experiences. Thank you for reading my blog.

RK Prasad

CEO

Developing a highly interactive course is a mammoth operation. If you’re looking to create highly interactive eLearning course using graphics and animation, then Flash is highly recommended. Most of the online product training, sales training and software training require courses with high interactivity for effective learning experience.

Similar kind of output can be achieved using Articulate Engage. Unlike other authoring tools like Lectora and Captivate, Articulate Engage gives you an option to create interactivities, which will help in creating effective learning experience.

Subject Matter Experts (SME) or Instructional Designers (ID) can use these templates to create storyboards and complete the course in short time, making it cost effective.

Some of the popular instructional approaches that can be used are given below along with the Articulate screen shots.

Clickable Circular Diagram: Shows various elements of a process.

FAQs: Useful as a quick reference for sales training kit.

Glossary Template: Highly visual glossary page for explaining the concept or a term easily.

Guided Imagery: Useful for product training and explaining the parts of a product.

Labeled Graphics: Useful to explain software screens or labeling parts of a product. When the user clicks on the rollover icon (hotspot), the explanation for same is displayed.

Media Tour: Useful for animations and embedding videos.

Process: It explains the process/procedure in a step wise format. Recommended for production or manufacturing processes.

Pyramid: Shows various steps or hierarchy levels in a process.

Timelines: Shows history or process of any activity vis-à-vis time.

Click on Tabs: To provide additional information on a given set of topics.

Product training through eLearning offers a wonderful opportunity to enrich sales training programs with simulated product presentations and product walk-through in various selling situations. Actually eLearning also offers a comprehensive platform for Customer Service and Business Process Training.

Various industries such as Petroleum, Power Tools, Software, Financial Services, Metals & Minerals, Farms & Agriculture, etc, avail of eLearning courses for product training.

Beside Flash and HTML, authoring tools like Captivate, Articulate and Lectora are most commonly used to create product training eLearning courses.

Product Simulation

Based on product manuals, promotional literature and product images, highly interactive flash-based courses are created using product simulation. It makes learning highly effective and quick.

Click here to view demo

Software Simulation – ‘Watch-Try-Do’

‘Watch-Try-Do’ approach is one of the most effective ways to demonstrating how a software product works. The learner gets the real time experience of how the software works and also gets the opportunity to work on the simulated environment.

Click here to view demo

For more information view Product Training through eLearning