Blended Learning | Design Access - custom eLearning & sales tools

Overview

Founded in 1927, this leading industrial distributor has a selection of over 500,000 supplies and 2.5 million repair parts. It prides itself on customer service and providing the right product at the right time with the right information. It recognized that not all customers were receiving the most helpful information about their products and services.

Business Challenge

They realized that its territory sales managers worked in certain comfort zones that limited their penetration into a given account. They would tend to meet with a small subset of each account’s possible contacts. They would describe features and benefits of products and services without taking into account the customer’s needs. Even if the products were appropriate, they were not presented as answers to a customer’s challenge. As a result, customers would be less likely to purchase products and services if they did not understand how these products would benefit their business.

How do you transform order-takers into consultants?

The client needed a way to push their salespeople beyond their order-taking behaviors to a more consultative role. They wanted their salespeople to discover the customer’s needs before proposing solutions. And they wanted them to visit a wider variety of decision makers within each organization.

Design Access recommended a blended learning solution. The term “blended” refers to the combination of classroom learning and e-learning. The e-learning portion gives the salespeople practice with their new behaviors, and the classroom portion reinforces the learning points and facilitates discussion.

“Working with Design Access is a pleasure. They take the time to really understand our objectives before they begin. That makes all the difference in the world.” -M.R. (Project Manager)

“If someone were to ask me, ‘would you recommend Design Access?’, the answer is an overwhelming ‘Yes’… I would definitely put them at the top of the list.” -J.O. (Project Manager)

Solution

Design Access created “Sim Sales Training,” a blended e-learning solution. The e-learning portion of the training is online prework for a live workshop on consultative selling. The program engages the learner by incorporating realistic case studies and a case study analysis. The learner makes observations at the customer’s location and interviews various customer contacts culminating in the development of a case study analysis. The learners then attend the live workshop for additional learning opportunities involving discussion, role-plays, sharing of best practices, and supplier presentations.

Design Access developed interactive simulations with realistic customer scenarios. The program was designed to provide practice doing consultative selling in a realistic, safe environment.

One of the most popular features of the training was the pretesting of the learner to allow them to “place out” of material they already knew. For these busy salespeople, this respect for their time won high praise.

This blended learning solution was so effective that this client has since asked us to build two other e-learning courses using a similar approach. With the help of user feedback, each successive version improves.

Case Study Analysis

The client wanted to focus on increasing sales to two specific types of accounts: health care and food processing. To do this, they wanted to train their salespeople how to sell consultatively. The training had to appeal to a diverse audience, be accessed via modem, and include a tracking system for accountability. Most importantly to our client, the training had to be fun, interesting, and worthwhile.

The program was built around the idea of a case study analysis, the same type of approach used in top business schools. The participants in the program are given a list of questions they must answer. Their goal is to explore all aspects of the account to uncover the customer’s needs. This includes interviewing a variety of customer contacts, taking a tour of the facility, and researching web sites and annual reports. All of these activities are designed to get the participants out of their comfort zones in the safe environment of the program. Once the participant has uncovered the customer’s needs, they are prepared to propose sales solutions.

The scenario in the program provides thoughtful questions to ask the different types of customer contacts, along with typical responses. It also demonstrates the benefits of additional exploration and how it can lead to further sales opportunities.

As part of this e-learning program, we included a mechanism to collect anonymous feedback from participants and to measure Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation. At the first level, the course appealed to virtually all of our 220 learners. 97% of the participants characterized the course as fun, interesting, and worthwhile: our client’s initial objectives. Our feedback form included space for freeform responses. Most of them were quite enthusiastic.

Anonymous Learner Feedback:

“I liked all of it. Real life, typical conversations with the various contacts.”

“It was awesome! This is the best online training I have ever seen!”

“The training was quick and easy to navigate. It was brief and to the point.”

97% of learner responses described the training as fun, interesting, and worthwhile

“I’ve been here 20 years. This is the best training I’ve ever had.”

At the second level, a comparison of pre- and post-test scores indicates that 94% of the participants improved their scores, and that the average score rose from 75% to 91%. To measure level 3 effectiveness, we verified that the salesforce was indeed pushing out of their comfort zones by venturing deeper into existing accounts. All training must ultimately be judged by level 4 of the pyramid: results. This is where our “fun” approach shows its serious side. Sales numbers were measured for two months after the training and category sales for territory managers completing the training were up 12% over those who did not participate.

Fun approach has serious results: sales up 12% for those completing the training.

Perhaps a case study analysis approach could work for your problem. It is engaging for the course participants because it is goal-based and highly realistic. This type of approach can be used successfully in sales, customer service, financial, and audit training. It can be used to get your trainees out of their comfort zones too.

Design Access creates custom solutions that teach, inform, and inspire. We combine business expertise, design creativity, and technical mastery to develop innovative solutions to our customers’ business problems. We have partnered with over 60 Fortune 500 companies to help them achieve their communication goals. Let us put our experience, talent, and energy to work for you. Give us a try! Visit us online, or give us a call. We would love to talk to you.