After the short video introduction, please consider this post and leave your comments...

If you’ve been around sales and sales training long enough, you’ve seen and heard pretty much everything. But in the end, growing revenues is the ultimate proof of results.

And really, you’re still just qualifying, recommending, overcoming objections and closing...so what really changes?

Maybe it’s not the what that changes; maybe it’s the how.  In this case, I’m talking about how you prepare, to improve sales results.

With our clients, the change in how has become familiar, but for some it may be relatively new. You see, we’ve thrown out linear, page-by-page e-learning and replaced it with the one-two punch of exploration and experimentation.

Working from this approach, 76% of over 1,000 sales managers recently told us our courses had increased their sales by an average of 12.5%. Based on client revenues of approximately $8 billion, that would be an increase of another cool $1 billion. That’s exciting, but let me be quick to add that this is anecdotal data. Still, as I like to say, even if they’re half right...

Learning, naturally.

The way we naturally learn is by exploring the possibilities, and then experimenting and trying things out. In short: learning by doing. And learning by doing is at the heart of the approach we call PowerSims™.  Through PowerSims, our learners gain valuable practice by applying new knowledge within a simulated selling situation.

Practice...mistakes...feedback. The sims are a safe place to learn and build confidence. And I think they’re particularly appealing because of the avatars we use. The avatars lip-synch to the audio. And the emotion in the voices, combined with their body language, make the experience very real...very social and engaging.

From the same survey mentioned above, sales managers also “agreed or strongly agreed” that our courses helped salespeople to:

• 96%...recommend the right solution or product,

• 93%...overcome customer objections to close the sale

What else do the learners say?

It’s interesting to me that our 50-something learners give us the same feedback about avatar-driven simulations as our 20-something learners. In our surveys, learners “agreed or strongly agreed” that:

• 95%...avatar, simulation-based courses help salespeople overcome specific objections and close the sale

• 81%...characters and simulations increase the learning in a course

• 85%...actually meeting the customer characters made them more real for me

• 89%...it was helpful to observe the retail sales character’s approach to selling

• 92%...the avatar coach provided useful insights and advice on customers and selling

• 89%...it was useful to actually practice selling to the customers

Any way you slice it, these are pretty interesting numbers.

But you know, one of the biggest complaints we hear is that people just don’t have the time to learn. So I find it particularly interesting that in the same survey as I’ve bee quoting above, 89% of participants said the learning value made it worth their time, to go through the selling simulations more than once.

I’ve said this many times...if the value to the learner is there, so is their time and commitment. And that’s how you get great sales results!

After the short video introduction, please consider this post and leave your comments...

We aren’t taught to learn. We grow up doing it naturally: through exploration, example, and experimentation. Think about it: ever since that first time...you’ve avoided hot stoves, right? That’s because you’re an awesome, natural born, mean, lean, learning machine!

Now think about your e-learning program. Does it let your learners naturally explore new information? Does it allow them to practice applying that information, until they’re confident they can get the right results in the real world?

Or is your program more e-reading than e-learning? Maybe you’re getting sucked into that vortex of page-by-page, PowerPoint-like courses! If you are, that really does suck...and it's wrong, because your learners aren't getting all they need to perform at top levels.

At w/ we refer to that natural process of eXploration and eXperience as X-learning. When we formalize it, digitize it and put it online, we call it a PowerSim™.

Want me to give you a quick run through on how it works?

• In a PowerSim, we generally start by exposing learners to a category of products or services. We include strategic sound bites about markets and customers, but we don’t overdue it. This category overview module provides greater context and meaning, as learners move on to a non-linear exploration of feature/benefit information.

• In the feature/benefit module, we utilize engaging, full-body avatars to demonstrate good selling techniques. All of the feature/benefit information from all of the products is included, so learners can visualize how they would do the same thing.
  

• Then, in the simulation module, learners apply the information gained from the first two modules, to practice selling. This is how they internalize decision-making skills and new behaviors. The results are an increase in sales and satisfied customers.

Why do PowerSims work?

Each selling scenario in the simulation module is purposefully designed around a critical risk area. These risk areas are key elements of sales and business strategy where your people are likely to falter or fail, without practice in making the right decisions. Focusing on these critical issues means your learners are getting the highest-value training available.

The PowerSims approach is effective because it takes advantage of the way people naturally learn. But you know what I think is even cooler than that? Because PowerSims go the extra mile in making your learners successful, these same learners turn around and go the extra mile in promoting your products and building your brand. Now that’s a return on investment!

What results do we get?

In a recent survey, over 1000 sales managers “agreed or strongly agreed” that our courses helped their salespeople:

• Recommend our customer’s brand over the competition, 93% of the time

• Recommend the right solution or product, 96% of the time, and

• Overcome customer objections to close the sale, 93% of the time

It’s no wonder then, in the same survey, 76% of sales managers estimated their sales results went up an average of 12.5%, due to our courses.

So, you see why I say that page-based, PowerPoint-like e-learning is just plain wrong? It just doesn’t get the same results as exploration and experimentation inside of a PowerSim.



Remember, by declaring war on ineffective e-learning, we’ve rejected linear, page-by-page organization as the default method of delivering content. It’s maddening that these outdated habits, and every converted PowerPoint and webinar have become the de-facto standards for e-learning. So please, help us keep making the distinction between x-learning and all that other stuff. Almost everyone can use some variation of x-learning to improve their results. And we intend to keep pushing the front line in that direction.

X-learning, as you may remember from other w/ blog posts:

• Allows learners to eXplore content at a pace, and in the order, of their choosing
• Provides avatar-driven eXplanations and demonstrations of successful approaches to common problems, and
• Builds eXperience through practice in a safe, simulated environment

When we put these three elements of x-learning together, we’ve created what w/ calls a PowerSim™. A few reminders about PowerSims:

• Their construction is based on business risk areas, where employees are likely to falter or fail, without additional training support.
• Risk areas represent top- and bottom-line strategic objectives related to brand, sales, marketing, customer service, leadership, management and production.
• We design a PowerSim to provide practice in differentiating between good choices and better choices. This helps learners to improve their decision-making...and results...when faced with the real situation.

So how’s that working out?

To start talking about numbers, I’d like to use the past year’s the results from a single program where we’ve been developing our ideas about x-learning over the past 18 months. In 2009, this North American sales training program has:

• Served more than 11,000 learners (nearly all of whom are non-employees)
• Chalked up more than 100,000 successful online course completions, and
• Put the cost of learning at just dollars per course completion

The best part of these numbers is that 43% of 500 sales managers surveyed, told us that they believe our courses have improved sales from 11% to 18%. That’s anecdotal information, but even if they’re half right...

Some more numbers.

Each year we complete a program survey, at no cost to our clients, because we want to know what learners can tell us about how we’re doing. Here are some convincing numbers and comments, where learners “strongly agree, or agree”:

• 84%...Actually meeting the customer characters made them more real for me.
• 88%...It was helpful to observe the retail sales character's approach to selling.
• 92%...The coach provided useful insights and advice on customers and selling.
• 89%...It was useful to actually practice selling the products to customers.
• 88%...It was helpful to go through the selling scenarios more than once.

With numbers like these, it’s also interesting to point out some additional facts:

• This survey was done as part of launching the first avatar course in a long-established program of traditional e-learning.
• The learners’ ages range all the way from 20-something to 50-something.
• 650 of the first 700 learners to take the course voluntarily participated in the survey...and with a response like that, they were obviously eager to share their experience with us.

These next numbers I’m borrowing from another recent blog on mapping a PowerSim, that you may also want to reference, if you haven’t already seen it. In a simple, two-product selling simulation (remember, aimed at better sales results in an area where salespeople are likely to falter or fail) learners are presented with:

• 40 relevant options or points of view
• 14 learner inputs or decisions
• 16 expressions of customer preference
• 8 demonstrated coaching tips

Since you only have to qualify the customer once, it doesn’t take long to go through the eight versions of the scenario. And the thing is, each time, learners internalize valuable knowledge about how to be more successful. Because of all that valuable practice, we don’t even include the traditional e-learning course assessment.

So there you have it. Some really persuasive and exciting things to think about, with x-learning by the numbers.

We build an incredible amount of learning into our PowerSims. That's why, at first, they seem really complicated to put together. But once you understand the pieces and parts, they become much simpler. And then...what stands out...is the knowledge and value that learners pack away from all of the well-focused practice.

What the learners gain is:

• In-depth product knowledge
• A better understanding of the customer
• How to make the right decisions to be successful
• What common mistakes to avoid, and
• Confidence in selling your products

Each PowerSim is designed around some risk area, where you might expect a salesperson to falter or fail. We typically use them to help learners differentiate between two or more products, so that they become confident in recommending the right product for a specific customer need.

A simple simulation offers eight different paths for learners to work through. And they're designed so that learners discover something new and valuable from every path. A simple, two-product PowerSim presents:

• 40 options or points of view
• 14 learner inputs or decisions
• 16 expressions of customer preference
• 8 demonstrated coaching tips

And of course, if the number of products you're training on requires two or three different selling scenarios, you can double or triple the numbers above.

Now, here's where I want you to compare the difference between the typical e-learning you're used to and what w/ calls X-learning:

With X-learning we're not just putting learners though a page by page course and asking them to recall a bunch of product facts in an assessment. C'mon...that's not learning!

What we are doing, is providing learners with:

• Opportunities to really eXplore product information
• Avatar-driven product selling eXplanations, and
• Unmatched eXperience, through valuable customer interaction and insightful coaching

And the result is, learners gain enough practice and experience to be a confident success on the sales floor. Isn't that what you want out of your training?

In the past few weeks, my posts have covered:

• 2 Things To Avoid For Effective e-Learning
• 4 Ways To Improve Your e-Learning Strategies, and
• 5 Reasons To Declare War On e-Learning 

Now it's time to move on...

Introducing w/ x-Learning^TM And PowerSims^TM

At w/, we contend that e-learning is mired in old paradigms of instructor lead training and page-by-page, PowerPoint delivery. It's really better described as e‑reading. Learners are stuck with a boring cycle of click-read-yawn...click-read-yawn. And companies? They're stuck with ineffective results.

To win the war, it's time to break out of e-learning and into x-learning through what w/ calls PowerSims. PowerSims give learners:

• Options to eXplore content in the order, and at the pace, that they choose
• Critical eXplanations concerning features, benefits and customers
• Opportunities to eXperience new skills, within carefully designed simulations

With PowerSims, it's critical to understand that the design starts by identifying risk areas where learners are most likely to falter or fail in real life. This approach results in the most valuable training possible.

PowerSims eXplorations & eXplanations

The eXploration and eXplanation elements provide an interactive overview that incorporates brand, customer, category and product information. They give maximum control to learners, allowing them to soak up new knowledge in the order they prefer, and at whatever pace they choose.

This part of the PowerSim is designed to replicate how learners use the Internet to learn, every day. And it helps them discover the relationships between similar products and solutions, so that they can choose the right one for any situation. For powerful eXplanations, we use a friendly, knowledgeable avatar to demonstrate good sales techniques for each important feature, benefit, or application.

We collect all of this information through a detailed template that's specially designed for each client. The template allows subject matter experts to provide maximum value in minimum time, while screening out non-essential information. This approach helps us to rapidly complete very high-quality modules.

PowerSims eXperiences

Simulations are the fastest way for learners to improve sales results. Each scenario provides a safe environment for learners to practice, make mistakes, and get the right feedbackto become more successful. This learning-by-doing approach is both familiar and effective. And it's always been the most natural way of learning.

The number of different selling scenarios required to complete the PowerSim depends on how many different types of products and customers are involved. And again, scenarios are designed around the risk areas where salespeople are likely to falter or fail in real life. In fact, we believe that if learners don't have a chance to fail...they don't really have a chance to learn.

And you know one of the most satisfying results we've found with PowerSims? Even the busiest people will go through these practice scenarios more than once, so that they can learn by trying different approaches. This proves that, when the value is there, so is the time, effort...and the results.

Please take a look at the work on our site. If you'd like to find out more about what we might do for you, click here.