It's an old saying, "Nothing happens until somebody sells something," right?

And all of the research tells us that the greatest influence on a sale comes from the salesperson. But we also know lots of people do their own research on the web and then, very purposely, go to a retail store to make their purchase. Oh, and then there's the old saying, "No one likes to be sold to, but everyone loves to buy." In your gut, you know all of these things are true.

It's a brave new world out there when it comes to marketing and sales. So why not take advantage of all the old and new wisdoms that are at our disposal?

Why not use strategically created, customer-focused elearning and let your customers sell themselves? 

When you play this video, you get a slice of what this can mean.

Instead of creating a microsite so visitors passively read about their products, one of our customers opted to put Nurse Melissa into a "no-sales-zone" where potential customers can meet a friendly face that knows all about their problems, and can even offer some solid solutions.

This customer-friendly approach gives prospects all the information they're looking for, in a way that creates good will and trust. In a very real way, when they've answered their questions, relying on nurse Susan, they have qualified and sold themselves.

This company looked at the demo you see above and immediately quadrupled their budget, to take advantage of this powerful new way to reach out to customers.

Nurse Melissa answers several questions that visitors can ask, in each of four different categories. It gets to their needs immediately, and unlike other ways of delivering a marketing message, this interactive method puts your customer in control. Because they're asking the questions, the company has automatic permission to convey product and marketing messages.

This approach turns everything around...which is just what's called for when things get competitive.

I find that you can make anything simple, if you analyze and organize it right. Simple...but not always easy. Still, once you get something boiled down to simple, it is easier to achieve.

So why not make world-class elearning simple to achieve? It's the "what and why" that helps us get to simple. In later posts, I'll spend time on the more difficult "how," topics.

Simply put, world-class elearning has four, key elements:

elearning: the journey, not the destination

We have to get out of our T&D silos! As we develop elearning courses, we need to stop along the way and integrate with other initiatives. Be aware of the needs of sales channels, marketing, branding--even customer education. The more we integrate, the more strategic value our courses will have. And that's a critical goal for world-class elearning.

elearning: not as usuual, but naturally

For reading a book, I get the linear, page-by-page format. But it's boring our learners to death! We have to free learners from back/next elearning, or risk losing them. World-class elearning means helping learners do what they would do naturally, on their own. This includes...

• Present interesting examples and models to learn from
• Allow learners to take the path and pace they choose
• Provide safe practice, in simulated realities

elearning: go ahead & immerse yourself

Most people I talk to wish they were doing immersive simulations, but see that as a distant goal. Still, simulations aren't as hard as most people perceive them to be. Use these guidelines...

• Start with business objectives. With these as a foundation, you'll aways be pointed in the right direction.
• Focus on areas where confusion is likely. Help learners differentiate between good, better and great choices.
• Simulate real situations where learners can apply new knowledge to practice making decisions--and fail--where there's no real penalty.

mlearning: it's not just another app

According to Morgan Stanley, more smartphones than PCs will be sold next year. Now is the time to begin your mlearning program, making information work for you--wherever your learners are. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Keep it simple. mLearning happens on the go, just a few minutes or seconds at a time.
• The interface matters! mLearning has to look and act the way other mobile applications look and act.
• Remember that, while most of you elearning may be in Flash, most mobile devices don't play well with Flash.
• mLearning isn't just another app--it's one of the best ways to ensure knowledge transfer and improve your ROI!

Think of anything else that should be on this list for world-class elearning? If you do, leave a comment here!

Norman, who you see in the video below, is like the other wonderful avatars from CodeBaby. They've become a staple in our simulation-based e-learning courses and they're a perfect match for the creative approach we call: e-learning NOT as usual™.

It seems these effective avatars and our NOT as usual approach is contagious, too. At least you can say that when it comes to the training people at Newell Rubbermaid, who recently said "this is by far the best e-learning we've ever had". They asked us to go out of the box and put Norman, the avatar we created for their global sales training course, up on stage for a national sales meeting!

What can you say when something goes so right? It was a brilliant idea that the client came up with. They even wrote the script for Norman and Scott Neeley's interaction on stage! It was fun, light, unexpected and it really hit the audience well.

Why Avatars?

With the US e-learning market somewhere in the $30 billion range (not to mention the rest of the world) there's a lot of courses out there. And you may differ, but I think it's safe to say there are more bad courses out there than good ones. So you have to ask yourself, what makes a good course? What do you do to grab the learner's attention, keep them in the course, and make learning stick as they go back on the job?

One answer lies in human nature; in just how social we are as human beings. Of course I'd rather interact with an avatar, on screen, rather than just sit there by myself. And avatars aren't just fluff--though they are entertaining--they're a part of our strategy. We've found that, over time, our clients and their learners become attached to the avatars. They actually form a relationship with them, as if they were human.

But all avatars are not created equal. We've found that, if characters that are either too cartoonish or too photo realistic, they're distracting for the learner. A character design that's in the middle let's you focus on the content. And by the time you add a human voice and good body language to the avatar, you've really hooked learners and brought them into the world of your simulation. We've also found that they stay there longer, too.

We find our avatars make good facilitators and coaches. They're also excellent at demonstrating proper approaches where soft skills come into play. But because they are so social, the best way to employ these characters is in interactions, where learners role-play and can safely practice new behaviors.

When you measure success, e-learning that doesn’t create business results just doesn’t measure up.

But with more than a decade of experience in e-learning NOT as usual, w/ can share four simple design steps, proven to get you results. Think of these steps like an archery target, where each step is a ring.

You know they say an un-aimed arrow never misses its mark. But too many e-learning courses start right there, by including all the content that everyone wants delivered. And that broad focus is exactly why they fail. In e-learning, the truth is, you’ll never hit a target you’re not aiming at.

So Step 1 is the bulls-eye. It’s simply put…it’s the business results you’re trying to achieve. Take sales for instance. We don’t want to just increase sales, but preference for the product or brand as well. That’s our bulls-eye!

Step 2 is the ring around the bulls-eye, and in your planning it represents the behaviors required to successfully reach the business results. Again, using sales as an example, this would be recommending the right product, having the ability to confidently handle customer objections, and understanding each customer well enough to close the sale in a way that truly benefits them.

I believe that Step 3 is the most important one. Step 3 is designing online scenarios where learners can safely practice, fail and internalize the behaviors for success. This kind of learning by doing is a natural and powerful way to learn and make new concepts real…so they stick.

And that brings us back to Step 4: new information. Only now information is specifically focused on just the information a learner needs to understand, practice, and be successful. Now they’re ready for success! And that's your four proven steps for attaining business objectives.

Having just completed Training 2011, I'm reminded that it's good to get out of the office.

I love striking up conversations with people who are collected together for the purpose of learning and getting better at what they do!

Sure the travel and long hours can be a drain, but it's fun to see new places (like the San Diego convention center, below) and there's nothing like taking the pulse of our business by connecting with people who live it every day.

So what are participants here saying? I'm not surprised, but for the most part, the same things they've been saying for the past several years. And while I think it's a marketplace that has always moved pretty slowly, it makes me wonder if e-learning is stuck on hold. For instance, this is 2011, and most people I know are still using SCORM 1.2 and not 2004. And while I think that's for good reason, here are some other things that seem less well-justified.

In conversations here at the show, I find many people...

• Are still frustrated with how boring most e-learning is
• Continue to have doubts about how well e-learning is received by boomers or blue collar learners
• Remain driven more by budgets than by ROI, and are attached to rapid e-learning tools because of it
• Believe that immersive learning simulations provide for superior e-learning, but remain overwhelmed when it comes to designing them

So, what can you do with the areas where we seem to be stuck on hold?

Boring e-learning is due largely to linear thinking that leads to linear PowerPoint-like courses. Learners should have control over both their pace and their path in a course. Think of presenting content as a series of topic portals, where the learner can explore and bring more detail to many related issues, without leaving that environment, and without clicking next. Most of use don't naturally think in a linear fashion, so we shouldn't force it with learners.

Boomers and computers cease to be an issue when you do three things: cut out all the extra content and give them content tailored to their success; remember to tell them "so what" and not just "what" so they can see the bigger picture; and, give them a chance to practice what they've learned, so that they can get good at it. Hmmm-m. That's good advice for any age group, isn't it? The point is, give them high-value content, using the computer well, and the other issues melt away.

Budgets are a fact of life, but they aren't the bottom line. The bottom line, literally, is how much you grow revenues or retain as profits. When you successfully tie your e-learning efforts to business results, and you can measure what you do, you can justify bigger budgets. And if think you can't, try harder!

Immersive simulations don't have to be out of reach or overly complicated. They do take time to master, but the key to a good simulation is this: focus on the gray areas of decision making to provide learners with a chance to differentiate between various courses of action and their consequences; give learners a chance to fail, because overcoming failure is truly a learning experience; and, template a pattern of interactions that work for your needs and then build on or alter as needed, saving your time and trouble for the creative parts.

So is your e-learning stuck on hold? I suppose in some way everyone's is. But don't settle for that...break out of your rut!

A while back, we launched a new product course for a premium automotive manufacturer and we used it as a test to see what impact our courses had.

For 60 days the manufacturer was offering a cash spiff for any retail sales person selling this new product. If that same retail salesperson also took the new product training, the company doubled the cash spiff. Pretty good incentive for completing the training, right?

At the end of that test period, the company informed us that salespeople who took the training outsold salespeople who didn't take the training, by 30%. Yes, 30%!

A documented 30% gain in sales, due to 20 or 30 minutes spent on an immersive training module.

Now, to put that into even sharper perspective, in 2010 that same program:

• Served approximately 16,600 retail salespeople and their managers 
• Who racked up 120,000 successful online course completions
• At a cost of about $5 per course

And the ROI? It's such a big number that you wouldn't even believe me if I told you.

If you aren't putting this kind of high value, immersive e-learning strategies to work with your sales force, or your employees, for that matter...what the heck are you waiting for?

And you shouldn't stop at just increased sales, go for business solutions like increasing brand preference. e-Learning can do that, too.

Our clients and our learners repeatedly tell us (check out this video) how much impact our courses have, and how much the value our unique approach. But the fact is, this isn't hard. Anyone can develop a program that drives these results, just by pinpointing their business goals, and putting the learner first.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE