I can't name the company whose data is displayed here, but they're a Global 500 company in the automotive industry, and we've done their elearning for 10 years. As you can imagine, we have many success stories to tell. We've gathered a lot of critical Kirkpatrick Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 feedback in the past few years--so we really know what works and what doesn't.

The chart you see here is hard, cold, Level 4 data. It's been gathered from actual sell-out numbers. Product that has moved out the door as true proof of change from our elearning courses. Let me explain both of the results you see above:

• 30% greater sales...this was during a 60-day sales spiff. Each salesperson got $4 for each newly released product sold. If they took our elearning course, too, they got double that--$8 per product sold. At the end of 60 days, the salespeople who took the course outsold those who did not by 30%. The only variable? A single elearning course (and maybe previous experience taking our courses).
   
• 16% greater sales...just recently we discovered that a national retailer has been requiring our courses in the state of Floria for the past year. In all other states, participation was voluntary. Looking at hard data, the sell-out numbers for Florida retail sales was 16% higher than the rest of the nation.

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.

Why is it that companies trust their e-learning to w/?

That's a question I love to answer because we really are quite different than most e-learning companies, and we really do have deep expertise in sales and human performance.

Just like their learners, e-learning executives and sales training decision makers respond positively to the high production value of our courses. They always look great--without resorting to meaningless eye-candy. And let's face it, everyone enjoys a really fun and engaging web experience.

As people get a little further into our courses, they're hooked when they see learners interacting with avatars in 3D environments. That's where learners actually get to practice what they've learned, so they can get good at it before they return to their jobs. A seasoned executive recognizes the ROI this kind of learning-by-doing can have. We call it natural learning.

So we talk to all the stakeholders at a new company. We find out what their issues are and what matters to them. We help then zero in on the highest value learning topics. And we explain to them how we take in all the information their SMEs can give us, but then we filter it and reshape it to content that makes the most sense to learners. We provide content and tools that learners understand and can put to work immediately. That kind of translation is mostly a function of our instructional design, but it gets attention in media design, too. It's a unique marriage of concepts and visual design.

But at it's heart, w/ is a strategic e-learning agency. We learn our client's business and market. We understand how they want to present the company and their brand(s). That makes us different than other companies, even different than a lot of internal departments, who see e-learning as a tactic and something to complete and check off the list.

We understand business. So we understand that if we can't make a difference in either the top-line, or the bottom line, we just don't belong at the table. We're in it for the long-haul.

There's a lot of sample work on our site, but we're always happy to set up personal tours, too, where prospective clients can see more of what we've done for others--and why we say w/ is e-learning NOT as usual™. You can call or email us, of just go to this form, to set up your own, private tour. 

Why should avatars (online characters) be part of your e-learning strategy?

Simple. They make learning more interesting, more engaging, more social and more real. The result? More compelling e-learning, more enthusiastic learners, more results.

According to a Stanford University study:

"Characters are well liked because they make online interactions more personal. When presented with only a single character for interaction only 15% of users dislike the character. When presented with a choice of multiple characters, more than 90% of people prefer interaction with the character, to no character at all."

In fact, since w/ has been using avatars we've found learners not only do enjoy our courses more, but they also spend more time in them and they learn more and remember more, too. Avatars are the perfect way for learners to practice selling, management or coaching simulations!

So, do you want your learners spending more time in courses? Soaking up more, remembering more? Of course! Here's what we've learned about avatars. In surveys learners agreed or strongly agreed:

• 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.

It's interesting to point out that these learners had anywhere from a couple of years on the job, to more than 20 years. And they raged in age from 20-somethings to 50-somethings. What you can deduce from this is that regardless of age or experience, we are all social beings and we all relate positively to the presence of an avatar in our e-learning.