A new era for sales teams
Did you know effective sales training can boost win rates by over 10%? And in these uncertain times, that’s the kind of results we all want.
A new era for sales teams
Effective training gets results
Training remote teams has become a widespread challenge, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic forced businesses to transition to remote working. Surprisingly, remote working has proven to have numerous benefits, with 82% of business leaders intending to continue allowing their employees to work from home even after the pandemic ends. This has left L&D practitioners wondering how to effectively train remote learners, particularly in sales teams. Sales teams are a unique mix of passionate, competitive, and ambitious individuals, all striving to be the best. However, receptiveness to training varies within these teams. While some recognize the value of training as a stepping-stone to success, others perceive it as a waste of time that could be spent on client prospecting. Therefore, engaging a sales team in training has always required a unique approach. Now that these teams are remote, it becomes crucial to find ways to recreate the energized sales training of the past in a virtual environment. The challenge is to capture and hold the attention of salespeople while still driving the necessary behavioral changes that impact the business bottom line. Simply delivering an existing program via Zoom is not sufficient.
Real-time learning experiences for remote teams
The rise of remote working has made training remote teams a familiar concept. However, many companies that previously preferred face-to-face training are now reconsidering their approach. The pandemic forced teams to stay at home, halting the costly practice of flying team members around the world for residential training weekends. At the same time, businesses were facing the challenge of a global recession. This led to a high demand for employee training, particularly in sales teams.
Unfortunately, the quick transition to remote training resulted in subpar learning experiences. Many trainers simply delivered their face-to-face sessions via video conferencing, leading to video fatigue and low engagement. This approach is ineffective and doesn't create the necessary behavioral changes for sales success.
Soft skills, such as empathy and relationship building, are crucial for salespeople, but they are challenging to develop through isolated e-learning or unengaging video calls. To address this, L&D teams need to find new, innovative ways to integrate the collaborative benefits of face-to-face training into virtual settings.
While video conferencing and e-learning can be useful tools, they often don't support the rapid development of critical sales skills. These methods lack opportunities for interaction, engagement, and skill application. Instead, we need technology that recreates the benefits of face-to-face training in a safe, virtual environment. This kind of technology can foster engagement, collaboration, and behavioral change. Introducing: Real-time learning experiences.
Learning experiences of the future
The future is no longer a distant concept for L&D professionals. The world has undergone significant changes, and it is time to reconsider our assumptions about what lies ahead. What are the new dynamics that shape workforces? How do we design learning experiences to meet the evolving needs of our learners? The events of 2020 have accelerated this transformation, making the future a present reality that demands our attention.
By 2025, 22% of the American workforce will be permanently remote
Embrace the Future: Revolutionize Virtual Engagement and Skill Development for Your Remote Workforce.
Gone are the days when virtual engagement seemed like a far-off dream. The statistics speak for themselves: by 2025, a staggering 22% of the American workforce will be permanently remote, as revealed by UpWork. As our world adapts to a new normal, this number is only expected to rise.
With such a significant portion of your team working remotely, it's crucial to find innovative ways to foster engagement, support professional growth, and ensure they possess the skills needed for today and tomorrow.
Fortunately, learning technology is already paving the way for this transformative journey. Real-time learning experiences are at your disposal, ready to revolutionize how your remote workforce learns and develops. It's time to seize the opportunity and embrace the future of virtual engagement and skill development.
What is a real-time learning experience?
The future is no longer a distant concept. The world has been undergoing significant changes for many years, prompting L&D professionals to prepare for what lies ahead. How will workforces evolve? What new learning experiences will emerge? What expectations will future learners have? The year 2020 has catapulted us into the future, bringing with it a sense of urgency to address these questions. We must now seize the present opportunities and navigate this new landscape.
Active vs Passive learning
Did you know that learners forget up to 90% of learning content within 1 month ? Integrating active experiences into your learning is a great way to overcome this frightening statistic. Active learning involves learner participation. It makes the learner listen, think and act in a learning environment, aiding their comprehension and promoting long-term knowledge retention (and in turn, behavioral change). Passive learning is synonymous with most learning experiences you’ve ever had. A teacher instructing the class - with limited opportunities for engagement and participation. The learner sits back and (hopefully) listens. Note: listening doesn’t mean learning!
Boosting sales performance with real-time learning experiences
In order to truly enhance your sales team's performance, it is not enough to simply push them to do more of everything. Calling, emailing, prospecting, and selling more will not lead to significant sales growth. Successful sales leaders understand that real change requires a different approach.
To truly empower your sales team and take their skills to the next level, it is imperative to focus on developing their soft skills. Building trust, empathy, and meaningful relationships with clients are key factors in driving sales performance.
However, these skills cannot be acquired simply by reading or participating in online courses. To truly master these skills, your team members need to practice and apply them in real-time learning experiences. This is where the true difference is made in their professional growth and ultimately, your sales success.
What is a real-time learning experience?
ONE
Practice without the fear of failure
ONE
Practice without the fear of failure
Imagine a scenario where your teams can learn and develop crucial skills without fear of failure. The impact on their success would be remarkable. By providing psychological safety, we enable individuals to embrace failure as an opportunity for growth, leading to improved learning outcomes. Our virtual team performance challenge replicates real-life sales situations, offering a secure environment where the risk of failure is eliminated, allowing teams to thrive. We also emphasize the importance of team leaders, as they play a crucial role in fostering this psychological safety.
TWO
The power of collaboration
TWO
The power of collaboration
Discover the power of collaboration in learning for better results, increased productivity, and stronger team relationships. Integrating true collaborative experiences into an online environment may seem challenging, but real-time learning overcomes this hurdle. Your team can work together just like they would in person, all while maintaining a safe distance.
Shared cognitive load
Cognitive load, as explained by Connie Malamed, is the amount of mental effort needed to complete a learning task. Shared cognitive load is the idea that collaborative learning can help distribute this mental effort among team members, allowing for better learning outcomes. By sharing information and knowledge, teams can support each other in remembering information in the short term. Collaborative learning can therefore be an effective strategy for enhancing learning success.
THREE
Let competitive teams thrive
THREE
Let competitive teams thrive
Competition enhances motivation, performance, and learning outcomes. However, integrating competition into digital learning interventions often falls short. Many digital learning designers incorporate gamification, such as games and leaderboards, into online content, but these interactions lack the excitement of in-person competition. The most successful salespeople are driven by goals, passion, and a competitive desire to outshine their peers in rival sales teams. They are determined to win deals and always willing to go the extra mile to surpass the competition. While this statement may be a generalization, it is safe to assume that your sales team thrives in competitive environments. Therefore, incorporating competition into your training programs is crucial. With real-time learning experiences, this is achievable, even if your team is geographically dispersed.
FOUR
Make better training decisions
FOUR
Make better training decisions
Are you truly aware of the skills within your sales team? Or are you simply assuming that they possess the necessary skills to be successful without any evidence? The most successful and efficient sales leaders do not rely on assumptions. They utilize data to gain a deep understanding of what works and what doesn't within their team and use this information to enhance performance. By embracing new learning technology, obtaining this data becomes much simpler. Real-time learning experiences provide leadership teams with crucial insights into the existing skills and abilities of their team. This enables more informed decision making, tailored to each individual learner. This data can also uncover any skills gaps within your team, identify your top performers as well as those who may need improvement, and reveal areas in which your entire team may be lacking.
Revolutionizing sales academy
Anhueser-Busch
Delivering training for salespeople nationwide is no easy feat. With thousands of employees across America, Anheuser-Busch sought a learning solutions provider to provide truly engaging training for their sales academy. The brewery, founded in 1850, partnered with See6 to deliver real-time learning experiences to accelerate the performance of their sales teams. Since partnering with See6, Anheuser-Busch have reported that:
1. Their sales team are eager to apply new skills out in the field.
2. Improved communication and alignment amongst team members.
3. A drive and desire for continuous learning, that hasn’t been seen before.
In conclusion
In today's rapidly changing world, the digital transformation of the professional sphere was well underway before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic has only accelerated this process. The consequences of this unprecedented and swift change have been detrimental to numerous organizations worldwide. To ensure that your organization remains resilient and prepared for the future, it is crucial to train and equip your sales team for the challenges ahead.
Business simulations offer numerous advantages for sales teams, including the creation of psychologically safe learning environments. These environments allow learners to feel comfortable both in their successes and their failures. Additionally, business simulations promote collaboration among dispersed teams, regardless of location, fostering strong teamwork and facilitating collaborative learning. Furthermore, these simulations ignite competition among passionate sales teams, fueling learning and leveraging the strengths of the team.
Moreover, the use of business simulations provides valuable data that enables business leaders and managers to make informed decisions regarding future training initiatives. By analyzing the results and insights generated from completed business simulations, leaders can better understand their team's needs and make strategic training choices.
If you're ready to implement business simulations that genuinely make an impact on your teams, all within a safe and virtual environment, don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We'd love to discuss your specific needs and demonstrate how our real-time learning experiences can elevate your organization to new heights.