Learning by selling:
5 reasons why digital learning is the future of sales training
Too much theory, not enough practice: since the beginning of teaching in all its forms, from elementary school to university to corporate training, we hear this almost daily.
The fact that one should not learn to do, but rather learn by doing, is now an ingrained concept, almost taken for granted: but is it put into practice?
The truth is, even if you agree on the theory, in-person exercises are difficult to implement fully and effectively in real life. Corporate training, especially when carried out by good, creative and competent trainers, can be very effective. But it requires economic resources, organization, and adequate time and space, which is not always easy.
Selling is the perfect example: a real science and to some, an art. A good salesperson shines in soft skills and knows real techniques: finding the customer's selling point, knowing how to ask the right questions, dispelling doubts and eliminating indecision, upselling at the right time, and closing the sale instead of losing all that work because of a single slip... are the cornerstones of any sales training.
However, frontal instruction is not enough: trying and failing is fundamental.
To some extent, there is no denying that experience is gained in the field, but how much ground would we gain if, through well-designed simulations, we removed the basic rules and the worst errors?
Like in the gym
In situations where traditional training often doesn't bring enough concrete examples to the table, digital training comes to our aid.
Immersive, adaptive and highly customizable, a digital training course can take sales skills training to a new level, where everyone is the protagonist and plays to their strengths, just like in the gym!
Want to know why?
5 reasons to implement digital sales training into your training plan
High reps
If the single roleplay is the exercise that develops our muscles needed to sell to the real customer, it's not enough to repeat it once or twice. You need to do ten repetitions of it, the next day fifteen, the next week twenty. Not only that: you have to vary the exercises and train different muscles, just like customers, their mood and their willingness to buy are different.
Unlike classroom training, a sales simulation in digital mode has its main strength in numbers: it enables you to multiply the number of cases, giving the learner the opportunity to play the game in first-person, receiving continuous feedback on his performance.
Structured paths
This multitude of cases will work better if included in a structured path, a bit like a training program: there are endless ways to do this in digital training.
In the initial phase of this chat interaction training, a "buddy" accompanies and guides the user step by step. Then, as they gain confidence, they will become more autonomous.
For example, you can decide to follow a series of theoretical topics, basing the training on sales "patterns"; or you can gradually increase the difficulty, providing the user with less and less assistance as they progress.
Gamification elements can also make the learning journey more structured: they can give the user an awareness of where they are and where they are going to, in an extremely intuitive way, without needing too much explanation.
Adaptation to learner performance
Our starting level affects our starting point, and the training must keep pace with the speed at which we progress: this is the same principle we use to choose, and then increase our weights!
Instead of creating a uniform class-wide training by level and subject matter, the digital has the power to personalise the individual user's experience: whether it's an initial assessment or an adaptive selection of difficulty level in a progressive manner based on performance, digital training can always adapt to the person in front of it.
This user will have to interact with the different people in the store. Based on their performance, people will increase progressively: in addition to giving a slight gamification effect, this means increasing the repetitions of the exercise for those who need it most.
Realistic scenarios
In this phone sales training, the interface reflects the little information that is received during a phone call: mainly, the customer's voice. In addition to choosing the most appropriate response from three alternatives, the learner will be able to perform a few typical actions, such as putting the customer on hold to do a follow-up.
You can't learn to sell beauty products by practicing on selling financial services, any more than you can learn to sell over the phone by practicing on in-store scenarios. Well-done digital training is a tailored garment, sewn to the company's training objectives and based on the actual product and customer base.
Selling over the phone, for example, involves a number of specific soft skills, related to the absence of body language in communication. A sales simulation where the client's voice is the center of attention, without the visual support of their expressions and gestures, can be challenging for the user: but those are the difficulties they will encounter on the job.
In addition, in reality, things can go wrong because of a mistake or even simply because you are unlucky: it is also important to see the negative results of your choices!
In digital training, this is possible, for example, with the creation of a multiverse: branched, "branching" narratives where the user's response can actually change the outcome of the sale. The one exception to realism? The ability to go back in time, try again and do better!
Depending on the response selected by the user, the customer may maintain or lose interest in the purchase. In this case, it wasn't a success...but you can always rewind the tape and try again!
Product knowledge and customer focus: the sales skills of the future
Knowing sales techniques and being able to read the customer's needs are excellent skills, but in a world where e-commerce is growing and the availability of products is increasing, the real innovation lies in going one step further: transforming the salesperson into a real consultant, who has a deep knowledge of the product, who knows how to listen to the customer and create a personal relationship of empathy and trust.
This is the real added value of human presence in sales interaction: preserving and enhancing it is the challenge of the future.
A digital simulation can also satisfy this need, multiplying the profiles of potential buyers and guiding the seller in the personalisation of the interaction, as well as in the actual choice of the products to be brought to the customer’s attention.
The first phase of this sales training is the cross-analysis of products and customer profiles, in order to identify the most suitable one and be able to suggest it during the conversation.
in conclusion
Digital training need not replace face-to-face training. Instead, it is its natural continuation: a version enhanced in numbers, in its ability to adapt to the individual and to provide a personalised and structured experience.
A solution that can add real value to any business, because:
- It provides a large number of practice cases.
- It presents a reasoned structure that connects theory with practice in the most effective way possible.
- It adapts to the learner, analyzing his performance and proposing training tailored to his needs.
- Imitates reality: it is possible to obtain training that is completely tailored to the industry in question and to real working conditions.
- Teaches the personalisation of the buying experience, to enhance the sales skills of the future.