Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
Issue link: http://elmezine.epubxp.com/i/201066
drivinginnovation&roi; Te cohort consisted of about 30 sales representatives in two U.S. cities. Each works on the phone to prospect and develop sales opportunities that will result in sales. Te cohort was constructed to create a diverse demographic of tenure and experience. Te manager of the sales team also participated in the training, as did Sokolowski. Te players are extremely competitive in their selling activities, and the learning game has brought that same competitiveness to the training. chants began this past July, and so did the measurement research. Savvis and KnowledgeAdvisors designed an evaluation approach to determine whether knowledge and skills were acquired from the program and if they were being applied on the job to improve individual sales performance and improve revenue. In addition to the game-based learning cohort, Savvis launched a parallel cohort of salespeople completing negotiations training using traditional e-learning Savvis L&D; by the Numbers All Programs NPS*: Leadership Development NPS*: Learning Impact Indices: 41 74 74 *Net Promoter Score (Internal) Prizes were awarded to the players with the greatest accumulated wealth and highest trust scores in the game. Players who accumulate more than $1 million in wealth were admitted to a "Millionaires Club." Measurement of learning transference and performance improvement is essential. Te Savvis team identifed the following success drivers for the training: >> Increased confdence in selling skills >> Shortened sales cycles >> Improved win/loss ratios >> Increased revenue per transaction >> More favorable agreement terms between buyer and seller >> Improved sales behaviors in the specific skill areas of (a) Identifying prospect or client needs and interests; (b) Structuring the sales conversation to build trust; (c) Reaching mutually beneficial agreements in each conversation; and (d) Managing each conversation to develop a long-term relationship. MEASURING SUCCESS, DEMONSTRATING ROI The initial implementation of Mer18 October / November 2013 Elearning! courses. A third cohort will complete a classroom-based negotiation program during the fall of this year. Explains John R. Mattox, director of Research for KnowledgeAdvisors: "It is impossible to implement a randomized experimental design to evaluate the impact of game-learning, but this comparison group design is the next-best approach." As this story went to press, the pre-assessments had been deployed, the train- ing completed, and post-training measurement had begun. The early returns are quite encouraging, with 80 percent of those starting the 8- to 10-hour program finishing it during the six weeks allotted. According to Sokolowski, "Getting 80 percent completion on a comprehensive sales learning intervention is no small accomplishment, since training time takes away from their time selling. This high completion percentage indicates a high perceived value to the sales force, since this became a priority for the team." The response to the training has also been quite enthusiastic, including comments from learners such as: >> "Once I got through the frst level, I found myself wanting to play more and more. It is addictive and very fun talking smack with my peers." >> "It is impossible to simply click through this game without stopping and making critical decisions based upon real negotiation techniques. Merchants presents the user with challenging scenarios and demands creative thinking for successful outcomes. But the best part is, it's fun. Tis is learning gamifcation done right." Enthusiastic feedback, while important, is not enough. Sokolowski's plan is to benchmark game-based learning against both traditional e-learning and classroom training that maps to the same competencies and learning outcomes. Te approach employs multiple assessments, evaluations and business data. Pre- and post-course knowledge and skill assessments are being used to quantify the knowledge and skills gained. All assessments and evaluations are deployed using Metrics Tat Matter, a proprietary learning analytics system from KnowledgeAdvisors. Savvis has used Metrics Tat Matter for the past two years to automate its standard training evaluation process. Upon completion of the training, learners receive a web-based evaluation that asks if they have learned new skills and to what extent they expect to apply them. Learners are asked to estimate their expected performance improvement and estimate how much of the improvement is due to training alone. KnowledgeAdvisors' research has shown these predictive measures