Over the past two years, sales enablement professionals created new ways of training their teams. From sales kickoff events to learning reinforcement, everything moved online. As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, many people involved with sales learning and development are now wondering what comes next.

A recent Allego webinar, Reinforcing the Impact of Learning Events, hosted by the Sales Management Association answers that question.

George Donovan, CRO at Allego, joined Margaret Piekarsky, senior director of training and development at Itamar Medical, and Adrian Voorkamp, director, learning deployment at Johnson Controls, to explore the current state of sales learning and how to be successful in the new normal.

Are In-Person Events Making a Comeback?

For close to two years, in-person learning events have been on hiatus, replaced by virtual events. The question for many trainers today is: Will virtual events continue, or will we return to the pre-pandemic world of travel-based learning events?

“The trend of virtual events will continue, not as much for safety but for cost-saving reasons,” says Voorkamp. “Companies have realized that they can still onboard using virtual training, while saving in-person events for smaller kick-off meetings.”

Virtual events also have the advantage of scalability and flexibility, allowing companies to scale events to much larger audiences than they could accommodate in person. Virtual events also help companies manage the needs of their employees.

Read on for the top six takeaways from our webinar.

1. Meet Learners Where They Are

“Learners are now less likely to want to leave their homes for two weeks at a time due to family and other commitments,” says Piekarsky. “That reluctance to travel has forced organizations to be more open to virtual events than they may have been in the past. Today, many companies offer a blended approach to training that fits learners’ needs.”

While fewer in-person events may occur, these events still play an important role in sales training. Voorkamp says that any hands-on application training still needs to happen in person. His organization, for example, provides hands-on training on how to use medical devices, training that can’t be done effectively online.

In-person events also create important outcomes, such as team building, camaraderie, and celebration—experiences that trainers can’t always create virtually.

“We see companies save their live training events for deeper-dive discussions, exercises, role-plays, and recognition while keeping their baseline training online,” says Donovan.

2. Flatten “The Forgetting Curve”

An ongoing trend in sales enablement has been the shift away from classroom training. One reason for this is the “Forgetting Curve.” Research shows that without immediate and ongoing reinforcement, salespeople will forget most of what they’ve been taught.

“If you don’t reinforce training, roughly 80% of what a salesperson has learned will go away in 30 days and 90% will be gone within 50 days,” says Donovan. “Learning and development is responsible for reinforcing what people learn, and if we don’t do it well, we’re throwing money away.”

The Forgetting Curve has reshaped how organizations educate their salespeople. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning,” says Piekarsky. “The classroom provides fundamental, foundational knowledge. But formal training needs to be complemented by informal learning, including peer-to-peer connections, manager’s coaching, and experience in the field. That combination is what speeds up ramp time, and ultimately ROI.”

3. Equip Sellers to Master Skills

Sales enablement technology is also advancing to support these different learning models. For example, technology such as Allego’s sales enablement platform uses AI to present customized content and serve it directly to the individual salesperson in their moment of need.

“Learning should never be a one-time event,” says Donovan. “If it is, we’ll never solve the Forgetting Curve challenge. So instead of the salesperson asking ten different people the answer to a question, the reinforcing content needs to be presented directly to sellers when they need it. That’s how we achieve effective reinforcement.”

It’s not enough for sellers to access information; they also need to present that information effectively in front of a customer. Here again, technology plays a significant role in mastering those skills.

“By using video and AI technology, sellers can practice their skills and safely get feedback,” says Piearsky. “As a result, the seller is better equipped in front of a customer than they would have been otherwise.”

4. Reinforce Training with Micro-Events

Reinforcement is just one part of the sales enablement continuum. Piearsky takes a holistic view of sales kickoffs or other significant onsite training.

“It needs to be an end-to-end process,” says Piearsky. “That includes some pre-work and introduction that’s done before the event to help your learners prepare. Then, when they are at the kickoff, they can practice during interactive work sessions—things they can’t do remotely. After the meeting, reinforcements are critical for avoiding the Forgetting Curve.”

This type of continuous training does not need to be delivered in lengthy, time-consuming presentations. Donovan says bite-sized bits of content can be dripped out every day in advance of the onsite meeting.

Learners can consume this content whenever they have time. Enabling this type of knowledge building before the event creates a baseline for learners and makes the onsite event more valuable.

This “micro training” can also reinforce the learnings of the onsite event. Rather than putting the whole class online, leaders can share small bite-size sections, and the seller can access the content they need the most.

Sales managers can prepare flash drills for sellers to do on their mobile devices. These drills reinforce the learning and provide managers with input on where the seller is strong and where they need improvement.

5. Align Training and Coaching

This type of ongoing sales manager involvement is critical to the seller—and the organization’s success. But in the virtual world, it is often difficult for the manager to provide timely, relevant feedback.

“There must be complete alignment between what we’re training sellers on and what sales managers are coaching them on,” says Donovan. “To create this alignment in a virtual world, many managers are now using Conversation Intelligence.”

When sales calls are recorded, Conversation Intelligence analyzes the text and generates insight the sales manager uses to provide feedback. Managers use Conversation Intelligence software to scale their feedback and align their coaching with the training.

6. Blend Formal and Informal Learning

Successful sales enablement requires a blended approach, one that combines formal and informal learning, curated content, automated reinforcements, and a mix of virtual and in-person events. By using technology, training professionals can better reach a wider group of learners and provide them with more impactful learning.

These benefits apply to skilled users of sales enablement technology and those just beginning. Donovan concludes, “No matter where you are on the technology learning journey, it’s about taking the next step, about continually getting better and measuring how we are improving. Most importantly, it’s about positively changing business outcomes. Because at the end of the day, training needs to make a difference.”

Learn More

Watch Reinforcing the Impact of Learning Events on-demand to learn more about overcoming the challenges of remote learning.