The Benefits of Modern Learning Technology for Sales Initiatives

This blog post is the second part in a series on modern learning technology adoption

In the first part of this article 6 Ways Global Sales Teams Can Promote Modern Sales Team Adoption , we examined how sensitivity to cultural differences and stressing the benefits of best practices sharing can fuel faster adoption of Allego across a globally distributed sales force.

In this part, we’ll look at the benefits of gamification, influencer campaigns, and aligning modern learning technology with your company’s global and regional sales initiatives.

Gamification

Question: What’s the difference between adaptive reinforcement technology and a TV quiz show? Answer: The TV quiz show offers Caribbean cruises. Many Allego customers have discovered, some without even trying, that sales reps automatically turn the platform’s Flash Drills adaptive reinforcement feature into a competition. The  “prize” for winners is the ego boost that the triumphant individuals – or groups – gain from beating their colleagues.

According to one trainer, “Flash Drills have increased user participation because, as you know, salespeople are very competitive, so the desire to answer the questions has definitely driven people to the platform.”

“We have two distinct groups in this one region,” said another training leader, “and they like to go at each other’s throats. So the competition was more about ‘my percentage of correct answers is better than yours’ rather than any prizes. We hadn’t done a ton of gamification, but this year we did a lot of it using the Flash Drills. We found that when you stir the pot with salespeople, that’s when you see great things. One training manager knows all the soft spots of the sales leaders when it comes to their pride, so he would just grind away at them. ‘Hey, have you seen Michelle’s numbers? Wow. But yours stink!’”

Find modern learning technology advocates to serve as influencers

In one global sales organization, one of the most effective techniques was to locate the technology “friendlies” and the detractors as soon as possible. Once that was done, the sales enablement team helped the early adopters evangelize the new learning platform among the reps whose initial reactions were “I’m too busy” or, “I’m not going to bother with that.”

“The number one thing I suggest, right out of the gate, is to locate the people who will help you drive greater adoption, as well as the people who need more convincing,” said one enablement professional.

Align Allego with your global and regional sales initiatives

A hammer is a useful tool, but without any nails, it has little value. The same is true of Allego, which is why the enablement team at one organization is constantly in search of “nails.”

“My team, and my boss…we’re in constant communication with the sales leaders, whether it’s a monthly meeting or a quarterly meeting, and we always put Allego on the agenda,” said one enablement leader. “We say, ‘What are your initiatives and how can we use Allego to enable those initiatives?’ We’re huge cheerleaders of modern learning technology, and we push it all the time so it’s always top of mind for people.

“We speak to it a lot, making sure it aligns with our initiatives, and we’re always asking our people how it can enable those initiatives.”