The World War II Origins of Video-based Learning

Want to Mobilize your Sales Force Faster?

Take a page from World War II history. Long before YouTube, the U.S. military used the power of film to speed the flow of battle-ready troops into war to defeat the Nazis.  

We recently sat down with Pat D’Amico, U.S. Army veteran and Founder and CEO of About Face Development to discuss the application of video to modern learning for high performing sales organizations.

Film-based education evolved over the last century until its successor, video, took over.  Video now plays a foundational role in modern learning for sales organizations because people absorb it faster than any other type of content.

“It’s why you absolutely must identify opportunities to integrate video education into your sales learning plans, both tactically and strategically,” D’Amico said.

Hollywood to the Rescue

In 1942 Commanding General Hap Arnold had a problem. The U.S. Army Air Forces found themselves short-staffed by 100,000 pilots. Arnold believed a film produced by Hollywood professionals could make the difference. He commissioned Jack Warner of Warner Bros. Studios to make “Winning Your Wings,” a film starring Jimmy Stewart as a dashing young pilot. Since many young people went out to the movies to socialize, it would reach the target age group.

The campaign succeeded wildly, and Arnold credited the film with his success recruiting the 100,000 pilots he needed.  It also created an immediate demand for training and recruitment films. Out of this came educational films like “Resisting Enemy Interrogation,” and also, a series of top-secret films to train pilots and bombardiers.

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of Nazi Armed Forces High Command, later lamented the unexpected speed with which the Allies trained their forces using video.

“We had everything calculated perfectly, except the speed with which the allies were able to train their people for war,” he reportedly said. “We completely underestimated their quick and complete mastery of film education.”

Modern Learning with Video

Now, thanks to inexpensive technology and ubiquitous mobile devices, anyone can make a video. And while government-funded propaganda today seems hopelessly dated, if not sinister, mobile video sharing gives organizations far more advantages than the producers of World War II films could have ever imagined.

“We’re moving into a realm today where we can personalize our training,” Amico said.  With modern sales learning and coaching tools that center on video, you can:

• Easily capture and circulate field-generated insights, best-practices, and critical update videos organically from top performers in the field, or from experts in the home office.
• Train managers to coach more effectively and spur reps to practice on their own using video (instead of practicing on live customers!) Managers can provide coaching notes in context, so sales people quickly understand and incorporate feedback.
• Use video-based microlearning exercises to identify and exercise each salesperson’s areas of weakness, in just a few minutes a day.
• Serve up the right messaging, objection handling, and differentiating stories for different selling situations right inside CRM systems.  That way reps encounter the organization’s best available information to utilize at the right points throughout the sales cycle.
• Quickly see which reps have mastered what they need for success and which ones require additional training. That way you can Spot and address competency gaps before they impact sales results.
• Make learning fun and boost motivation to learn by tapping sales peoples’ competitive nature with gamification.

Organizations across financial services, technology, life science and other industries use modern learning to ensure their sales professionals bring their A-game to every customer conversation.  Read our blog post  Sharing Best Practices is Key for Modern Learning to learn where to start.