Empowering Your Employees With Immersive Simulations
Skills abound in the sales department. At least, that’s how it should be to improve your profit margin and customer satisfaction scores. Sales employees must possess strong communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills to keep your company afloat. That’s on top of the product and compliance knowledge they must build to perfect their pitch and uphold company policy. That’s a lot of performance management plates to juggle. So, how do you identify gaps and hidden talents? Here are 7 top tips to use sales task simulations to measure employee proficiency in real-world environments.
Top Tips To Leverage Sales Task Simulations In Online Training
1. Keeping It Real Yields Accurate LMS Metrics
Simulations should be as realistic as possible. Not just to up the immersion factor, but to provide more accurate results. You need to test employee skill application and performance in a real-world setting to identify areas for improvement and to truly gauge whether they can handle practical challenges or if they buckle under the stress. Does the virtual customer make them so uncomfortable that they skip steps in the task? Are they able to use their communication skills to reassure the client and land the sale?
2. Apply Pressure In Small Doses
We just suggested to keep it real for accurate reporting. However, there is a limit to how much pressure employees can take in one sitting. So, apply the stressors in small doses to replicate real-world challenges without going overboard. For example, don’t wrap every negative personality trait into a single virtual customer. Give employees time to recuperate and reflect on every obstacle before moving on to the next in the sales task simulation. You want to test employee proficiency in true-to-life conditions. Space challenges to see how they react on the job.
3. Incorporate Actual Products And Workplace Tools
Sales employees pitch products and ring up customers; it’s part of the job description. Thus, you should incorporate actual products and equipment into the sales task simulation. Evaluate how they interact with the item and show it off to customers. Can they operate the POS software and deal with minor mishaps? Are they able to answer basic questions about related services or add-ons? It’s not just about the sales process but the tools they need to carry out job responsibilities. In the case of products, employees must know how to highlight the selling points and demonstrate how they work.
4. Test Soft Skills Application
Employees can’t just put a product on the counter and expect customers to hand over the cash. Selling is an art form that requires numerous skills, many of which are difficult to measure. Thankfully, sales task simulations allow you to evaluate soft skills like active listening, empathy, and nonverbal communication. Don’t just rely on dialogue to test employee proficiency. Instead, include customer facial expressions and other cues to see if trainees can read between the lines, or a little backstory so they can match consumers with the right product based on their personal challenges and buying habits.
5. Use A Rapid Authoring Tool To Maintain Consistency
Many rapid authoring tools have templates for online training simulations. This helps to maintain consistency in your design and ensure more accurate results. Employees don’t have to master a new set of controls for every simulation. They know what to expect and focus on their performance instead of tech obstacles. You can also incorporate your branding and personalize simulations for each department or user group. For instance, customer service employees access a simulation that’s just for them, and your L&D team doesn’t have to start from scratch. The activity centers on interpersonal skills and return policies, because those fall under the domain of your customer care team.
6. Provide Immediate Feedback
Online training simulations should always have built-in feedback mechanisms. Employees may think their performance was spot-on, but there are still some areas they need to improve. They won’t know this until you point out missed steps or skills they lack. In fact, they may go on to repeat mistakes in the workplace because they’re simply unaware of their shortcomings. So, you need to provide immediate and personalized feedback to mitigate issues before they escalate. Include a recap at the end to tell them where they went wrong and how that impacts the outcome. For example, they didn’t log off from the sales terminal at the end, which may lead to security breaches, or they didn’t suggest a tie-in product to the customer that could have increased their per-ticket sales.
7. Recommend Resources To Fill Gaps
Measuring proficiency is just the beginning. You can’t provide feedback, then leave employees on their own to fill crucial gaps. Give them targeted recommendations they can use to improve mastery and avoid common mistakes. Link to JIT resources that build skills and impart product knowledge and invite them to retake the simulation once they’ve addressed the issue. Then you’re able to evaluate how much they’ve improved and if they’re willing to put in the work. Lastly, explain why each resource is on the list and how it can help them improve workplace productivity.
Conclusion
Online training simulations are immersive, which makes them the ideal diagnostic tool for employee proficiency. That said, some staff members may let nerves get the best of them. They know it’s a simulation but they’re also aware that you’re evaluating their performance. So, frame it with a supportive training environment that puts employees at ease and offers personalized feedback. Let them know that it’s a safe space for them to make mistakes, as long as they learn from them.
Hire an eLearning content provider to lighten the load on your team and avoid development hurdles. You can find the right outsourcing partner for your online training simulations using our directory. Search by specialization area and industry to select a provider that surpasses your expectations.