In a challenging economy, organizations need every edge they can get and are dependent upon sales revenue in order to grow their businesses. At no time in the last three decades has the job of executive management been more delicate; improve the sales skills of the organization while keeping expenses down. Industry study's prove that sales training investments correlate directly to increased revenue, but when budgets are this tight, every penny spent without a return on investment becomes destructive to the company. Companies are restricting travel and related training budgets and looking for ways to train, educate and motivate without the expenses. In addition to high travel cost traditional training takes sales people away from vital sales opportunities.
Virtual interactive training technology is catching on fire as it solves both problems. When I first heard about the possibility of educating people virtually I understood the benefits over traditional training and we first started surveying thousands of clients to determine exactly what sales organizations wanted. An interesting finding of the surveys was that training was not the request of organizations. What they wanted: 1) solutions, 2) training, 3) available when it was convenient for the user and 4) new content to handle the new economy. We then sought out companies that could build what our clients wanted.
After researching a number of virtual technology providers, we found what we were looking for and joined forces with Las Vegas based Light Speed VT. Brad Lea, CEO was incredible with helping us build what our clients requested. We ended up with a tool that organizations don't just use to train and motivate, but use as a manager, HR person, and a coach to solve problems, provide solutions to sales challenges and even assist in closing deals.
The response by companies large and small since our launch has been incredible. The National Automobile Dealer Association (NADA) is just one example of an organization that saw our Virtual Sales Training and will officially unveil it at their Annual Convention in Orlando making the tool available to all 15,400 members. Since our soft launch we have been contacted by sales organizations of all types; furniture retailers, contracting companies, automobile manufacturers, real estate companies, multi-level marketing companies and fortune 500 companies.
There are no DVD's to get lost, no CD's to get scratched, no books to read, no travel expense, and your people don't need to leave their families or miss valuable customer opportunities. From any place in the world, you simply enter a user name and password on your computer, and at the click of a button you are delivered full motion video in 3-5 minute segments and then immediately tested to ensure duplication before he/she is allowed to move on.
While Blockbuster tries to resist Neflix, the music industry scrambles to find an answer to iTune's, ESPN steps into the world of 3D, virutal sales training is providing businesses with a more effective and efficient way to train, educate, motivate and assist sales people to more sales at a lower cost.