Which is best, traditional in-person classroom training or online training? Which is most effective? We believe there are clear benefits of either and a place for both in an overall learning curriculum. Which is best for you or your team will vary for each company and individual. What is critical is the ability to facilitate meaningful interaction, stimulate creative thinking and the sharing of ideas in addition to a positive learning experience.

The debate over the value and effectiveness of online learning has raged for years. In our view, only recently, has the development of improved tools and the wider existence of good quality high-speed internet access made the case for online training strong enough to come close to being as effective as instructor-led classroom training.

“Horses for courses” – you should select the type/method of sales training according to the objectives of the course and the circumstances of the learner(s). Some ‘knowledge-based’ training lends itself better to online learning; other ‘skills and behavior’ focused training tends to be more effective in an instructor-led environment.

“We’ve cracked the code” – there will be no substitute for in-person human interaction, but the latest collaborative online training tools start to come close. We believe we have cracked the code on how to make online interactive sales training highly effective. Subscribe to our online sales training series to try this for yourself.

“It’s not just about the money” – for many years people have touted the key benefit of online training being that it saves money. Although there are clear cost savings from online training (travel, hotel and meals etc – all very significant in a tight economy) there are serious concerns about participant engagement, participant interaction and most importantly whether in fact any beneficial learning can be affected.

We would never suggest that online learning could totally replace the face-to-face classroom seminar. However in view of ever increasing budgetry and time pressures and the availability of rapidly improving technology tools we have developed a new and unique online learning solution. It has all the inherent cost benefits but also requires a level of participant interaction very similar to that of the classroom and therefore is able to generate creative thinking and effective learning through real live time engagement.

Participation is required throughout the online training module.  This is not ‘training’ where an individual simply logs-on,presses mute, and starts ‘multi-tasking’! An individuals’ activity is viewable by the instructor at all times, the risk that attention will  be distracted by emails, web searches etc is eliminated. Just as in the classroom, breakout discussion sessions and exercises with other participants are facilitated and encouraged; engagement is real-time – resulting in real thinking and real learning !