What You'll Learn from This Report:
- Average investment in sales training by salesrep
- Who makes sales training decisions
- Who is responsible for the sales training budget
- Mandates for virtual training
- The reasons companies train virtually rather than in traditional classrooms
- How long the improvement from virtual training lasts
- The differences between live virtual training and asynchronous (on-demand) virtual training
- The strengths and weaknesses of each
- What sales training content is best delivered virtually
- Delivery methods, including Internet- and computer-based
- Customization trends
- Relative increases and decreases in virtual versus live training
- Barriers to adopting virtual training and classroom training
This information is vital for sales organizations and training providers that want to thrive in this new environment.
This ESR/Report and related research endeavor to answer the following core questions:
- Are there sales training subjects that are particularly well-suited to each of the following modes: live classroom sales training, live virtual sales training, or completely automated virtual sales training?
- Are there sales training subjects that are not particularly well-suited to each of the following modes: live classroom sales training, live virtual sales training, or totally automated virtual sales training?
- Does the market consider virtual sales training an experimental technology or a mainstream tool?
Survey Organization:
ESR’s 2011 Virtual Sales Training Survey was divided into seven sections, described below:
- Part 1, Information About The Respondent. General information about the person completing the survey.
- Part 2, Company Information. Demographic information about the company surveyed.
- Part 3, Decision Makers. What corporate organizations have the responsibility and authority for making decisions regarding internal and/or external sales training?
- Part 4, Pre-Recorded Sales e-Learning. Experiences with sales training provided in a totally pre-recorded mode, without instructor intervention.
- Part 5, Live Virtual Sales Training. Experiences with sales training provided electronically, online, obviating the need for travel, but still requiring a specific calendar and time commitment on the part of the student and live instructor.
- Part 6, Virtual Sales Training Preferences. Explores survey participants’ experiences with and preferences for various sales training methods.
- Part 7, Investment Per Salesperson. How much does the organization invest annually, per salesperson, by sales training mode?
Survey Demographics:
Conducted from June 23 through July 25, 2011, five hundred and thirty-seven people participated in the survey, rendering the results, in ESR’s estimation, “statistically significant.”
Approximately 99 percent of the respondents were from end-user sales training organizations or sales forces. The remaining one percent were from professional sales training companies. Results from the professional sales training organization respondents were so minimal as to have little or no impact on the survey.
The survey results demonstrate empirically the state of virtual and live sales training with respect to actual sales organizations, their training departments, and corporate training.
ESR's Analysis and Recommendations:
Throughout the Report ESR provides analysis and recommendations for companies considering investments in live virtual as well as on-demand virtual training.
Assistance with this Report:
As part of the survey development process, ESR enlisted the assistance of experts from two leading virtual sales training providers—the TAS Group and 3g Selling—who reviewed and provided feedback on the survey questions. The TAS Group is a leader in on-demand virtual learning. 3g Selling is a leader in live virtual training.
ESR details the results of the survey in its comprehensive 32-page report, Virtual Sales Training: How New Media, Methods, and Technologies are Changing the Perception and Delivery of Sales Training.
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