"So, the other day I was watching this incredible video about how we can increase our productivity by planning just focusing on five minutes at a time", says one guy to another, followed by a detailed explanation about the contents of the video. This is a normal conversation that could be happening anywhere- in offices, recreation centers, training zones or even board meetings.
Interesting isn't it? Not just the part about the video, but the retention/recall too. For years, various researchers have established the fact that videos speak, leave visual clues that assists in the memory process, and hence increases the overall retention. To top that today we have a generation that spends an average of 1 hour, 33 minutes per day on live streaming. That's just live streaming, what about downloaded, shared videos, we bet that would sum up to a minimum of 3-4 hours each day, 28 hours a week- 124 hours each month and 1,488 hours each year.
That right there is the potential of videos. So, why not utilize its potential to drive one of the most crucial functions of an organization- the sales force? Videos can definitely act as the best self-paced learning for your sales force. And How? Here are a few scenarios that may help.
#Scenario 1
Your organization recently expanded its business and now you have a new batch of sales representatives, getting trained. Before handing them actual sales prospects you want them to experience the real deal. Some may say shadowing the experts is a good way, but what if there are geographical barriers?
In such scenarios creating a video of the live sales handling scenario and sharing them with the new sales representatives for reference can be a better way of teaching and learning. Also video-role plays wherein the representatives record their reactions/response to a particular test scenario can be used to monitor progress, for comparisons and even as teaching aids. This method of learning can also facilitate thinking and can improve the overall problem solving capacity.
#Scenario 2
You recently conducted a global sales meeting and trained them on the latest about the product, the areas of improvements etc. But now that they have gone back to their own offices, how do you ensure that the training is retained and put to use.
How does a video refresher course sound? Not only is video interesting and assistive, it is device-agnostic too and hence perfect choice for performance support and refresher courses.
#Scenario 3
Your organization has been working on many product, infrastructure changes and all those changes are well documented in a 100-page file. However, you need your sales team to be ready to pitch the new changes within a really short time and reading the entire document page by page could be a tad bit frustrating.
An alternative here is to create an eLearning module, and what better option than the use of videos. In case of software/product upgrades the videos can not only highlight the major steps but also showcase the important changes in a couple of frames. This can provide the learners an interesting and engaging environment for learning.
#Scenario 4
There are times when you have everything at hand but, can't manage the device shortage. The good thing about video-based learning is that it can be used for groups instead of individuals. Follow the video sessions with an interactive discussion and the learning becomes collaborative with each individual drawing different learning conclusions.
Video based learning is also ideal for social learning as it can be shared among peers on their devices, on the web or social media portals too.
According to Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience, "people generally remember 50% of what they hear and see". Videos can achieve this for sure. Add interactivity to this and the retention percentage should increase to 90%.
Videos are powerful modes of delivering eLearning the benefits widely manifested through the You Tube-based, and other free eLearning modules available on various other portals.
We believe that in the coming years videos will be widely used as learning tools. So, if you are working on creating video based learning, here are some effective ways of using it in eLearning and some points to focus on while creating eLearning videos.
