Hi
I am currently researching ways of how to deliver product knowledge traning that reduces the amount of classroom time and isnt e-learning. It is a large company that sells lots of different brands so i am keen to hear what other companies do to deliver product training. We currently run classroom based and virtual classrooms, however, the classroom based sessions are too expensive to run and the virtual classrooms are not enough on there own.
I look forward to hearing from you
3 Responses
what’s left?
You don't want:
'classroom training'~ too expensive
'Virtual classroom'~ not adequate on its own
or
'e-learning'~ reason unspecified
So what options are there left?
A couple of organisations I know use 'staff coaches'; they provide specific people with expert knowledge (using a blend of virtual, classroom and e-learning, then those people go back to their workplaces and train (in short pre opening or lunch break sessions) the rest of the staff and act as on-site specialists as well.
I hope that helps
Rus
http://www.coach-and-courses.com
PK Day!
Just to build on Rus's comments, when I worked as a trainer in a department store, we organised prodcut knowledge days (PK days) where each department elected a 'subject matter expert' from their team to train a group of staff from another department. These sessions fitted nicely into the designated 'half hour training' slot on a Tuesday morning before the store opened.
PK days could work at any time of the day in a non-customer facing environment. In fact, put the training sessions at lunchtime and provide a plate of sandwiches and watch the 'bees go to the honeypot'!
Bryan
http://www.abctrainingsolutions.biz/ – course delivery and training material design
Hi,
Hi,
We have recently been doing a fair amount of product training and have similar constraints to you with regards to keeping costs low and not having the IT infrastructure to deliver much on e-learning.
We have gone done a cascade route. We have a number of knowledge cards containing interesting information about the products or product categories. To bring these to life, we delivered a number of 3 hour sessions where each store a few Team Leaders and Managers (between 1 and 5 people per store depending on their size). In the session we ran a number of activities and games which got them using the cards and engaging with the content. We did things like 'Who wants to be a bakery millionaire' and 'Deli dragons den' which made the content more memorable.
From there, each of the people attending were tasked to train the people in store. The strategy for this was to have a product / category of the week and they would have access to all the content from the 3 hour sessions to use if they wanted.
They had to issue the relevant product card to each employee, create engaging notice boards in the staff areas related to the topic, they had to discuss it during every daily huddle (5 minute shift meetings), they were expected to throw random relevant questions at employees when they passed them and to make sure that every employee had the opportunity to be working in the relevant area of the store during that week to practice the knowledge on their customers. At the end of the week, everyone received a quiz to test their knowledge. The quiz included things such as finding out their most popular products, describing how they would entice customers to buy as well as the products features.
The topic then changes the following week / two weeks later as relevant.
We have found this approach to be really cost effective and a good way of engaging everyone and creating a buzz in store. Its too soon to review any measures but subjective feedback has shown an improvement.
Hope that helps.
Sally