A Sales Learning Journey

2024 Brandon Hall Gold Award, Excellence in Learning — Best Unique or Innovative Sales Training Program

A multi-billion-dollar global healthcare company is transforming scientific innovation into healthcare solutions around the globe. Dedicated to supporting people through their health challenges, the Company employs more than 100,000 people to provide healthcare solutions in 176 countries. The Company engaged Innovative Learning Group (ILG) to create a custom blended learning solution to prepare sales representatives to sell a new immunization.

Situation

The Company’s sales representatives needed a deep understanding of the science and clinical trials behind its new infant RSV immunization. This expertise was essential for sales representatives
to effectively address healthcare providers’ questions and concerns, establishing themselves as trusted, credible resources. The training solution was designed to equip sales representatives with foundational information, ongoing reinforcement, and practical experience, fostering their confidence in conducting accurate and compliant conversations with healthcare providers about the product.

Solution

The RSV Learning Journey was created for approximately 500 sales representatives in North America with the goal of certifying them to sell the new infant RSV immunization. To become certified, sales representatives had to, among other things, demonstrate an understanding of immunity, the RSV virus, and how to speak about these topics knowledgeably and compliantly.

To meet these objectives, the Company’s Commercial Training Department and ILG created the RSV Learning Journey as a blended curriculum of e-learning courses, performance support resources,
and facilitated sessions leading up to an in-person live launch that used virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), QR codes, 3D printed models, and game scoring. The curriculum was rolled out in three phases: The Science of RSV, Clinical Trials, and Revolution — Live Launch.

The Science of RSV
The goal of this phase was to provide sales representatives with a high-level understanding of immunity and RSV. Sales representatives completed four 10-minute e-learning courses, each building on the concepts explained in the previous course.

These short, targeted courses provided sales representatives with foundational information needed to support sales conversations. The courses used visuals, animations, and conversational narration to bring content to life, and interactions to reveal content in logical chunks, provide examples, and assess understanding. Each course ended with a short assessment and included a downloadable, one-page resource to support sales representatives when meeting with healthcare providers.

Additionally, there were regularly scheduled virtual 30-minute “Ask-Me-Anything” sessions facilitated by the Company’s medical director that gave sales representatives the opportunity to ask questions about any course content that needed further explanation.

Clinical Trials
In this phase, sales representatives took three, five- to 10-minute e-learning courses, one for each clinical trial.
Courses displayed the trials in context of each other, allowing sales representatives to understand the continuity and differences between them at a high level. Then, the courses drilled into each trial, following a similar flow of information, to continue to build a comprehensive understanding.

This phase also included a downloadable, one-page resource at the end of each course, regularly scheduled virtual “Ask-Me-Anything” sessions, and a longer, structured session facilitated by the medical director who provided more detail on the three trials.

Revolution — Live Launch
The first two phases of the RSV Learning Journey prepared sales representatives to attend the live launch “Revolution” where they  had further opportunities to reinforce what they had learned previously, practice applying it, and be certified to sell the new immunization.

The live launch included the following:

VR experience: Sales representatives explored an RSV virus and the antibody to better understand how the virus infects a cell and how the antibody blocks it. The five-minute experience used headsets only, no hand controls, to ensure ease of use with minimal instruction. Sales representatives could observe the virus and antibodies by spinning the dial they were presented on, picking them up to examine them. They could also get pop-up information, watching a video on how the viruses and antibodies interact, and attach antibodies to the virus to block infection.

3D-printed models: Sales representatives picked up and examined the models to see the physical structure of the virus and how the proteins transformed to help infect a cell. Both the VR experience and 3D-printed models made the e-learning content “real” and reinforced learning.

E-learning content posters: Posters provided visual reinforcement of key content from the e-learning courses. QR codes on each poster allowed sales representatives to access additional resources.

Timeline posters: Two timeline posters provided background on the history of RSV prevention and key milestones in the immunization’s development. QR codes on each poster allowed sales representatives to hear narrated audio elaborating on this information.

QR code quizzes: Placards throughout the venue invited sales representatives to “up their game” by scanning QR codes to answer questions based on the e-learning content and earn points in the “Sales Team Challenge Competition.”

Smart speaker AI practice: Sales representatives “met” with smart speakers to practice discussing RSV and the immunization. The device asked questions and scored the sales representatives on
their responses. This approach allowed sales representatives to practice on their own effectively and efficiently.

Sales Team Challenge Competition: Scores from QR code questions, smart speaker AI practice, session attendance, and other events during the live launch were captured via a conference app to gamify the event and further engage sales representatives.

Results

The innovative approach to this sales training garnered attention across the company. The CEO attended the live launch and commented on the VR experience, “I think that’s absolutely sensational! When I started learning… like this, it was on an overhead projector. We’ve come so far.”

Measurable benefits included:

• 100% of the sales representatives were certified during the live launch to sell the new product, which was a testament to the overall blended learning journey that resulted in learning transfer and equipped sales representatives with the knowledge and confidence to have impactful sales conversations.
• 94% of participants in the live launch rated the experience extremely helpful for fulfilling their role and supporting their performance on the job.
• Behavior assessed during field rides indicates that sales representatives’ ability to articulate key messages about the product, science behind it, and clinical data is very high.

Other key findings revealed the cost benefits of e-learning courses rather than facilitator-presented sessions, which also require administration and attendance time. In addition, success of the e-learning courses and positive feedback provided on their directness, brevity, and relevance indicated the value of self-directed learning for foundational content. The VR experience also received significant feedback about how incorporating this type of technology was beneficial to engagement and bringing concepts to life.

To learn more about how Innovative Learning Group can create custom learning solutions to help improve business results, contact us at info@innovativeLG.com.