Transform Sales Training Through Interactive Scenario-Based Learning

eBooks and articles won’t help you master a job alone. Some jobs, like sales training and marketing, require real-life experience and exposure to different situations. For instance, it could be training your teams for a new product or guiding the customers through the sales journey.

88% of managers who underwent such training saw improvements in decision-making, while 90% of them reported improved collaboration ability. 

Every use case is unique and, hence, requires a different approach to catering to customer demands. This is where scenario-based learning can be very helpful for sales teams. 

Now, what is scenario-based learning, and how does it help the sales team in polishing their skills? Read this guide as we talk about scenario-based learning, its benefits, use cases, and real-life examples. 

What is Scenario-based Learning?

Scenario-based learning is a strategy that offers a video-based module through a storyline, which helps them with critical learning, decision-making, and problem-solving skills. It is the most useful strategy for sales teams that want to acquaint their employees with different types of scenarios and customer queries. 

Companies use scenario-based learning to train employees of different tiers, from leadership to tech and sales. 

Here’s an example of Scenario-based learning: 

“A company wants to train its customer service employees in a situation where the customer requests a new feature, which a competitor provides. Team leaders can create a video module to train their employees on this specific scenario and boost their skills.” 

Why Scenario-based Learning Works for Sales Training?

Scenario-based learning is effective team skill training that allows sales teams to replicate and relate to real-world examples and how they will react to the situation. Here’s why SBL works for the sales teams: 

Offers quick & effective learning

Practical scenarios and relatable characters offer learners an effective learning experience and situations that they can grasp. These interactive scenarios motivate learners to perform actions and solve problems. Sales teams can discuss these situations and offer solutions that help them enhance their skills. 

Enhances problem-solving & decision making

Exposing your employees to different scenarios that they may often encounter with customers can enhance their decision-making and problem-solving skills. There is no definite solution to a problem. Hence, companies must train their employees with different solutions for a scenario. 

Improves collaboration

Most sales teams are tied together and often tasked with group activities. Scenario-based learning encourages brainstorming and group discussions by offering different perspectives on different situations. This leads to enhanced employee retention and strong team building.  

Personalized learning

Scenario-based learning is a flexible training approach that can be customized to an industry or organization’s needs. This offers more personalized learning for employees, enhancing the training outcomes. Personalized learning shortens the training period and allows trainees to face real-world customers. 

What are the Different Types of Scenarios?

Organizations use various types of scenarios in their learning modules so that employees can adapt to them. (You never know what may come.) 

Different types of scenarios based learning include: 

Problem-solving scenarios

This type of scenario helps learners analyze the situation, diagnose the problem, and find possible solutions. It works best for situations involving client and stakeholder interactions and their dissatisfaction. Most problem-solving courses have a set of questions from which users can select an answer and receive feedback from the top leadership. 

Example: A company witnesses a decline in sales and higher churn rates. Customer service teams and sales teams can be trained, posing this situation and how it can be resolved. 

Critical-thinking scenarios

Critical thinking scenarios encourage team members to evaluate information, make arguments, and use different perspectives to reach a conclusion. The learners are presented with ‘why’ and ‘what-if’ situations to create conclusions. 

Example: Say, a sales manager is trained to achieve targets. They may use critical thinking scenarios to improve interaction with the stakeholders and leaders with logical arguments and rational conclusions. 

Decision-making scenarios

In decision-making scenarios, team members are presented with different choices and must decide which path to take. Each choice often has different consequences, helping team members consider the outcomes of their actions.

Example: A customer requests a refund just outside the standard return period. The team member must choose between enforcing the policy, offering a partial refund, or giving an exception, weighing the impact on customer loyalty, policy integrity, and future business.

How to Create Engaging Scenario-Based Videos with Hippo Video?

Viewers retain 95% of a video’s message compared to 10% when reading the text version. For scenario-based learning, the video should capture the learner’s interest in a way that relates to their situations. 

Creating a scenario-based tutorial video shouldn’t merely involve using disoriented animated objects with a computerized voiceover. Instead, it should depict the moving characters and represent situations more realistically with a humanistic voiceover. 

If you’re looking to create a more realistic and engaging training module, that’s when AI video maker like Hippo Video shine. 

Hippo is an AI-powered video maker that lets you create realistic videos aligned with your industry. With a simple prompt, you can create scenario-based learning videos for employees.

Later, you can customize these videos for each team member by adding their name, role, or specific challenges.

Its pre-made templates and lifelike avatars bring your scenarios to life with gestures, expressions, and realistic voices.  You can even customize video backgrounds, adjust to video accents, and establish an emotional connection with the learners. 

Best Practices to Create Interactive Scenario-based Learning:

To create interactive scenario videos, it is important to stick to certain best practices: 

1. Identify your audience’s learning objectives: Identify their roles, skill levels, and knowledge gaps. Define specific, measurable objectives that align with what they need to accomplish or improve in their roles.

2. Design realistic scenarios: Create scenarios that closely mirror real-life situations the learners may encounter. Leverage the Hippo’s AI prompts to create scenarios that align with your training needs.

3. Use interactive elements: Use interactive elements such as realistic characters, branching decisions, and storylines. You can also add interactive quizzes and polls within the video to test your team’s knowledge and keep them engaged.

4. Focus on personalization: Personalize the training videos to gauge learners’ interest and address them by their name or role.

5. Collaborate with the trainees: After each session, interact with the trainees and gather their feedback on these training videos. Use a form to collect feedback and what can be improved in the future.

Conclusion

Scenario-based learning enhances corporate training by offering engaging and interactive elements to the learners. With Hippo video, these videos can be customized to tailor to specific businesses and use cases. 

The platform uses Gen AI to enhance video creation and create a learning environment that hones critical thinking and decision-making skills. Scenario-based learning emerges as one of the most powerful strategies for improving team performance and ROI in the long term. 

Further, Hippo video integrates with a stack of tools, including CRM tools, sales software, marketing and sales enablement tools. Start with Hippo video for free and create interactive videos in multiple languages.