LENS INSIGHT:
Editor’s Note
This month, we explore the evolution sales training through innovative learning in our Inside Knowlens section. Knowlens has long been a leader in visual learning solutions for the corporate sector, and with the launch of Tarang, we’re now focusing on technology awareness for rural audiences. In our Upgrade Hub, we highlight the exciting journey of making our learning resources more accessible to our customers.
Knowlens & the Evolution of Sales Training
In today’s dynamic business landscape, sales aren’t just about closing deals – it’s about building relationships, understanding complex customer needs, and delivering value at every interaction. Yet, many sales professionals find themselves navigating this evolving landscape with outdated tools and traditional training methods that no longer meet the demands of modern customers. This disconnect creates a unique challenge: How can organizations transform their sales teams to meet contemporary market demands while maintaining the human touch that drives successful sales relationships?
The answer lies in revolutionizing how we approach sales training and development. Through Knowlens innovative learning solutions, organizations can transform their sales capabilities while maintaining engagement and ensuring practical application.
What are the unique challenges in traditional Sales training?
Strong Business Context & Situations
The complexity of industry and domain dimensions creates unique challenges that generic training solutions fail to address. Sales training requires a deep understanding of industry contexts, customer behaviours, and product complexity. Current simulation exercises frequently present oversimplified scenarios – like selling a pen in a classroom setting – which fail to capture the complexity of selling enterprise IT solutions or financial products in actual business environments.
Practical Application Vs Concepts
Traditional concept-based learning often prioritizes theory over practical application, leaving sales professionals struggling to implement the learnings in real situations. For instance we talk about introducing yourself well but how often do you hear sales people say they learnt the ropes from mistakes made during their live experience with the customer. Is there a way to pre-empt these practical skills essential for dealing with customers.
Knowlens & Sales
- Scenario-Based Role Plays
At the heart of Knowlens’ approach is its web series based approach. This is exemplified by courses like “Birth of a Salesman”. Set in a banking environment, but the sales principles are universal for a services based individual selling organization. This subsequently led to specialised modules for life insurance both advisor and banca, pharma sales, retail apparel, FMCG, Jewellery selling etc.
Birth of a salesman traces the journey of different relationship managers through encounters with different kinds of customers with different characteristics– egoistic, relationship driven, low bias to action etc. In the process we learn about customer handling,
The web series also showcases how peers, managers and even the context ( for instance a month- end) affects the sales process, which is more flesh and blood than a simple formula to sales success.
- Domain Research and Depth
Knowlens expertise spans multiple industries, with a deep understanding of sector-specific challenges and requirements. Each industry module is crafted with thorough research and practical insights. Some of the sales team related topics include:
Banking & Financial Services:
- Relationship management modules
- Young Manager/ Branch Manager
- Business Acumen
- Negotiation Skills
Life Insurance:
- Agency Sales
- Banca
Retail & Jewellry:
- Jewellery selling skills
Pharmaceutical:
- Medical representative sales enablement
- retail chemist prescription audit
IT Solutions:
- Negotiation Skills
- Business Acumen
FMCG:
- Distributor Sales Representative role based web series
- Territory Sales Manager role based web series
- Product Videos
- Edutainment Approach
To top it all, these stories have a strong edutainent approach and high film production values and hence have better sales team connect. End user learning recall and emotional connect have come out very strongly in post course surveys.
Conclusion
Modern sales training approaches need to blend traditional sales wisdom with contemporary methodologies. Through Knowlens innovative visual learning solutions, as illustrated through the “Birth of a Salesman” program, organizations can transform their sales teams’ capabilities while maintaining engagement and ensuring practical application.
The combination of professional-grade content, multiple learning formats, and real-world scenarios provided by Knowlens creates an ideal environment for sales professionals to develop and refine their skills. This comprehensive approach ensures that sales teams are not just trained but transformed into high-performing units capable of meeting modern sales challenges while delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Inside Knowlens:
Tarang – Empowering Lives Through Digital Literacy
Knowlens has traditionally been a pioneer in visual learning solutions for the corporate sector. When the concept of Tarang came up, with a special focus on technology awareness for a rural target audience, it threw up a number of difficult questions:
- How do you teach knowledge of technology and skills to non literate audiences?
- How does one use storytelling to explain technology?
We concluded that an academic approach focussed on typical IT learning, would fail. The entire focus was on providing use case context for different technology applications woven into the reality of everyday life.
The Story
Set in a picturesque village, Tarang revolves around the inspiring journey of two young hockey players, Rani and Rekha. Rani, the daughter of a shoemaker, and Rekha, the daughter of a farmer, dreamed of creating a better future for their families and their community which included farmers, cobblers, courier boys and even the evil local landlord. Despite facing a wide range of socio-economic challenges, the duo discovered how digital literacy could be a powerful tool for transformation and eventually liberation.
Through a series of engaging episodes, Tarang covered key topics like:
- Basics of using the Internet.
- Leveraging social media for communication and community building.
- Email for professional and personal use.
- Exploring e-commerce to support their families’ livelihoods.
- Awareness of government programs for rural development.
- Staying safe online through cyber security practices.
Impact
The learners found the module highly relatable and engaging due to its story-driven approach. Rani and Rekha’s challenges and triumphs resonated with the audience, making the learning process both meaningful and enjoyable.
The module received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with participants highlighting its practical relevance and accessibility. Many learners reported feeling more confident in using digital tools and expressed enthusiasm about applying their newfound skills to improve their personal and professional lives.
Conclusion
Tarang exemplifies how a well-crafted, relatable narrative can make complex topics like digital literacy accessible and impactful. By combining storytelling with practical knowledge, Knowlens successfully created a learning module that inspired transformation at both individual and community levels.
Knowbyte :
Online learning consumes 90% less energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 85% compared to traditional, in-person courses. This makes eLearning a more sustainable option for education and training.
Upgrade Hub:
This month in our Upgrade Hub we look at the fascinating journey of providing our customers an easy way to access our learning riches….in short: integrating with the Learning Management System and the off-the-shelf content.
At Knowlens, we are dedicated to empowering organizations with seamless, accessible learning experiences across our off the shelf products as well as the LMS, our technology platform. This often entails that end users access our courses or technology through interfaces they are accustomed to : in short the customer’s own HRMS, LMS etc.
To ensure smooth integration within existing ecosystems, Knowlens is equipped to work alongside different systems including custom intranets, HRMS, other LMS and ERP software. For secure, simplified access, we have incorporated different technology solutions leveraging multiple SSO options, including SAML, OAuth, and HMAC-based token exchange, enabling safe and straightforward login experiences.
At Knowlens, we believe learning needs to reach out to the audience and make it easier for the audience to learn.
Testimonial :
Knowlens has been our training provider for POSH since the last few years.
I was impressed with their unique approach to online training. They managed to take away the mundane parts of the training and make it into easy watching, entertaining and a content rich training program.
Overall great experience!
Ranjana Jha
Human Resources Director
Iskraemeco India Pvt Ltd