Sales: E-Learning Program Yields Eye-Opening Results

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Distributors and DSRs who are passionate about e-learning--that is, those who truly want to learn from the courses and improve their sales skills--experience a more positive impact on their sales than those with less interest in such programs.

This was the conclusion of a 60-day study analyzing the effectiveness of an e-learning program created by Enviro-Solutions.

The program, which consists of 46 courses and over 168 modules, was introduced in 2009 and spearheaded by Mark Warner, director of training for Enviro-Solutions.

Of the "passionate" distributors investigated for the study, reported sales increases averaged 45 percent.

For DSRs, sales increases ranged from 19 percent to a remarkable 847 percent.

On the other hand, Warner reports, those participants with "passive" or no interest in the e-learning program experienced little or no improvement in sales and, in many cases, experienced sale declines.  

The study revealed the following sales figures:

Passive distributors: Sales increases ranged from 2 percent to 5 percent.

Passive DSRs: Sales increases ranged from 5 percent to 48 percent.

Distributors with no interest in the program: Sales increases ranged from negative 2 percent to negative 50 percent.

DSRs with no interest in the program: Sales increases ranged from negative 60 percent to 8 percent.

"It was fairly easy to determine how involved someone was with the program," says Warner. "Those very involved [or "passionate"] took the time to carefully go through the modules and then take the tests. Those less involved [or "passive"] skimmed the modules and then took the tests over and over again trying to pass them."

Warner adds that a financial incentive to encourage more distributor/DSRs to take the e-learning program had little or no impact. Participants who made use of the incentive "did it for the money and were not truly motivated," says Warner.

"Although other factors may have contributed to these results, the bottom line is this," says Warner: "Those [distributors and DSRs] who really wanted to expand their knowledge, take advantage of the program, and improve their [sales] skills, were the ones that experienced the greatest sales success."