David Werboff Group Director, Project Management Informa Training Partners Ron Burns President protonMEDIA There will always be a time and a place for text-based training programs as well as face-to-face, in-person workshops, but today’s e-learning programs are filling in the gaps better than ever before. Advances in technology are helping the e-learning training medium gain popularity in a world where personal interaction has always been considered paramount. Pharmaceutical sales, after all, requires building customer relationships and interacting with those customers in person. Shouldn’t it follow that effective pharmaceutical sales training would require in-person training as well? Yes and no. Here’s why. E-Learning Programs Today’s e-learning programs offer trainers and pharmaceutical sales professionals the opportunity to engage in both asynchronous and synchronous learning. This means that participants can work online or off a CD-ROM at their own pace to learn about certain pieces of information, such as the anatomy of the heart, cardiovascular diseases, diagnostic tools, etc. E-learning also means that participants can interact in a virtual workshop setting, or Webinar, with several other participants at the same time, all of whom have access to and can interact with each other through their computers. Some highly specialized e-learning programs even transport participants to virtual worlds where animated characters called avatars are represented. In these programs, learners manipulate their avatars to interact with virtual customers and other participants’ avatars, competing in virtual games, working on team assignments, or conducting simulated sales calls. Such innovative training programs are not only informative and effective, but very entertaining and novel as well. Capturing The Audience’s Attention While the end goal of pharmaceutical sales training programs typically is not to entertain participants, the ability of these programs to capture the attention of the training audience should not be overlooked. In comparison with text-based programs, and even some in-person workshops, e-learning programs can engage participants at a level that is required for enhanced retention of information, eventual assimilation, and successful future application. There will always be a time and a place for text-based training programs as well as face-to-face, in-person workshops, but today’s e-learning programs are finding their niche and filling in the gaps better than ever before. The Software Tools There are several software tools that can deliver asynchronous and synchronous e-learning programs, including facilitated presentations, “breakout” spaces for small group interactions, and links to launch tutorial-style content. Additional tools include white boards, document sharing, and games. Some of these tools are marketed as “virtual classrooms,” others as learning management systems. Facilitated sessions can be delivered via video, Internet telephony (VoIP), and/or virtual representations of the facilitator and participants interacting in a computer-generated learning environment. Informa Training Partners, Walpole, Mass., is a provider of custom and off-the-shelf training programs that motivate sales professionals to learn about their markets, gain access to their customers, and maximize sales opportunities. For more information, visit informatp.com. protonMEDIA, Harleysville, Pa., specializes in the development of synchronous and asynchronous e-learning programs. For more information, visit protonmedia.com.

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