Direct selling salesforce is diverse with various generations showcasing their potential to sales and building a fruitful career. Despite having varying capacities to outshine one another, yet unified by the common objective of taking the brand further in the market, these diverse salesforce demand appropriate attention to hone their individual skills. Traditional and outdated training methods will surely fail brands to upskill this disparate workforce. Understanding their unique learning preferences can help brands tailor their training programs accordingly. It has become more important than ever to give importance to a multi-generational approach to training the direct selling salesforce.
Younger generations are more keen on exploring the novel side of training sessions such as gamified and interactive online training while older generations prefer workshops and in-person training sessions. Gen Z and younger millennials prefer visual and auditory learning styles. Some of the preferred learning modes of these generations are social media, eLearning, mobile apps, online communities, short videos, gamification, etc. While this is the case with the younger generation, older generations like Gen X and Older Millennials opt for group activities, eBooks, podcasts, webinars, etc.
A recent study cites that 70% of the workforce will be Millennials and Gen Z by 2025. Direct selling companies must capitalize on this statistics to devise training sessions for their future salesforce. Training should concentrate on developing both hard skills and soft skills of distributors. By offering consistent mentor or sponsor support can help younger distributors thrive in the new and competitive direct selling industry.
Acknowledging the interests and learning preferences of the workforce, companies can grant online and offline access to learning materials for distributors to learn at their own convenience. Also, new topics can be introduced as micro-leanring modules, short videos, podcasts, etc. Engaging activities and interactive learning sessions can contribute largely to retaining information thereby increasing the efficiency of training sessions.
Gamification, now a giant engagement feature, can be incorporated into distributor training programs through leaderboards, badges, certifications, and quizzes. This way, training courses will appeal to the distributors in an inspiring way benefitting brands in molding a proactive salesforce. Interactive surveys, quizzes, live streams, and online events are also a great way to engage and entertain your learners in the training process.
Creating generation-based training sessions have a multitude of advantages over traditional training methods. Tailoring training programs according to the preferences and interests of each generation has resulted in improved engagement rates and knowledge retention. Distributors feel motivated to compete with their fellow team members, cultivating a healthy competition among the network.
In addition to enhancing distributor engagement, the multi-generational training approach helps brands accelerate their sales process to more assured conversions. A cost-effective way to upskill your salesforce, this generation-based training has a significant impact on the brand’s image in the market. Brands that has invested consistent time and effort in empowering its salesforce has witnessed noticeable impact in their overall productivity and growth. Watching the multi-generational trends and adapting each business process to suit their interest is what will keep the brand live in the competitive global marketplace.