Malcolm Knowles, an educational theorist, coined the word “androgogy” to describe “the art and science of helping adults learn.” He and other educators differentiated pedagogical learning as applied to the teaching of children from the learning experiences needed to educate adults.
What does this have to do with sales training for your Reps? Think for a moment about your intentions when you engage with a Sales Training organization. Your goals are probably very simple – give the Sales Team the skills and knowledge to succeed. So your intentions are good.
What about your Sales Reps? Contrary to what most people assume about Sales Reps – they are resistant to formal Sales Training – the vast majority of Reps are professionals with a strong desire to succeed. They want to know what to do to be successful. So their intentions are good also.
What is that saying about “good intentions”?
The hard truth is most Sales Training fails to deliver sustainable results. The question we need to ask is – if the intentions of Sales Leadership and the Sales Reps are good, how can this be?
The answer lies in “androgogy” – how adults learn.
It was critical for us to answer this question. Our business depended on it. We work with Sales Rep and Sales Management everyday. So we partnered with Mark Evan Furman, a world-renowned neuro-scientist, author and androgogy specialist to ensure our programs are developed and facilitated in support of successful adult learning principles. Below are some of the key principles we discovered and how we applied them to our business. They worked for us and they can work for you as well.
- Adults need to know why they need to learn something before they learn it.
It is essential for students to see why the content is relevant to their needs. As a result, AXIOM uses real-life examples of participant’s current prospects and customers in each segment of the program to demonstrate the clear differences and benefits of our Selling Sciences Program over their existing methodologies. Socratic methodology is used by all instructors in all programs to lead students to self-realization of all key concepts, processes and methodologies.
- Self-concept of adults is heavily dependent upon movement toward self-direction.
As a result, AXIOM programs are designed to get the individual’s buy-in that the processes and methodologies are what is best for them, and provides for post course self-study and self-direction.
- Prior experiences of the learner provide a rich resource for learning.
As a result, each participant’s previous experiences are referenced throughout all AXIOM courses.
- Adult orientation to learning is life-centered.
Education is a process of developing increased competency over time, to achieve their full potential. As a result, AXIOM programs are not an “event”; they are focused on continual learning and improvement.