Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019 - 54

and is used to help understand what
goals the customers is trying to achieve,
his or her individual challenges and how
to satisfy unmet needs.
LESSON #3 - KEEP IT SIMPLE
Rather than requiring reps to complete
SWOT charts using an influx of words to
describe a persona, a more creative and
simple approach was recommended.

important than gaining new knowledge
is understanding how to apply that
knowledge in the field. By asking the
reps to work collaboratively during the
workshop, they learned about each other
on a personal level and about specific
challenges in their individual countries.
The learning activity ultimately became
a collaborative one that helped develop
key critical thinking skills.

The reps were split into two groups
and participated in workshops to
develop two types of personas -the
first represented a doctor who leaned
toward a scientific approach and the
second represented a doctor who was
more patient-centric.

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT
SOFT SKILLS CAN BE
SUCCESSFULLY TRAINED.

LESSON #4 - BUILD IN
COLLABORATION
Collaboration is a soft skill that
requires practice. The learning activity
taught these reps that what is more

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Touch: Once the groups had agreed on
the persona they wanted to exemplify,
they created posters using the images
they cut out from the magazines.
The actions of flipping through the
magazines, touching and cutting the
paper was a tactile involvement that,
while simple, provided stimulation to
help the reps apply, understand and
remember the details of the persona.
AT THE END OF THE DAY - AN
"AMAZING" LEARNING EXPERIENCE

The learning activity was to create
a poster of the persona, and the
training process helped simplify the
learning activity as much as possible,
by letting participants select text and
images from magazines that personified
their customers.
As a result, the training program
reinforced the learning objective: that
while the interpersonal approach might
be tailored for each region based on
individual personalities, there proved
two types of personas to target, and
these types of people would react
positively to a similar marketing process.

prepared list of questions to be discussed.
In addition to the cue cards, attendees
viewed videos that provided clues about
the two different attitudinal profiles.

LESSON #5 - ENGAGE THE SENSES
One of the most important aspects of
this customer's training experience was
engaging learners by using as many
senses as possible.
Hearing: Engaging in dialogue with
others about a new topic is often the
best way for individuals to learn a
new skill or information. Encouraging
conversations about how to identify
personas gave the reps time to absorb
more information than if they had
been trained in a traditional format,
with a trainer directing them through
a lecture.
Sight: The process of discussing the
persona, and then finding pictorial
examples in magazines, engaged the
reps' visual and tactile senses. To guide
their visual activities, the workshop's
groups were provided with cue cards
as a training resource, in addition to a

At the conclusion of the two-day
workshop, attendees learned how to
think critically when planning their
marketing activities, how to understand
customer personas and how to use
those personas as a tool in building
their value proposition and journey
maps. Each group shared their posters
and through discussion and dialogue
helped the other group to understand
the thought process that went into
their personas.
Deemed "amazing" by our client, these
workshops successfully taught their
key learning objective - how to assess
a customer's needs by understanding
the social and cultural makeups of
individual regions by developing and
utilizing individual and group dynamic
soft skills.

Susan Sheppard is the strategic marketing
manager at Eagle Productivity Solutions
(a division of NIIT), a global innovator in
training, learning and consultative services.
Her experience includes marketing and
launching new brands, companies and
technologies into healthcare, government
and manufacturing industries worldwide.
Email Susan.
Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019

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