Written by Philippe11 March 2022

How do your company’s Virtual Customer Assistants perform?

In 2018, Gartner predicted that 25% of Customer Service Operations would use VCA. Source: Gartner 2018. 

Extract: 

Analysts Present Top Predictions for Customer Experience Leaders at the Gartner Customer Experience Summit 2018 in Tokyo, February 19-20

Twenty-five percent of customer service and support operations will integrate virtual customer assistant (VCA) or chatbot technology across engagement channels by 2020, up from less than two percent in 2017, according to Gartner, Inc.

Speaking at the Gartner Customer Experience Summit in Tokyo today, Gene Alvarez, managing vice president at Gartner, said more than half of organizations have already invested in VCAs for customer service, as they realize the advantages of automated self-service, together with the ability to escalate to a human agent in complex situations.

“As more customers engage on digital channels, VCAs are being implemented for handling customer requests on websites, mobile apps, consumer messaging apps and social networks,” Mr. Alvarez said. “This is underpinned by improvements in natural-language processing, machine learning and intent-matching capabilities.”

Organizations report a reduction of up to 70 percent in call, chat and/or email inquiries after implementing a VCA, according to Gartner research. They also report increased customer satisfaction and a 33 percent saving per voice engagement.

 

The video in the following post shows an interaction between a VCA and a customer. The VCA’s natural way of behaving – in the video – is quite impressive. The company, Voca.ai, has since been bought by Snapchat. 

As we see the surge of VCAs, we can wonder about the impact on sales people and how to best train them in this new configuration.

 

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Written by Philippe9 March 2022

How will the Metaverse impact the way of teaching in companies?

Way before everybody, in 2003, Second Life created a virtual world where people could hang out, learn and experience different scenarios. In 2017, there were almost 1 million active users. 

Have you ever been in a virtual world? This will impact the future. How will you be part of it? 

Since Mark Zuckerberg started mentioning the Metaverse – and renaming his company from Facebook to Meta – there has been a lot of discussion about the topic. 

Indeed, in 2020, there were several major companies offering “a metaverse” and many more creating blockchain-based ones. For example, you might have heard of Decentraland or The Sandbox which are very interesting projects.

Quick note: There are different views on what a Metaverse is, but we will use here the definition of the Metaverse being composed of different virtual worlds. The analogy could be: While the Internet – or rather the World Wide Web – contains websites, the Metaverse contains virtual worlds. 

All this shows that there is a renewed interest in virtual worlds, whatever the technology behind them might be.

In our experience, learning in a virtual world opens a whole new range of possibilities compared to regular Learning Management Systems (LMS) or Learning Experience Platforms (LXP). Virtual worlds can be extremely immersive and help learners experience use cases rather than read about them or watch videos. 

Do you know how the Metaverse will influence your own reality, and specially your own business, clients and way of training your employees?

Would you like to be among the first ones? 

Let us know, we can help you. ? 

  

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Written by Philippe8 March 2022

Do you still think that you are smarter than an AI? ?

Artificial intelligence (AI) can now solve grade-school math problems and, more impressively, university-level math problems.    

This AI is based on a language model called Codex that is able to write computer programs. It gets additional guidance in the form of being told what topic the problem is about, what code library to use, and what the definition of mathematical concepts is. It is also able to generate new math problems. According to human evaluators, it is almost as good as humans at solving math problems.   

What if I told you that AI wrote this text?   

AI can even help create online courses for insurance for example!   

#singularity #artificialintelligence #ai #onlinecourses #coursecreators #coursewizard 

 

 

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Written by Philippe8 March 2022

Some cities are now starting to use the blockchain in Switzerland. How could this be used for learning?

Residents of this Swiss city will be able to use Bitcoin to…

…PAY THEIR TAXES! 

«The city of Lugano will accept Bitcoin, Tether and LVGA tokens as ‘de facto’ legal tender. Residents of the Switzerland city will be able to pay taxes, parking tickets, public services and tuition fees using crypto.» 

Source: Coin Telegraph

   

If even cities, local governments, are now starting to use the blockchain, is it possible to use it for learning ecosystems and LMSs? 

We have been strong believers in the blockchain and Metaverse for a long time. We are convinced that it will bring a real value to education, engagement and the motivation to learn. 

However, how can we use the blockchain in education? 

One of the main challenges for training departments is to get employees to go through the necessary online courses. Incentive programs based on the blockchain can be a great reward system to motivate employees. It’s a win for the employer, but also for employees!

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Written by Philippe4 March 2022

Are you missing out on sales because you get discouraged too fast ⁉️

Are you missing out on sales because you get discouraged too fast ⁉️  
 
Many clients raise up to 5 major objections or challenging questions before they buy, studies have shown*. ?

– The problem is that, by the time the client is finally ready to buy, about 91% of all unexperienced salespeople already gave up! ?

– That means it is the 9% of all salespeople that know how to handle client objections that are successful. 
 
*These studies were done with new, untrained salespeople. The goal was to analyze their first cold calls, to understand what training they need.
 
People with training will obviously learn to preempt and handle objections and therefore close more deals. ?

1. What do those figures look like in your experience? 
2. What do you and your team do to preempt and handle objections?

#sales #salestraining #salespeople #clientobjections #objections#success

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Written by Philippe24 February 2022

Would I like to go on a holiday with you?

Alright, I can imagine that this question sounds a bit weird. I’m not saying that I would like to. I’m just asking myself whether I would. That’s all. 

In any case, this is an important question for me. 

Indeed, whether you are a new recruit in our company or one of our future clients, it’s important for me to be aligned and actually appreciate working together with you! 

So, this is the little question I ask myself when I meet you: “Would I like to go on a holiday with you?”. Now you know it! 🙂

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Written by Philippe23 February 2022

Are you a B1 learner too?

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, abbreviated in English as CEFR or CEF or CEFRL, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingly, in other countries.

The CEFR is also intended to make it easier for educational institutions and employers to evaluate the language qualifications of candidates to education admission or employment. Its main aim is to provide a method of learning, teaching and assessing that applies to all languages in Europe.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages 

Note: As an avid language learner, I like the A2 or rather B1 levels as they offer a great compromise between the time invested to learn a language and the level of fluency. In short, you can reach the B1 level relatively fast while being able to converse very comfortably in that language. It’s a great example on how to use the Pareto principle for langage learning! 🙂

  

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Written by Philippe22 February 2022

Are you missing out on sales because you get discouraged too fast?

Many clients raise up to 5 major objections or challenging questions before they buy, studies have shown*.
The problem is that, by the time the client is finally ready to buy, about 91% of all sales people already gave up!
That means it is the 9% of all salespeople that know how to handle client objections that are successful.
  
This is an example from a call center doing many cold calls.
What does it look like for you? 

More to come in our next blog post…

 

*The number of objections or challenging questions that clients will raise obviously depends on the the product you are selling, the level to which you understood their needs and the relationship you have with the client.

If you want to know how to create great client relationships and handle objections, check out our Sales Academy!

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Written by Philippe18 February 2022

The new Sales Academy is out!

I am happy to share exciting news with you: our team has successfully launched the latest version of our Sales Academy! ? It is a series of sales courses that empowers people to enjoy selling and do so effectively and ethically.

Thanks to our enthusiastic trainer, Christiane Moeschler, who shares her 18+ years of experience in sales for this exciting and innovative academy!

#salestraining #salescourse #engagingtraining

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Written by Philippe26 January 2022

Looking for engaging training for your insurance professionals?

We are specialized in engaging training for insurance companies, their employees and their clients. 

Several leading insurance companies say about us, that we are the most innovative training company that they have seen in the industry! 

Would you like to test us out? 🙂

You are welcome to contact us!

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