Is in-person learning more effective than online sales training?

Author: Ryan Tuckwood

Today, I want to talk about the question ‘Is an in-person event like a sales bootcamp more or less effective than taking an online course?’ This is where we really answer the question like a politician. It depends on who you are as a person and what method of learning is the most effective for you.

The benefits of in-person learning

Personally, while I embrace the digital age because I think it means that we can learn 24/7, 365, which is fantastic, I prefer face-to-face interaction. I’m a lot better learning one-to-one with whoever it is that I’m looking to obtain the guidance from. 

From a coaching perspective, I personally feel that I get more out of people when I’m doing one-to-one coaching. I can really kind of open them up and get deep down into the root cause of what’s going to allow them to take action.

The reason that people would choose an in-person bootcamp is that it also keeps you accountable. Our experience has shown us that 7 out of 10 people who utilise our services will do so inside the sales bootcamp, where only 3 of the 10 of them will do that through digital sales training.

So the vast majority of the reason is not only because they get to ask questions and feel like the content’s personalised to them, but a lot of people also enjoy the collaboration that comes from sales bootcamp style learning. Being able to bounce ideas off of others is another reason people would prefer to do it in groups.

The benefits of online learning

Jack, for example, isn’t overly receptive to classroom learning for a couple of reasons, like that he spends half of the class not listening to the teacher because he has a wide range of opinions or questions that he wants answered. So he prefers online learning because he can do it in his own time, at his own pace, and can get directly in contact with the teacher with all those sorts of questions.

Not only that, online learning is the most convenient way to do it. Mornings are highly productive times and that point of the day is when some people prefer to learn. There aren’t many in-person boot camps or classes that start at 5:30 in the morning for elite thinkers, or people that are looking to grow their business, or learn how to master the art of sales and negotiation.

We’ve developed an online course just for that so people can actually jump onto their mobile phone, their iPad, their tablet, and train at their leisure. It’s available 24/7, 365 and you can reference it as when you’re having any difficulty in your day-to-day operations. 

Plus, you can refer back to it at any point. If you need something right now or 10 o’clock at night, you’ve just had a bit of inspiration, the penny has dropped that you want to start a business, you can access this information instantly. 

A combination of both methods

These two methods don’t necessarily have to be exclusive either. For example, you go to the initial bootcamp and enjoy six, seven, eight hours worth of sales content and training. You absorb as much as possible but it’s hard to take all of that away with you and implement the next day.

So then to have all of that information available for the next 6, 12, 18 months or however long the program is, can be a great advantage to everyone who needs to revisit what they’ve learned.

For example, if we talk about bootcamps from a fitness perspective, isn’t it great having the personal trainer there. Having them there for three, four, five sessions is beneficial because they create accountability, they show you the methods or the techniques to get the results you’re aiming for and most importantly they leave you with a plan that you can revisit later and put into action. A sales bootcamp combined with digital sales training can be very effective in the same way.

So there you have it. Whether in person, online, or a combination of both methods of learning works for you, read about our sales training, sales coaching, and sales courses.  No matter if you are located in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast or anywhere in the world, we provide innovative and ethical sales training through our online courses or virtual training.