NEWS

  • MUNICH, December 2007

    Microsoft offers 30,000 partners Adventure-based Learning™

    Microsoft Deutschland is offering its 30,000 partners and distributors in Germany the opportunity to expand their license and sales knowledge with the help of Adventure-based Learning™. Initial reports suggest that sales staff with game-based knowledge acquired in the “Open License Sales Adventure” can advise their customers even better than before and thus grow their own businesses.

    “Hello and welcome to the Open License Sales Adventure,” the virtual Coach greets the participants in the interactive learning adventure with a friendly voice while explaining the next steps. During the simulation the sales employee assumes the function of an account manager at one of Microsoft’s partner companies. His job is to sell a license package tailored to virtual Contoso GmbH, which has already appeared in other Microsoft partner programs. The player now has to do two things: Acquire the necessary license knowledge, and convince the customer of the advantages of the new licensing metrics.

    In the course of the sales adventure, the account manager contacts the decision makers in Contoso GmbH. He speaks to the CIO, the CFO and the CEO. An answer selected in an interactive conversation leads to a particular response and takes the sales game in a certain direction. The answers also influence the progress of the game and the relationship to the virtual managers of Contoso GmbH. The spectrum ranges from friendship to rejection. Depending on what is actually happening, the player receives additional information about certain individuals. In addition to this, it is important to be attentive to small details in order to be able to better understand one’s virtual partner.

    The virtual Coach accompanies the participant through the entire adventure. He introduces the sales game and explains the rules. In addition, he comments on and evaluates individual actions and conversations. The praise or criticism of the “Coach” and the reactions of the virtual “partners” gives the player direct feedback. Whenever the Coach thinks it necessary to do so, he takes the player back into the training room and provides support through specific coaching modules. This ongoing interaction means that the sales employee can learn how to develop his knowledge and plan his actions in an efficient way. Once the virtual license contracts have been signed, a reward awaits the successful player–he has been promoted to head of sales!

    “In the game-based context the participant can try and apply what he has just learned in the framework of a real world simulation. ” says Yahya Akdeniz from the license sales division of Microsoft partner Actebis Peacock. “The Adventure demonstrates how to approach a client and how to establish rapport with different types of customers.” In contrast to traditional education methods, the simulation was fun. “There was a playful incentive to finish the training and make it a success.” The management of Microsoft also believes that the use of Adventure-based Learning™ has been invaluable. “With the Open Breadth Initiative we have achieved fantastic growth rates,” reports Robert Helgerth, Senior Director SME Companies & Partners at Microsoft Deutschland GmbH. “Adventure-based Learning™ made a significant contribution, the method developed by Core Competence is really innovative and exciting. The feedback from our partners is overwhelming, and so we have commissioned more Adventure’s.”

    For more information please contact:

    Core-Competence GmbH

    Munich Office, Norbert Endres
    Freisinger Landstraße 74
    80939 Munich

    Telephone: +49 (0)89 540 424 544
    Fax: +49 (0)89 540 424 554
    E-Mail: info@core-competence.com
    Web: www.core-competence.com

    Core-Competence GmbH was founded in 2007 by the present managing partner Karl Berger and is the industry leaderin the field of Adventure-based Learning™. The specialists at Core Competence use this method to develop individually tailored interactive simulations and learning games for their customers. The solution, which is accessed via a browser and deployed through a software-as-a-service model, improving the knowledge of employees and partners more efficiently and less expensively than traditional eLearning methods. Today, corporations such as Microsoft and Deutsche Telekom have already opted for Adventure-based Learning™.

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