VR Sales Coaching for FBD Insurance

The Problem

In the case of FBD insurance, there was a specific problem identified regarding a gap between the training room experience and the reality of the sales floor environment. The assimilation required was previously handled with scheduled shadow sessions where the new trainee would shadow an experienced customer call centre agent on the sales floor. However this has an overhead of both time and personnel resources which was becoming less feasible during a leaner stage at the organisation.

Our Solution

Adaptas Training Ltd sought the expertise of Virtual Reality Ireland to create a Virtual Reality simulation of a sales call conversation that could be used to scale best-in-class behaviours and competencies and replace the need for the shadow sessions. The concept and design for the training tool was inspired by the psychological theory of Embodiment - the power of experiencing a situation through another persons' bodily perspective. In this case, the perspective we were looking to scale, was that of 'the expert' - a customer call centre agent who has absolute confidence in their ability to build customer rapport and achieve the sale. To achieve an embodiment experience, we filmed a 360 degree video from a first-person perspective in the actual FBD call centre environment. The audio of the sales call was recorded first and used as play-back for the video stage. We captured audio from different points around the office which was used to build a spatial audio simulation of the environment including all the atmospheric distractions of a busy call centre.

The Results

From the impact that this tool is making on performance, in addition to the anecdotal feedback from users, we believe that this tool is creating False Memories, where the participants feel that they have already made a successful sales call, followed scripts and compliance, built customer rapport and overcome objections, when they haven't yet, in real reality. One participant made a successful sale on his first day on the sales floor, a rare achievement. When asked how he did it, he replied "It was easy. Thanks to the VR tool I felt like I had done it before"

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