As the world's second largest and fastest growing PC vendor, MPCC employs 26,000 people in 60 countries. MPCC specializes in exceptionally engineered personal technology through the development of innovative notebooks, tablets, smart phones, and applications. Talented MPCC employees are responsible for many industry firsts, including more than 2,000 patents and more than 100 major design awards.

MPCC's 350-member outside sales force needed to prepare for a server product launch in North America. The sales force was well versed and prepared to sell MPCC laptops and computers, but the group was not as familiar with the benefits and details of the newest product. MPCC had provided seven weeks of virtual classroom e-Learning, but in those sessions sales force members did not have the opportunity to apply their new knowledge. The sales force members needed a cohesive, foundational understanding of the MPCC server product as well as an opportunity to apply the concepts in a practical manner to begin selling server products.

We were engaged by MPCC to design a training strategy to accommodate students with various levels of sales experience and to provide each student the opportunity to practice sales calls. From MPCC's training module objectives we created outlines for them to review and approve. During the development period, the project team held a series of test runs for all modules to ensure the content built met MPCC's training objectives. We developed a total of 15 training modules: eight technical modules (four geared to a sales audience and four geared to a much more technical audience) and seven modules that included case studies and practice sessions.

We employed 14 qualified instructors to deliver the training simultaneously in 14 different training rooms in a one day training event. Morning sessions consisted of classroom delivery of eight modules: four modules for the sales audience (server operating system, server management, server power management, SmartGrid, and virtualization) and four modules for the FTSS/SSS technical audience (server consulting, server power management, virtualization, and mechanical walkthrough). Afternoon sessions consisted of four hours of role play, structured to model the four-point MPCC selling strategy: Opportunity Identification, Qualify, Propose/Close, Implement/4P Planning. We developed case studies for six audiences: channel, enterprise, distribution, Tier 2 acquisition, Tier 2 development, and public sector. In the afternoon sessions, sales force members prepared for and performed sales calls.

Developing and delivering the training modules prior to the company-wide server product kick-off enabled MPCC's outside sales force to gain the knowledge and practice to feel comfortable and be successful selling their newest product, leaving them best prepared to reach and exceed MPCC's server product sales goals. Sales representatives described the training as "a well thought-out and designed course," and "one of the best/most-constructive role-playing sessions for education."