The work described in this case study was performed by LEO Learning prior to becoming part of GP Strategies.
Perhaps one of the most recognizable names in financial services, Visa facilitates electronic financial transfers most commonly through branded debit and credit cards. Headquartered in California, Visa has a worldwide staff of over 20,000. Approximately 2,000 of these staff members are account executives, responsible for selling products and services to individuals and, for the most part, corporations across the globe.
Challenge
Visa faced two key challenges. The first was the primary business objective of the course: it saw an opportunity to increase sales by selling more than one product/solution at a time. The second was an ingrained challenge within the sales team: a lack of engagement and trust in training to be effective, based on their previous experiences.
The team at Visa University (Visa’s global L&D Department) approached LEO Learning to work collaboratively to create a learning solution that would tackle both challenges. Visa wanted a learning solution that would not only improve the retention of knowledge about its ever-growing suite of products, but would also keep the learners engaged and encourage self-directed learning beyond mandatory expectations.
With so many features on the horizon for the program, it was important to run beta tests and user trials with a small number of the approximately 3,000 learners to date who would eventually use Visa’s gamified learning platform.
Solution
With learner engagement and product knowledge retention at the heart of this project, LEO’s learning designers worked in partnership with the team at Visa University to develop a learning game and product knowledge modules, all housed in a gamified learning platform.
The product knowledge and challenge modules covered a variety of hypothetical client scenarios that requires the account executives to have a thorough knowledge of the individual products and how they work together. Within these scenario-based modules, the learners are then challenged to find the optimal combination of Visa product solutions for each client.
Gamification features throughout the platform were also critical to the ongoing engagement with this learning program and included leaderboards, progression through ranks, and points accumulated for each correct answer in the client scenario modules. Keen to ensure positive reinforcement, LEO avoided messaging of “incorrect” answers in the scenario modules and instead created mechanics that allowed learners to earn more points the fewer attempts it took them to get the best possible answer.
The modular design of the product knowledge training allows learners to clearly track their progress and for the learning team at Visa to edit, add, and remove modules (created in the Gomo authoring tool) as needed whenever their core product offering changes. As such, the program remains a sustainable and scalable source of product knowledge training for Visa’s sales team.
The aesthetic presentation of the product knowledge training portal focuses on progression and a linear track towards mastery for each product. The modular design, both visually and logistically, means that it can be picked up and put down around the learners’ schedules which, as salespeople, can often be unpredictable and incredibly busy.
Working with LEO and Watershed on our gamified learning solution has been a great experience. The team was incredibly responsive, open to collaboration, and worked closely with us throughout the process. The final product surpassed expectations and we’ve seen great results from the program in the year since its full launch. We are really excited that our work with LEO and Watershed has been recognized in not one, but two, Brandon Hall Awards.
Minette Chan, Senior Director, Head of Learning & Enablement, Global Products at Visa
Results
In 2021, LEO’s gamified learning program for Visa won two Brandon Hall HCM Excellence Awards (both Bronze) for “Best Results of a Learning Program” and “Best Program for Sales and Training Performance”.
