Experiential training is the process of learning through doing. There are many things that you can learn about by watching videos, attending lectures and presentations and even reading books. However, you can only learn how to do them by actually doing them.

While this is a proven way of learning, it does cause some obvious issues.  For example, with customer service, do you let the person who has never had to take a support call deal with complex issues from their first day?  The answer is obviously no, but then how do they learn how to deal with these phone calls - listening in on others as they take these calls may help, but it is no replacement for experiential training.  The answer to this issue is simple - use role play and actors to help create a meaningful scenario with believable reactions in which to create an experience which provide experiential training to all staff involved.

Sales training is an area where people will greatly benefit from experiential training.  With the use of actors in role plays, the sales team will have to deal with a far wider range of characters, and ones that are far more believable than if a colleague was playing the part - the actors will be able to portray a sceptical potential client or an angry client far better than a member of the sales team would be able to.

There are very few areas where the use of role playing with actors would not provide a great experiential training lesson to all staff involved.

Related posts:

1. Experiential Training - More Information
2. Creative Training - Interesting The Staff
3. Sales Training - Building Rapport With Potential Clients

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