Case studies: Train the Trainer: Nextel
Nextel Training Gameboard

Project Description and Results:

Background: Nextel University's Curriculum Design Center identified the need to reinforce concepts previously presented to new retail sales representatives during their basic training programs. The reinforcement training would target Nextel's Retail Sales Force which market Nextel products and services at retail outlets such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy.  This new training program would be designed to reinforce information concerning Nextel's history and culture, key marketplace differentiators, current products, and latest services, which was presented during four hours of basic training.  In addition, the new program would challenge the trainees to use their existing product and service knowledge to "sell" to four special customer segments: small/home business owners, soccer moms, construction workers, and real estate professionals.   The target audience would be comprised of retail sales personnel with an average age of 16 - 21 years old.  And, the training would take place at the retail outlets.

Scope of Work: Miller Consultants was retained to develop a "Monopoly" style game that would be called "Life Solutions by Nextel".  Miller Consultants used the High Performance Training Tool Kit Section Two to carry out this project.  Nextel personnel and Miller Consultants agreed that a game board format would work particularly well to reinforce job skills with this worker demographic.   Nextel transmitted content related to the training program objectives (stated above) to Miller Consultants via email and by posting material to a special project website.  Miller Consultants analyzed the content, the audience, and the training environment, then prepared three game prototypes for Nextel review.  Nextel selected the prototype that utilized a game board which would take players on a journey through four neighborhoods (where they would answer questions related to selling to the four customer segments) and on five paths weaving between the neighborhoods (where they would answer questions related to company history/culture, key differentiators, products, services, and multi-faceted selling scenario questions).

The final game design incorporated the following pieces:

• A game board landscaped with community buildings and dwellings, playgrounds and trees, with a path leading from the Start/Finish Line through four neighborhoods representing the four different customer segments. The neighborhoods are portrayed as Real Estate Customers (purple), Construction Customers (light blue), Soccer Mom Customers (pink), and Home Office & Small Business Customers (dark blue). They are connected by a path (with spaces) that will be navigated by the players as they progress through the game.
• Nine sets of color-coded game cards.  Each neighborhood contains its own question card pile to be used by the players as they land on those neighborhood spaces. Between the neighborhoods, along the player path, lies four areas through which players will navigate. The players will also answer questions from these area card piles. These four areas are History & Culture, Key Differentiators, Nextel Services, Nextel Products, and Multi-Faceted Selling Scenarios.
• A facilitator's guide providing rules of play and answers to all card questions,
• Six ball pawn playing pieces to accommodate six players, and
• A laminated sheet containing the Nextel Products to be used to answer the Products questions.

Results:  Upon receiving and approving the final game design, Nextel requisitioned 100 game sets. "Life Solutions by Nextel" games were produced and shipped to the client in a game box which displayed the game logo and graphics to create a branded product for the client.  While a "train-the-trainer" session - designed to introduce facilitators to the game and rules of play - was part of the initial scope of work, it was determined that this was not needed due the level of detail provided in the Facilitator's Guide.

Our contact at Nextel, Patricia Supernor, was so pleased with the product that she requisitioned additional work where Miller Consultants would update the game to incorporate five new products.  This required Miller Consultants to create five new sets of game cards and to revise the Facilitator's Guide.  

In addition, Ms. Supernor has provided her testimonial for Miller Consultants to use in marketing these game-based training products as follows:

"We were challenged with how to reach our retail sales force about our products
while also generating enthusiasm for selling them.  The Nextel Life Solutions
game board designed by Miller Consultants succeeded
in accomplishing both of these goals."

Internal Processes for Managing the Relationship: This entire project was accomplished "at a distance".  All work with the client, including contract negotiation, the dissemination of learning content, as well as the review and approval of gameboard drafts was done via telephone, teleconferences, email and posting work samples to websites.  And, all collaboration between Miller Consultants team members was done in the same manner - using the telephone, email, a shared server and website postings. Miller Consultants' business model incorporates the use of virtual team members and the latest technology to serve clients across the United States and overseas.  The majority of our clients embrace this type of relationship; however, we are still very willing to travel and work face-to-face when that is the preference of our customers.