Case HIstory: A pharmaceutical company with a head office in Vancouver, manufacturing in Montreal and Hong Kong – branch offices in many provinces, several US states, and in several countries internationally.

Since the company’s founding, every time there was a new product release, the Company sent a team of trainers to key points around the world to visit & educate the Company’s employees and select clients (distributors, hospitals, doctors, pharmacists, etc.) on the details of the product.

Last year alone, these trainers rented accommodations and a centralized location in each city, arranged for refreshments, used mail and telemarketing to get everyone to physically attend the session in their locale.   Of course, they were lucky to get 75% attendance at any point in time because of timetable conflicts, trainer & employee illness, vacations, etc.  This meant that either the remaining 25% never got covered, or had to be covered on a one-to-one basis. 

Training was a very time consuming, expensive proposition, especially for coverage of large audiences, in diverse locations, in a short time period.

This year however, world affairs and health issues have presented even greater challenges. 

The Company just got approvals to release their new wonder drug to the market.  They needed to jump on the market quickly…… advise their employees, distributors, the press, hospitals, doctors, pharmacists, etc., all within a short time period.  Let’s tune in on the present scenario in Bob’s (the CEO) office as he talks with Gladys, his assistant.

“Gladys, call Rick in Training to get his people moving on this program.  Arrange their flights, book their rooms, conference facilities, call / email all the branches and synchronize the dates and times of employee & customer attendance in each location.”, said Bob

“Bob”, Gladys reacts,” I was reading in the Star a few months ago that there’s something new in our area called eTraining that could save a bunch of time and lots of expense.” 

“Gladys, what’re you talking about?”, says Bob. 

Gladys continues….”We could videotape Rick’s presentation, mix in some of his charts, add some music, include some testimonials, put that on our website, and stream the whole thing on the internet.  Everyone around the world could see that at the same time, or anytime they wish.  And it’s still there if they want to see it again later on.”

“Wow, we could save thousands on the cost of sales!”, says Bob. 

“Yeah… no tickets, no planes, no hotels, no meals, no giveaways, no conference co-ordination.  And most everyone in our company is still on the job.  You know, since it’s my idea, and we’re saving so much, how ‘bout giving me the rest of the day off?”, says Gladys.

“One condition…. find out who can produce this for us, arrange for a meeting with them, and then you can take off”, says Bob.

Case History by Brian Korson, Video Excellence Productions www.videoexcellence.com

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