2021: Use e-learning as a pathway to B2B sales
The time has come to introduce e-learning even where it wasn’t previously needed. For many companies, the shift to online is thoroughly sweeping away the skeletons in the cupboard of dysfunctional sales and marketing processes. But those who roll up their sleeves in time and manage to breathe new life into their established routines can gain a huge advantage.
E-learning is an example of how to take a fresh look at B2B sales processes. With a smart strategy, we can turn it into a comprehensive sales tool for communicating across the entire B2B sales network.
How can e-learning be used to get information to sales staff?
Imagine a large manufacturing company with a traditional organisational structure. It has a high-quality product, a network of sales representatives, and sells its goods in hundreds of shops. It needs to increase its market share and build a stronger relationship between end-users and its brand. Is there a way to achieve this online? Yes!
ISOVER – a manufacturer of insulating building materials – is just such a client for us.
Building on our previous collaboration on other marketing projects, we have worked with ISOVER to implement a comprehensive e-learning system that trains end-users of building materials online, thereby directly influencing sales figures.
Compared to traditional offline training, it has many advantages:
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Flexibility. If ISOVER wants to communicate anything to hundreds of building materials retailers, it can do so immediately.
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Regularity. Retailers always receive new product information at regular intervals. This makes the brand memorable for them and makes them more willing to learn new things.
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System. The client can plan the distribution of information via videos, images and text in advance and prepare for it thoroughly.
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Feedback. Thanks to surveys, ISOVER has an overview of what sales staff actually tell customers about its products. It can also gather useful suggestions on what information might need adding or correcting.
No more expensive weekend training sessions where sales staff would leave and you’d have to compete with rivals for their attention from afar. Comprehensive e-learning builds a long-term relationship with them every day. What’s more, sales staff can tackle individual lessons during working hours, for example when there are no customers in the shop. This means they don’t have to spend ‘extra’ time on ISOVER. That counts too!
E-learning as motivation for sales staff
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel to bring about change. Through market analysis, we discovered that the biggest influence on an end customer’s decision regarding which insulation brand to buy comes from recommendations by sales staff in building supply stores. We therefore devised a way to motivate sales staff to recommend ISOVER products in a way other than through discounts or commissions. We drew on the insight that everyone prefers to sell what they enjoy talking about. And what do they enjoy talking about? What they know well. So the better the sales assistant gets to know us, the more readily they sell our products. For ISOVER, hundreds of sales staff in building materials shops are therefore key partners. Gaining their attention means reaching end customers through them – those who come to the shops to choose insulation materials.
And this is precisely where e-learning opens the door to good business relationships. Regular study materials and subsequent tests yield scores and results that ISOVER can duly reward. Presenting a certificate and a gift for successfully completing a test gives sales representatives a good reason to visit the shop and engage with sales staff in person. This, too, strengthens their relationship with the brand and their willingness to recommend it to customers.
Comprehensive online solution
It is precisely this direct impact on business results that represents the greatest added value of the entire solution.
Over the course of our long-term collaboration, we have gradually designed a comprehensive e-learning process for ISOVER:
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designed, including a responsive version
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designed
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programmed
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tested
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launched
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and we continue to develop it and add new features
Our solution now enables the client to:
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create and upload training materials
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test users’ knowledge
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set rewards – points earned enable users to obtain a bronze, silver or gold certificate and the associated gifts
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generate statistics and reports for store managers and ISOVER’s sales department
At AITOM, we are constantly improving the solution and adding new features.
The difference in sales is clear
Building materials stores whose sales staff regularly use ISOVER’s e-learning system have recorded a higher increase in sales than those that have not yet joined. However, what has increased most significantly for them is the share of sales compared to competing brands. The business question, therefore, is no longer whether the switch to e-learning made sense, but how to get it to all sales staff!
Is your company also looking for ways to better disseminate information to its sales network in the digital age?
Book a free consultation with us. We’ll introduce you to our e-learning tool or devise a bespoke solution for you.
I WANT A CONSULTATION
Would you like to find out more about our solutions for B2B business? Listen to the talk by Dan Musil – Account Director at AITOM Digital – at WebTOP100
: Practical Online Marketing for B2B Companies
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