In our latest blog, we outlined how Neon can help your employees and business partners reach their full potential. Learning is a key component in reaching optimum performance, so we thought it would be handy to provide you with some insights into why learning is an important contributing factor to performance as well as, the positive impact this will have on your business.
- Subject matter knowledge is strongly correlated with job role competence.
- A greater understanding of the subject (or product you are selling) also leads to improved satisfaction within their role owing to increased confidence.
- This boost in confidence can lead to more satisfying customer interactions and paves the way for improved upselling.
- Increased knowledge and confidence also improves the likelihood of the sharing of skills between team members.
- It encourages critical thinking pertaining to the role (problem solving skills).
- E-learning and brand/product engagement will provide you with valuable quantitative results of the skill sets of individuals within your network. A workforce of purpose will ensure they are ready for business.
- Neon can provide the detail to individuals at a granular level. With visibility and insights your employees will understand the fundamental aspects of the business (like product features, business processes etc.). Employees who are enriched in their role will provide an improved customer experience, which leads to higher levels of customer retention.
- It allows for improved targeting of content to end users, mitigating any areas of weakness. Training can be broad or bespoke (to the individual). Individuals who feel comfortable in their role and valued by their employers will ultimately be behind your business objectives.
- And remember, bespoke learning does not have to be expensive, we believe in small investment but big returns.
A few years back, a client approached us with a problem. There was a drop off in sales from their retail network and they identified a gap in knowledge and engagement. They wanted us to develop an e-learning portal that trains and incentivises users to sell more products by offering them the chance to win a series of prizes.
Firstly, we looked at the potential reasons for the drop off in sales. There was an assumption that this was down to knowledge and engagement alone but we also wanted to find out whether it was down to the attitudes or beliefs an individual had on the product they were selling. Was one product easier to sell than another? The answers to these questions gave us the right foundations to deliver the best solution for our client.
Whilst an e-learning solution backed by an incentive will have a positive effect of sales uplift. There are many more important factors of an e-learning solution that must be present in order to drive an individual’s performance to deliver an increase in sales. We ensured our programme included all of the following attributes.
- Strongly communicated - first and foremost we communicated the outcomes of the learning programme to gain ‘buy-in’ - answering the question “as an employee what will I achieve by completing this learning?”. The way in which learning material is launched and content presented is critical, it stimulates thinking and keeps your employees engaged. Feedback is also important to encourage effort.
- Content must also be relevant to the individual as opposed to covering broader topics. By identifying pitfalls or gaps in knowledge, you can tune your learning accordingly to better enrich an individual in their role.
- The results must be visible. Setting achievement targets based around an agreed learning method can aid in increasing acceptance of implemented learning. Great results provide a significant boost in personal confidence.
- Create a continuous stream of learning without it becoming overwhelming or boring, it should be specific and engaging.
- Off the shelf might not be the right fit for you - something that is dynamic, agile and tailored to an individual is key. Every person within your organisation is different and all contribute to overall business success. Employees will learn in different ways, it’s important to recognise this and adapt accordingly.
For this client in particular, the programme is now in its fourth year and is continuing to deliver successful results every single month. There is an active participant base of 88% and active unique engagement of 92%. This allows us to individually target almost all of the network with personalised push notifications.
Every month we can see on average a 42% uplift in sales volumes, with those that had participated in learning modules having an average uplift of 96%. This is all driven through bespoke dashboards allowing the individual and organisation to see who is selling, when they are selling, what they are selling and flagging up any potential shortfalls.
It is our job to question the assumption of what the answer to a challenge around employee performance and engagement might be. Often we find an incentive alone is not enough and e-learning may not be the only answer. For example, it is also important to analyse the individuals that do have excellent knowledge. Are they still hitting their targets? If not, we must look at the other areas of our performance toolbox such as engagement, communications, the incentive on offer and the data. Learning is a vital component to helping individuals reach their full potential, so long as it is implemented in the right way.
Contact us today for a no obligation discussion about how we might be able to help you get the most out of your e-learning solution.
Ashgrove House, Monument Park, Chalgrove, Oxfordshire OX44
