Monthly Archives: August 2021

Analytics, Authoring tool, Employee-Training, QuoDeck, Sales, sales enablement

The 5 Best Training Tools For Sales Teams: How to Train Your People for Success

Leave a comment

Sales training is extremely significant for pumping up your team. Check out how you can go about it to train your team for success! 

Sales training and strategies do go a long way in converting leads into sales. However, after a point, there’s only so much your team can do. With bulk orders to keep track of, an abundance of customers to manage, and hundreds of leads to convert, the logistics of sales can be quite cumbersome. 

The path to success lies in prompt training and building a team that is prepared for any kind of situation that is thrown at them. Different companies like to do it differently. There’s no set formula to train your people for success. There are some great training tools and software, though, that you can use to make sure you prepare your team for what’s in store with hardcore sales. 

Here are 5 of the best training tools that leading companies employ with their sales training programs. The best sales training tools include a combination of CRM-based software and other platforms to consistently help reps get comprehensive training. Browse through these to boost your training strategy to make all the difference: 

  1. Pipedrive – Advanced CRM for sales training 

An advanced CRM tool like Pipedrive can be great for training reps about the desired workflow. Especially if your organization is sales-enabled and employs workflow automation, this is a great tool that can help reduce administrative overhead. A great training tool like this one teaches how to deal with leads, conversions, and different aspects of multi-tasking. 

  1. 6Sense – For intelligent sales training 

In the era of AI, what better than a prediction-based tool for an intelligent form of sales training. 6Sense helps leverage AI predictions and sales insights to foresee hot leads and segregate premium leads. It is also a great engagement platform where reps can get the hang of what kind of leads and opportunities would be more viable in a given situation. An intelligent sales tactic definitely helps close deals faster! 

  1. Quodeck – Sales training with gamification  

One of the best ways for sales training is through a healthy, gamified, and competitive platform. Quodeck can be a great sales training tool with custom interactive experiences especially catering to your reps team. Especially for target training, micro-learning with a gamified interface can promote active training with two-way engagement. What’s more, is that it is readily integrable with your existing learning management systems! 

  1. Salesloft – Training for lead and prospect management  

Next up is a focus on training for lead and prospect management with tools like Salesloft. One of the most significant aspects of sales training involves dealing with leads promptly. A hot lead takes very little time to become a dead one if your rep cannot follow up proactively. Salesloft is a great sales tool and training avenue for streamlined automation of leads. With personalized interface and follow-up interactions, reps can learn about dealing with different case scenarios. 

  1. Chili Piper – Train to manage time and optimize conversions  

Time management is a key aspect of sales training. Advanced scheduling software like Chili Piper can help automate the scheduling aspects of sales in tandem and integration with your CRM. With active communication and distribution of roles across the team, a readily integrated sales schedule tool can impact more than you’d think! Finally, even great conversions would stand to be useless if they took too long or lack prompt follow-ups. 

Conclusion 

Pave the path for your team to perform better with effective sales training. After all, your team is only going to be as good as you train them to be with practical skills. Try implementing some of these training tools, and enhance your sales team with a default protocol for every situation they encounter. Eventually, an adept sales team is one that is trained for the unexpected! 

Advertisement
Sales, sales enablement

Sales Enablement: The Strategic Art of Selling

Leave a comment

Do you know that effective sales enablement strategies are the key to high sales? The ideal strategies empower sales personnel to carry out the proper conversation at all stages of sales funnel. Believe it or not, the sales team is your firm’s engine that keeps running and growing your business. The business can come to a halt without a high-performance sales team. 

Now, big B2B brands provide their sales team appropriate selling tools or assets, technologies and training. The resources enable the sales team to effectively work towards the buyer’s journey. It results in optimum conversions. 

Here lies the importance of sales enablement. 75% of the companies agree that sales enablement strategies contribute fairly to their businesses. The blog includes effective sales enablement strategies to improve sales. Here we go!  

Provide right tools 

Do you know the right technology hacks that can allow your sales team to focus on optimizing conversions and increasing revenue? 90%  of B2B sellers do not use their sales materials because the information is either outdated or difficult to customize.  

HubSpot has multiple shopping platforms that work well for the sales enablement team. It includes CRM software, sales automation software, and CMS.  

Other software for strengthening sales includes Databox, Slack, and Zoom.  

Automating the sales team with the best technology is critical to boosting sales. You can use email templates that cater to leads at each stage of the buyer’s journey. The templates will make the process simpler to connect with ample sales opportunities.  

You can implement automated prospecting that includes scheduling sales conversations. The team can conduct meetings with SQLs or sales-qualified leads. You can incorporate a live chat option on the business website. It enables the sales representatives to connect with an exciting lead.  

Offer training and support  

The best sales enablement software will be useless if your sales team does not know to use it.   So, you need to make sure that the sales and marketing team experience thorough training. If the team understands that the sales enablement processes will make their work more imaginative, they will participate actively. The training enables the team to turn prospects into customers. It will allow them to run the operations smoothly.  

You need to provide sales enablement tools and train them to use them in the short and long term. And yes! Show your team the immediate value that training will bring to them. It will be in the form of more sales and increased personal payoff. This will motivate and engage the team for training.  

QuoDeck commits to offer the most appropriate mobile learning system It provides access to your learners from wherever and in whatever way they want. QuoDeck creates engaging content on mobiles and learning games to help your sales and marketing team learn quickly.  

Reinforce best practices  

A sales enablement strategy demands a major shift in the organization’s daily operations and culture. Such changes require commitment from senior executives and managers. They take an interest in regularly testing and enhancing the strategies. You need to create a plan that gives you early wins. Following that, you can work to build them more robust and improve on progress. 

Do not forget to check the strategy progress by using surveys, metrics, and other ROI tools to analyze sales optimization. Try to focus on building a sales enablement strategy that aligns and grows with the business.  

Align with other departments  

Your sales team needs support from all other departments in the business. Understanding of the sales processes by marketing department will make the firm productive. Uninterrupted communication between the sales and marketing teams is the key to success. You can allow team collaboration technologies like Proofhub and Freshdesk. These ensure consistent content sharing across departments on one platform.  

Appropriate training of other departments with a sales-focus mindset will strengthen the sales enablement strategy. It ensures that everyone is working with a common goal.  

QuoDeck is a fantastic platform builder for delivering an interactive experience for engaging learners actively. It also helps in building mobile-ready content that you can share across multiple platforms. QuoDeck enables you reach to your learners through easy to use sharing interface.  

Conclusion 

So, implementing an appropriate sales enablement strategy is beneficial for businesses.  It opens up opportunities for more cross and up-selling. The strategy gives a path for approaching new markets and a wider set of audiences. It is all about providing the sales team adequate resources like technology, content, and software. Automated prospecting and practical follow-up tips enable sales representatives to convert leads.  

Authoring tool, Corporate Learning Best Practices, Sales, sales enablement

5 mistakes to avoid while making a sales training course

Leave a comment

Sales skills are not magic. You acquire a skill after you have practiced techniques and studied a rulebook. We are here to share all that with you today! 

The best salespeople are not born; they have to be made. If you are one, then you definitely know what you sell. You understand your market and the requirements of your prospects. And, you also know how to predict questions and counter challenges that surface during the sales process. 

But, what happens when you do not know how to create training courses but only know sales? Is there any shortcut that can make someone an expert from an amateur? Yes, there is! 

This blog will educate you about the mistakes that must not be made when creating an online sales training course. So here we go.

  1. Making the course a complicated one 

Everyone wants an all-in-one training system online that makes it easier to create training content, walkthroughs, and guides in minutes. But, often, sales training courses are designed using a maze of learning management systems and software.  

Some even end up hiring instructional design and software experts. But, none of us realize that finding experts can overwhelm trainers besides being tedious and expensive.  

We recommend creating eye-catching and interactive content in a snap. Once you do that, all trainees can log in with a web browser without following any installations, downloads, or clunky integration steps

  1. Not making the course handy or ready-to-take  

If you have never created a sales training course before, we have you covered. The first thing you need to do is go through training content that is updated, carefully written, and researched. Handle the objections, pronto.  

Customize the course to make it your own so that it covers the common objections of sales, typical mistakes, and techniques to convert grievances into wins. Test the understanding of your learners with hypothetical scenarios, flashcards, matching activities, and MCQs.  

All in all, try your best to make a course that is ready-to-take so that it can be kick-started without any worries.  

  1. Not gamifying the course 

The biggest blunder you can do is not adding mechanics of the game to your sales training course. Thus, we recommend adding anything from points to unlockable objects to badges. You can give Quodeck a try. 

As this simple platform builder gamifies micro-learning platforms and helps learners with interactive experiences. You will be amazed at the way the trainees access the course whenever, wherever and however they want it.  

Remember, your goal is to enhance participation and motivation so that employees derive full benefit from your course. As an additional bonus, you have the preparedness to maximize ROI by making the training program effective and efficient.  

Your sales trainees will race to the finish line by outperforming their partners, passing exams, and finishing their online modules. You do all these using a powerful game mechanic.  

It does not have to include any visible rewards. But, when they make it to the top by trying their best, it will work as a fundamental motivator for them.  

  1. Not designing and integrating a tracker for a trainee’s progress  

If you create a sales training course that no one enjoys taking, it will never be worth your while. Thus, you have to make your training an effective one. How do you do that? It is simple. All you have to do is integrate a tracker that will track the progress of the trainees.  

Make sure that the tracker you design provides you feasible reports. Once that happens, you can easily witness the impact of your course.  

Reports must include: 

  • Course reports that present in-depth insights into how the learners deal with individual classes 
  • Activity reports that will show who all are attending the course and when. 
  • Learning track reports will help you understand what courses have been completed by learners and what they have started with.  
  • Learner reports help in finding out how the learners are performing and progressing.  
  1. Not developing actual-world simulations 

Not providing real-world experiences to your trainees is the worst mistake you can make when designing a sales course. Thus, we suggest providing online training simulations that mimic the environment of a workplace and are interactive.  

This step will allow a sales employee to investigate every aspect of the job, from punching in to applying sales terminals every day. Creating an online simulation like a “typical day at work” can help them practice every duty and skill they need on the job.  

Incorporate realistic challenges and workplace images to assist employees in relating or connecting to a subject matter.  

Parting Thoughts  

A sales course development is an ongoing process that will never really stop. However, it would help if you aimed at making the training engaging and convenient. Host monthly or weekly webinars to get personalized feedback and to keep everyone briefed  

We hope you know what mistakes to avoid now and will make a terrific course in the future. If you feel there’s anything we missed, do let us know in the comment section below.

Corporate Learning Best Practices, L&D professionals, Online Learning

One size fits all learning platforms are a thing of the past

Leave a comment

When five fingers of our palm aren’t the same, then how can one can education style fit all learning platforms? Keep reading to know more about this! 

For many years now, education has been adhering to the “one size fits all” model. What everyone meant by this model was that students would be taught using the same styles of teaching and scored using the same evaluation methods, regardless of their interest or ability. 

But we all know that each student is different and has a different learning style. Each one of them has varying weaknesses and strengths. Besides, how many of us receive the same parental support back home? Does it make any sense to paint every student’s life with the same brush? The answer to all these questions is an echoing NO! 

Thus, when you select a learning platform, you must consider multiple aspects. These aspects include usability, ease of use, compatibility, and, most importantly, your needs. Honestly, go for a platform that implements a tailored solution that covers all your requirements.  

Have a read of this blog in its entirety to know how you can choose a learning platform that can be customized to fit your needs. 

Must be easy to use  

Any online learning platform you choose should never have a stiff learning curve. It must be easy to use for the administrators, students, and teachers alike. Meaningful options of support, precise controls, and intuitive systems must be a pivotal aspect of your selection norm.  

This is the reason Quodeck makes simple but powerful platforms that you can engage with. They go beyond the LMS and introduce gamified micro-learning platforms that help you understand a course better.  

You will only have to click on rich media like quizzes, videos, and animations to learn. And, clicking does not require any skill, does it?  

Must be compatible  

By compatibility, we mean how easily and seamlessly the platform integrates with other devices you use the application on. This means if you are a user, then your experience of using the app across all different devices must be the same; think laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.  

We recommend selecting a web platform that is accessible 24×7.  For instance, QuoDeck, with its template authoring system, authors mobile responsive content. All you have to do is upload the existing PPT or PDF content and make a micro-learning platform with the inbuilt authoring tool.  

Must be customizable  

The training platform you choose must allow customization. After all, branding is crucial. You must be able to reinforce the platform’s strength and credibility by maintaining the visual identity.  

QuoDeck lets you customize the branding, look and feel of a platform in a few easy steps. 

Must be able to accept different formats  

Training platforms must be able to accept a variety of formats, especially video. We can present numerous reasons why nothing beats video training when it comes to tutoring your prominent people.

 

Must impart an enjoyable experience  

Choose a platform that gives you all that you are looking for. Make sure you select a learning platform where you can enjoy an intuitive and beautiful interface. You must be able to offer feedback, interact, and get certifications that you are proud of.  

Overall, the learning platform you choose must impart a fun experience and make you feel welcomed.  

Must have interactive features  

Add a game to anything, and that becomes super fun. How many of you remember only loving textbooks with big colorful pictures and hating books that only had text? Must be many of you, we believe! 

Similarly, when you select a management system of learning, make sure some features engage you. Opt for the one that educates you effectively by giving you the chance to answer Q&As, surveys, play challenges, and quizzes. 

QuoDeck creates stellar mobile experiences by offering a library of ready game structures that course designers can pick and use. You will be impressed by the way they design learning paths as stories. And, to harness your competitive spirit, they reward you with badges, certificates, and leaderboard positions after you finish a quiz. 

Conclusion  

You must also consider platform reliability and security besides the budget before you sign-up for an e-learning platform. See whether the software is stable. Check whether the customer support executives are responsive and look at how long the platform takes to fix the bugs. We hope that you will make an informed decision with great confidence with all these points in your mind

Game-based learning, Gamification

6 Power Sales Lessons that Put Gamification to Good Use

Leave a comment

An effective tool for boosting sales and engagement is gamification. There are layered benefits and impacts of gamification for customer engagement. Some brands and sites still aren’t able to extract the best use. An off-place rewards offer or boring content can be a no-go for your business. Basically, the forced inclusion of gamification in some form just for the sake of it often misfires.  

A gamified element can be exciting for users. But, customers also spot a well-placed gamified element. They know when one has been forced onto your site. Something too complex, too lengthy to follow can be methodological. But, with something downright uninteresting, customers are usually likely to be repelled. It is understandable that finding the proper use of gamification for your purpose can be tricky. Check out these six power sales lessons that put gamification to good use: 

Lesson 1: Divide your sales strategy into small chunks with gamification 

All the information for going through your platform can be overwhelming. Or, getting to know your service can be a bit too much for the customer. At times, customers simply don’t follow or snap out of their attention span.  

For instance, let’s say your service manual for the user is never-ending. Using gamification here can be a great way of dividing ideas. The user-action path, when divided into small chunks, can be easily comprehended. An excellent example of this implementation is Salesforce. Their use of gamification breaks down the action path for their users.  

Salesforce ITC gamified ITC Adoption Challenge  

Image Source: https://www.salesforce.com/blog/making-salesforce-user-adoption-fun-blog/  

Lesson 2: Create some healthy competition and make customers feel involved 

Users are always up for a fun contest to revive their competitive streak. A healthy contest that requires them to put in some effort to see results is a great concept that can be used with gamification. The idea here is to make the customers feel involved and in charge of their progress on the interface. If they know they can work to rise on top of the chart, they’re more likely to get back to the app for frequent use.  

One example of the competition-based use of gamification is with Nike’s Run Club. There are different target goals and achievement metrics. Here, fitness freaks have just the thing they need to be motivated for fitness while also having the incentive of exciting prices. What better form of engagement could there be for a fitness brand?  

Nike’s gamified Run Club 

Image Source:https://www.appcues.com/blog/getting-gamification-right  

Lesson 3: Extend a community experience 

The feeling of belonging is one that keeps bringing people back. This is exactly what a digital or virtual community experience brings to the table. This could also have a hint of competition. Or, merely regular updates, and interactions with members of that community. A community-based gamification experience makes sense for people with similar interests. People related to that brand can be brought together for a shared experience.  

A great example of this is Samsung Nation – a shared and interactive community space to check out new arrivals, earn rewards, and stay updated with all ongoings with the community.  

Samsung Nation  

Image Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Enterprise-and-Business-Example-Samsung-Nation_fig11_292720849  

Lesson 4: Trigger a sense of achievement with a “level-up” vibe 

Gamification need not necessarily always be a game, it could sometimes be even for sales. Gamification elements that offer a sense of achievement with a level up to look forward to work great for customer retention and sales.  

Have a look at the Forest App’s gamified interface. With each milestone of focussed time, users can unlock new trees to plant for their productivity missions. Not to mention the adorable interface with the level-up concept, which has truly worked wonders for the brand. 

Forest App Gamification 

Image Source: https://uxplanet.org/what-to-learn-from-the-forest-apps-gamification-5d8fe48eb4f4  

Lesson 5: Incorporate gamification with the main goal of your interface 

A great interface can be created if you incorporate gamification with the primary goal of your platform. This can include reward programs and incentives. Or choosing a product or specification. And, pretty much all activities involved in the severe sales aspect of your business.  

Image1 Source: https://feedier.com/blog/gamification/magic-gamification-examples/  

Image2 Source: https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/starbucks-gamifying-the-coffee-buying-experience-212acc6b40eb  

Lesson 6: Personalize the gamification experience 

The last one is a lesson to make your customers feel special. A hint of personalization always does the trick. A gamified element to present personal details of the user, track them, and adjust them as per their preferences is always well-appreciated.  

For instance, Duolingo, the language learning app, has used personalized gamification to perfection. The Duolingo bird is an interactive addition to the interface. The words/phrases that users are well versed with are tracked to present a learning interface that is at par with their current learning. This is done through gamified interactions and quizzes.  

Duolingo’s Gamified Interface 

Image Source: https://octalysisgroup.com/duolingo-review/  

Conclusion 

Are you missing out on the benefits of gamification because you don’t understand it? Try implementing one of the discussed power strategies to work for your specific purpose. The idea is to integrate something fun, practical, and meaningful within your content. When used right, gamification can be the make or break element for customer retention and engagement. In the longer run, it’s better to consider options for getting on the gamification bandwagon that let your competitors take the lead. Figure out what would work for your sales strategy, experiment a little, and you’ll be sure to find your perfect gamification fix! 

Corporate Learning and Development, e-Learning

Is MOOC The Future of Online Learning?

Leave a comment

Massive Open Online Courses may sound too good to be accurate, but you better start believing them as they are here to stay. MOtick with us to know why. 

The standard pedagogy of education may have been the usual norm for centuries now, but we feel MOOCs are our future. And, why not? After all, they break the traditional classroom learning barriers. Each of us is enrolling into different universities and programs, all from the comfort of our homes.  

With the lockdown that came into play last year and continues to do so this year, every class has shifted online. This form of learning on the internet caught on with lightning speed. A gazillion firms joined the bandwagon of e-learning with gusto.  

Yes, we are also considering the challenges that come with it. But, we certainly think that they are too good to be dismissed as just another fad. Here is why we think so. 

Self-paced beyond imagination  

According to a few studies, it has been found that people have different styles of learning. Some may understand a concept within a few seconds, while some may take months or even years to understand the very topic.  

Thus, MOOCs are a boon for all of us. We can pick up new concepts at different paces. A self-paced course allows us to learn and study at our leisurely rate.  

By authoring microlearning, you can encourage students to learn things at their own pace. Wondering how to do that? Opt for Quodeck’s system of template authoring.  

The process is simple: you ensure that your content is micro-learning compliant and follows the instructional design principles. Once that is done, here are the steps you need to follow. 

Optimal utilization of resources 

MOOCs help you make the best use of resources. If you are wondering how, then we are here to tell you. Imagine some renowned Nobel Laureate who decides to administer a training course at UCLA.  

At the max, they can only teach 100-300 students in a class and 1000 young minds in their lifetime. Now, you tell us if that is genuinely an optimum use of such precious resources? Of course not! 

But with MOOC platforms, the same Nobel Laureate can teach a large number of students in a short span, all with the help of the internet. 

Commendable scalability  

In the conventional classroom set-up, you will have to move to a more extensive classroom if you want to increase the number of students. You may also have to revamp the academy’s infrastructure in all likelihood. 

But, with online classrooms, scaling up the size of the course batch is a cakewalk. All that is required is a few clicks on your mouse.  

No systematic barriers  

Are all of us privileged enough or financially well-endowed to move out of our own countries to pursue a course abroad? The answer is NO. We cannot fly to Europe or the USA on our whims and fancies at any given time we desire.  

Also, we are too busy to pursue our academic interests that will fit seamlessly into our work schedule. But, online courses can remove and mitigate systemic barriers of any kind. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that education is universally available. 

Facilitate constant learning  

MOOCs are up to date and in line with the present job market, where any skill becomes outdated in less than a decade. Do any of you remember all that was taught in your college? Gone are the days when whatever we learned stuck with us throughout our careers.  

With technological changes taking place at a rapid pace, we have to learn constantly. And, believe us or not but MOOCs will adequately serve and address it.  

Conclusion 

Opinions regarding MOOCs being the future of online learning may be highly polarizing, but we are confident that they will stay. It is indeed a significant leap for education. I hope you liked our blog and if there is anything we missed, please let us know in the comments below.  

e-Learning, Employee-Training, Remote Working

5 new trends in driving engagement for remote employees

Leave a comment

The world of business has inevitably changed since 2020. Today, besides having vision and innovation, you have to make investments and adopt a new approach. This approach must stress on gratifying an employee so that they are happy and satisfied. Whether they are a leader or a manager, employees must feel connected to their purpose.  

The future engagement of employees depends on the five new trends that embrace flexibility and technology. Many recent trends have appeared, with some working and some not. But here’s what we have for you: the five engagement trends for remote employees. These will help you make informed decisions and battle the current crisis like a boss. 

  1. Focus on the channels of communication 

Suppose you have workers working on-site. You must brief them well on their roles.  And inform them about the colleagues that will work with them. Install rapid communication channels so that they stay in touch with each other, regardless of where they are. We must admit that meet-ups have worked wonders, especially for discussions relating to project issues and progress.

  1. Measuring engagement alone wouldn’t do – go the extra mile! 

As per the latest data, organizations spend 720 dollars million to gauge engagement.  But according to an American analytical company, only 36 per cent of the workforce is occupied. The rest 64 per cent is going through a gamut of emotions or feeling plain miserable.  

Your company is a breathing and living entity. Thus, you cannot manage performance directly. Hence, you must understand the areas that drive employees’ behaviours and directly impact their performance. Measure the conditions that matter. These conditions include alignment of personal strengths, psychological safety, and intrinsic motivation.  

When quantifying an employee’s prosperity levels, you should find out whether your organization is excelling with its people. 

  1. Improve the workstation of your employee, be proactive 

On identifying the positions that fit remote working best, you must give your employees an alternative. Not every person whose job may call for remote working, can do tasks remotely. Thus, do not expect the employees to brush their problems under the carpet. We suggest rethinking the entire journey of an employee and supporting everyone through this challenging time. Approximately 50 million jobs can be done from the comfort of a home, however, some cannot. Thus, we suggest that you furnish remote workers with all the software and hardware needed to work remotely. These small steps will help create a flexible environment amidst the pandemic.  

Adapt to the scenario of digital work but do not expect this new work wave to speed up as it advances.  

  1. Focus on talent development  

Before the coronavirus smothered us, the threat of talent shortage already rocked the business world. According to a US survey, employers confessed that they struggled to discover the talent they needed.  

With slashing of budgets and layoffs, re-skilling employees has become the need of the hour.  

One way to counter this problem is by developing your company as a marketplace for talent. This marketplace will have employees as the network’s segment. And once they are a part of the network, you can allocate them to new teams whenever you require their skills.  

  1. Get employees on the board with big, all-embracing goals 

When employees have understood their roles, are comfortable in their set up, and know what to do, get them on the board. Discuss the overarching goals of your company so that you can trade again.  

When the trade picks up and profits start pouring in, job insecurities and other fears will be eliminated. People will roll their sleeves up and do their bit to boost the success of the business. Encountering a shared tragedy or trauma has a fantastic way of dragging employees together towards success and survival. 

Conclusion  

A business may break, but it can heal as well. Each of these trends that drive remote employee engagement will be crucial in your company’s recovery. We hope these trends ensure that people under you remain engaged, productive, and cared for during and beyond a crisis.