In his milestone 2005 paper, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, George Siemens expands on “connectivism” as it relates to learning and knowledge management. While much of the attention from this paper has focused on the importance of networks as a theory of learning, perhaps an equally important takeaway is the importance of context.
When it comes to delivering learning, context is everything. Why? Because what’s relevant in one scenario may not be relevant under a different set of circumstances.
External Learners Are Different
Unlike your internal learners, your external learners – whether they are direct revenue customers, partners, distributors, or revenue-adjacent customers – operate in a different context than your internal learners. For instance, external learners are typically not required to take your learning offerings. They need to be enticed; they need to be marketed to.
In an external learning situation, you typically won’t be able to assign learning to them directly. Perhaps somebody else (like your immediate purchaser!) can assign training, but not you. You still have to persuade using digital or traditional marketing techniques.
Not only do you have to convince somebody to take the training, you probably have to convince them to PAY money to purchase the course. To make matters worse, there are probably other entities, AKA competitors, who are also trying to convince your learners to purchase learning FROM THEM instead of you. What you’re dealing with here is a marketing and sales situation, which can perhaps be solved by using the customer journey mapping process (it can help you understand what customers need and whether you are offering them that).
Focus on Repeat Customers and Make their Purchasing Easier
Research shows that it takes six times more effort to sell to a new prospect than an existing customer, and repeat customers spend 33% more than net new clients. So, it’s easy to conclude that you should be paying attention to the needs of your current clients. The commercial learning business is no different. Businesses use digital marketing in West Palm Beach or near them to get new customers. This is essential for companies as most of them are based on a growth model, so they must expand regularly and consistently.
A smooth e-commerce experience is important when selling learning courses. How often have you tried to purchase something online and given up because of complicated workflows?
We considered all of this when we released the newest version of our learning management system, making it easier for your existing customers to repurchase learning they’ve already consumed. Our new features also make it easier for learners to purchase bulk content and then distribute it to their partners and colleagues. Additionally, our streamlined checkout and simplified shopping cart offer a shopping experience as intuitive as what you expect from a consumer website. Our simplified discount codes will allow you to offer coupons and incentives to entice your customers to take the plunge.
Activate the Network
If elevating your customers into repeat customers is a critical step to building a successful commercial learning business, the “holy grail” is when repeat customers become mass purchasers and distributors, thus creating new learners and potential new primary purchasers. Of course, to benefit from these “network effects,” you need to make it easier for your buyers to understand what you’re offering. To accomplish that, you can conduct networking events through trade shows. During such an event, you can advertise using display boards, display exhibits (sourced from a trade show exhibit company), and promote your brand using banners. By doing so, attendees at your networking event will get more information about your product, which could lead to more sales for you.
Along with that, you can also consider using a dedicated purchase system. For example, our new release enhanced our access key features to provide an integrated purchase management and distribution experience so your customers can easily bulk purchase and distribute your learning. Moreover, you and your customers can now track all commercial sales from purchase through the distribution chain to final consumption. With unprecedented visibility throughout the entire learning distribution network, your customers can see the status and ownership of all purchased learning, thus providing the opportunity to activate and nurture their networks like never before.
Companies that extend learning to customers achieve a significantly higher year-over-year increase in revenue per FTE than those that do not.