4 aspects that are particularly relevant when choosing your sales LMS.

You are considering purchasing a sales LMS, i.e., a Learning Management System, with which you want to train your sales partners or your sales team. You are still at the very beginning of the decision-making process and would first like to get an overview of what is important. The tool should be easy to use, powerful, and not too expensive! This article provides you with practical tips.

Content:

• Find out what your target group needs to achieve the goals you have defined.
• Recognize the needs of your learners.
• Plan how you will integrate the LMS into your IT network – and how learners should access it.
• Decide which reports and data you want to generate.

Aspect 1: Find out what your target group needs to achieve the goals you have defined.

If you are struggling to clearly define your target group – don't worry, you are not alone with this problem.

Unlike a relatively homogeneous target group such as internal company employees who are to be trained on a compliance topic, a group consisting of business and sales partners, salespeople, or field staff is rather heterogeneous. The prerequisites or expectations are often too diverse.

A tip: focus on the similarities instead of the differences and keep your business goals clearly in mind.

Regardless of whether you are bringing a new product to market and want to qualify your salespeople, or want to increase sales and train your new sales strategy worldwide – you need an LMS that is mobile, location-independent, and time-independent to meet your requirements as well as the wishes of your partners equally. Always remember: satisfied and motivated learners learn more sustainably.

Aspect 2: Recognize the needs of your learners.

Do you know the learning needs of your partners? Under what circumstances and where does your sales team learn? In what way do you want to make the learning content accessible to the partners? If you consider the relevant application scenarios here, you can assume that your learning offer will be well-received. Because one thing is certain: your partners acquire learning material on a voluntary basis and want to learn according to their needs – ideally at the point of sale, in the shop, or during the break between two conversations with customers. It's perfect if the learning takes place in this situation via smartphone, tablet, or laptop (Mobile Learning). Even better if you can offer a learning app that can do this reliably and securely and runs stably.

Also think about which learning formats you would like to use in your LMS. Because this list determines which functionalities your Learning Management System should have. These "use cases" define what the platform must be able to do. Are you imagining a blended learning format that combines face-to-face with virtual learning? Or should it primarily be webinar presentations? Perhaps also elaborated Web Based Trainings, with which learning progress can be tracked well. Or should your people learn as playfully as possible with gamification and microlearning? It is quite possible that you also want to keep the option open to use all options.

The more precisely you know what you need, the easier it is to choose the learning platform. You are best off with a modular LMS, where you can book functions or omit them as required.

Aspect 3: Plan how you will integrate the sales LMS into your IT network – and how learners should access it.

This is where your IT department comes into play, whom you should ideally involve in your considerations from the very beginning. These experts can tell you which technical standards are used, but also which barriers influence the decision for or against a specific LMS.

Every now and then, the possibility of Single Sign-On (SSO) or APIs to other systems such as intranets, online shops, support desks, or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems is required. Such requirements are individual and require a well-thought-out concept that involves all important stakeholders.

Your internal IT resources are limited and yet you want to enjoy a well-functioning programming interface? Then you are in good hands with a provider that offers you an inexpensive full-service LMS package. A time-saving and therefore cost-saving REST API solution would be a good path in this case.

And how do the users get into the system? You should also think about the registration process. Perhaps you prefer an invitation that is handled via the admin – either by import or via individual invitation. Or a self-registration with various options seems more practicable to you: via voucher, via dropdowns, or additional login fields. Even with this question, you remain most flexible with a system that offers all these possibilities without causing additional costs.

Aspect 4: Decide which reports and data you want to generate.

These requirements can also vary greatly depending on the need. A clearly defined requirement profile makes it easier for you to decide for or against a specific LMS tool. Which analysis and evaluation functions do you absolutely need? Which ones are optional? As a rule, data that provides information about the intensity and frequency of the use of an online training course is of interest. Especially with a voluntary training measure, this function is an important indicator of whether the content was accepted or prepared in an interesting way.

If you want to know even more precisely how your learning offer is received and where it can be optimized, an anonymized feedback function would be an advantage. It is quite possible that you also need completely individual, tailor-made data reports and facts for your digital training courses.

A must-have for an LMS, however, are automated online tests including a certificate and email notification. As an admin, you see immediately who has passed a test. Statistics on learning progress, which are sent to defined recipients at certain intervals, are also informative. Because for learning management, it is important to be able to manage deadlines as simply as possible and without effort and, if necessary, to trigger escalations in the form of friendly reminders.