By guest expert Jason Silberman Onboarding new customers to your software can seem like a daunting task, especially in the era of ever-growing customer expectations. If onboarding is slow, unattended customers will wander off to competition, and optimizing customer risk management is key. Obstacles such as these are compounded by the fact that customers expect to get a product that is tailored to their needs, works properly every time it is used, and is backed by adequate customer support. Though there are strategies in place for dealing with the challenges of customer onboarding, many are unfeasible or have proven a failure. Below are six onboarding mistakes you should avoid if you want to convert your early adopters to permanent customers.   1. Making Promises your Product Can’t Keep Your product took a lot of time, effort, and thought to develop, and it’s easy to fall into the temptation of using adjectives like "groundbreaking", "revolutionary", and "life changing" that might not be entirely accurate. Beware of falling into the trap of overpromising, as if your customers don’t experience the same value that you do, they probably won’t stay onboard long. Consider finding a neutral third party to read your copy and [...] The post 6 Customer Onboarding Mistakes to Steer Clear of appeared first on Talented Learning.

Getting final LMS budget approval is kind of like pushing over a Coke machine — it usually takes a few tries.  The LMS buying cycle for a new or an upgraded LMS averages 12-24 months and can easily take much longer.  The elongated buying cycle is almost always due to the challenge of obtaining executive budget approval for the purchase and ongoing maintenance. Once you have your budget requests submitted, there is really nothing else to do other than hope and prepare.  Despite having the available time, most LMS buying organizations don’t take advantage of the calm before the storm and are woefully unprepared for their LMS implementation once they have the approvals to proceed with a purchase. There is a perception that the implementation process is the time to figure out the small details of the project, but you should define as much in advance as you can to streamline the implementation and maximize your odds of success. Even if your LMS budget gets delayed for a year or two, any preparation work you do will be leveraged at that time and you’ll be stronger because of it.  Preparation is never lost.  What should you do while waiting for your LMS budget approval?  The below five activities will be valuable no matter what LMS vendor [...] The post What to Do While Waiting for LMS Budget Approval appeared first on Talented Learning.

At 27 years, Gyrus Systems has been in learning management longer than any other vendor I have reviewed.  The current product, GyrusAim LMS, is a fifth generation product meaning this is the fifth complete rewrite of the application with each version adapting new technologies to the old theme of training management. GyrusAim is a global, enterprise-strength, administratively-focused LMS with core strengths of in-depth instructor led classroom (live or virtual) management, certification, role configuration and reporting. Gyrus Systems leveraged the best practices learned from 400+ client implementations to provide admin heavy training organizations with the deep configuration flexibility they need.  First time LMS buyers will not appreciate the level of administrative sophistication because they have never encountered all the unsaid downsides of most administrative LMSs. Examples of Gyrus functionality that are not found in most cloud LMSs include robust wait list management, enrollment rules configuration, organizational seat reservations, resource scheduling, granular role management, administrative dashboards and audit trail reporting.  The GyrusAim LMS also includes robust skill and competency management and they go to the next level of multi-level skill acquisition tied to training completion. The GyrusAim LMS includes ecommerce capabilities to facilitate the sale of content to organizations or individuals. Group based pricing, discounts, credits, coupons and PayPal integration are all [...] The post LMS Reviews: Gyrus Systems appeared first on Talented Learning.

  The Digital Ignite Crowd Wisdom™ LMS is a pure extended enterprise LMS and is extremely cool.  They have left employee learning management behind with the other 599 LMS vendors and they focus on measurable learning technology solutions for extended enterprise audiences.  100% of research, development and associated professional services are dedicated to providing one of the world’s best solutions for channel, customer, associations and training providers. Crowd Wisdom™ is designed with the tools to attract voluntary learners, build a community of learners and facilitate the growing of a training business.  The learner interface looks great and is as non-LMSey that I have seen in my 88 reviews.  It is clean, easy-to-use with no hint of HR speak for users to get confused by.  The LMS is mobile responsive, meaning that it can be accessed effectively on any device or computer browser from any corner of the world in 17 languages.  Crowd Wisdom™ has strong ecommerce features to support the selling of content to both individuals and organizations. Social learning is germane to the Digital Ignite Crowd Wisdom™ LMS strategy and they incorporate social features like forums, popular content, discussion groups, content recommendations, polling and surveys into all aspects of the application from LMS interface, MOOC content or any content assembled in the LMS. Also the user profile is [...] The post LMS Reviews: Digital Ignite Crowd Wisdom LMS appeared first on Talented Learning.

  LMS demonstrators have it tough.  They are not running the sales cycle but rather get brought in at certain points of many sales cycles.  They are expected to get up to speed quickly on every account and deliver a tailored, business impactful demo based on client requirements.  If they do great, some salesperson gets the commission and credit.  If they do poorly or even average, then they are the goat. I recently wrote a post offering demonstration advice and tips to LMS vendors to improve their win percentage.  The tips are based on my personal experience of presenting or receiving over 2200 LMS demos in my career as a former LMS sales guy and now as an independent LMS analyst.  The response from readers and LMS demonstrators was fantastic and fun as demonstrators worldwide came out of the woodwork and offered up additional stories and advice from their experiences.  I quickly came to the conclusion that the "LMS Demonstration Community" didn’t exist and if it did informally, it is an unrewarded and neglected group of professionals. As an industry of buyers and sellers of LMS, I believe it is high time we stop ignoring the most important person in the [...] The post Top 10 LMS Demonstrators in the World appeared first on Talented Learning.

Extended enterprise learning is all about business.  The business of training your non-employees.  The business of making money, accelerating growth, furthering your reach, streamlining your processes and achieving competitive separation. Extended enterprise learning is a business weapon wielded by the wise to build communities of customers, partners and resellers and provide them learning interventions to measurabley change behavior.  The measurable change results in more sales of your primary products and/or your content and happier customers. To push out and manage training to external audiences you need an extended enterprise LMS which is a special kind of LMS that does most of what an employee LMS does but also much more.  Mobile focused, NextGen user interface, social learning, ecommerce, gamification and marketing automation are just some of the key features needed to support external audiences. So what are some ways to drive profit with an extended enterprise LMS?  Here are ten good examples: Sell Content - If there is one thing that an extended enterprise or training for business LMS must do - it must be able to sell content to individuals and/or organizations. Continuing education, assessments, aggregated content, proprietary content, books, kits, conferences, instructor-led, webinars or guides can all be sold [...] The post Ten Ways to Drive Profit with an Extended Enterprise LMS appeared first on Talented Learning.

You need to attract more prospects, train your customers and external sales channel and you heard that this LMS thing can solve your problems.  You Google "LMS" and you find 600 LMS companies, countless advertisements and hopefully a few of my articles. When reviewing the LMS vendor websites, you find it is difficult to discern a difference between the LMS companies and their offerings. You have been tasked to find qualified LMS options for your organizations but it is impossible to qualify all 600 solutions in any reasonable time or cost effective manner.  I know, I’ve tried.  In the last nineteen months, I have only been able to review 90 of the 600 LMSs.  Here is what I found though.  Each of the 90 has met some business need uniquely and a bit better than the other 89. Unique LMS differentiation is based on varying combinations of the LMS vendor’s experience, services provided, regional focus, industries served, functional capabilities, technical sturdiness, license approach, and ongoing support provided. The best way to prepare for the vendor community and find viable solutions efficiently is to have your ducks in a row before you start knocking on LMS vendor doors.  Once they have you [...] The post 3 Tips to Finding the Best Extended Enterprise LMS for You appeared first on Talented Learning.

By Gauri Reyes, frequent contributor to the Daily Mindflash blog Online training is an effective way to arm your partners and value-added resellers with knowledge. It’s scalable—you can train thousands at once while retaining your own corporate brand in the training materials. A highly trained, extended sales force can increase your revenue through increased sales of your products and services. And, you can sell your online training courses themselves to your partners and resellers, should you choose to do so. When creating an online training program for your partners and resellers, consider the following topics:   Convey the Company Culture Your partners and resellers are effectively an extension of your sales force. As they are often in front of your end customers and are effectively representing your products and services, expose them to your company culture, norms, behaviors, values, beliefs, and vision. The more you align your culture with theirs, at least when it comes to reselling your products and services, the more you can ensure a unified, positive experience to the end customer.   Opportunity Registration & Dispute Resolution If you work with multiple resellers, your resellers could potentially compete for the same opportunity with the same end customer. Avoid [...] The post 9 Must-Consider Topics When Designing Partner or Reseller Training appeared first on Talented Learning.

Teaching With Technology Part 2 Most students and teachers take the traditional classroom environment beneficial for learning Why? Because they can interact with the instructor and their schoolmates. Particularly for people who learn better through cooperative actions and group study. The possibility, of asking questions and receiving immediate answers, is significant. I need to learn how to teach with technology. I am taking the course Teaching with Technology to improve my educational skills. The post Teaching With Technology Part 2 appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

What Are My Needs As An English Language Teacher? Teaching and learning in the 21st Century. I need to learn how to teach with technology. I am taking the course Teaching with Technology to improve my educational skills. I do not have sufficient computing knowledge, training and skills in graphic design, computer programming and authoring multimedia courseware. The post What Are My Needs As An English Language Teacher? appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.