Depending on which online resources you read, the skills gap is either real or it isn’t. At Wranx, we’re of the belief that the skills gap, a term used to describe the disparity between those who are unemployed looking for a job and organisations with jobs that can’t find skilled candidates to fill them, is very real, and that it’s something organisations need to overcome in order to solve the biggest organisational challenge of the 21st-century; filling open positions with suitably qualified and skilled employees. According to last year’s Talent Shortage Survey conducted by the Manpower Group, 35% of 38,000 employees reported some difficulty filling jobs due to a lack of knowledge, skills, and talent. So, closing the skills gap is something organisations should work on immediately. But how should they go about it? A quick search online will reveal plenty of stories about the skills gap with US-based figures and examples to back them up, but there’s few UK-focused articles that discuss the skills gap and what organisations can do to close it.   So, here’s our thoughts. If you’re looking for ways to close the skills gap, the answer to all of your problems might be more obvious than you think; learning and training. A culture of learning should be integral to your organisation as it is, not just because an organisation’s culture is the one thing that stands between an organisation’s results, but because suitable learning and training gives you a huge level of flexibility when it comes to filling those vacant job roles that are stacking up with human resources. Imagine, for example, that your organisation has a marketing department and that you have a vacant position for a marketing assistant. Chances are, you want to fill that position with a graduate with a suitable degree, but you also require specific skills that can only be gained from experience, such as SEO, copywriting, inbound, split testing websites, etc. The only way around this, without learning and training, is to employ an experienced worker who will a) cost more and b) probably be older. With learning and training, you can take on whoever you choose and close the skills gap with new employees.   The reality of recruitment though is that there’s no such thing as the perfect employee. All we can do as an organisation is have a culture of learning from the employment stage and do the best we can for new employees to help them excel within the organisation with a road-map to advancement. It’s also important to consider that while some people believe that UK unemployment rates are due to a lack of skills, there’s no major link between the supply of skilled workers and today’s unemployment. This creates confusion among those who try to pinpoint why the skills gap needs to be addressed quickly, but the fact is that an organisation will benefit in the long-term from learning and development initiatives that benefit new employees and promote a culture of learning and development. Image by: Climate and Ecosystems Change Adaptation Research University Network - CC BY 2.0 Share this post with your own audience

The world of retail, whether it be on the high street or online, and mobile technology go hand in hand. Now more than ever before, consumers turn to their smartphone or tablet to locate nearby stores, find out information about the latest trends or to make a purchase. There can be little to no doubt that mobile devices will be an integral part of the retail industry. But while this is all well and good for consumers, what about the companies and people that work in this increasingly digital environment? Thankfully, mobile sales training technology is on hand to help them too… Smartphones that feature digital wallets are making transactions a remarkably straightforward process while tablets act as an all-in-one POS system, personal shopper and inventory database. But mobile devices can also be incredibly powerful training tools for retail staff, especially when you consider the nature of the industry and the people who tend to find themselves in these positions. Even though retail employs around 14.4 million people in the US, the industry also has the highest rate of employee turnover. Ask any college student or university graduate what career they want to pursue and few will long for a life behind the sales counter. However, seeing as 36 per cent of the workplace will be made up of millennials by the end of 2014, there is an increasing need for the retail industry to appeal to this generation. And one of the best ways to do that is via mobile…   Limit impatience and increase interest As mentioned previously, several people that enter the retail industry aren’t in it for the long term. A lot of the time, these individuals will be from the millennial generation, a group of active and ambitious youngsters that have grown up with technology, want more from a job than just money and believe the work-life balance is of the upmost importance. With a 35 per cent underemployment rate, lots of millennials find themselves in retail jobs as a simple stopgap to something better. Even though they still need to be trained, a lack of interest, concern or enthusiasm about the role can make this undertaking rather tricky. But by taking advantage of mobile devices, which are used by almost all millennials and generate a fair amount of enthusiasm and interest, training becomes a lot easier. Especially when you introduce accelerated learning and spaced repetition. By giving employees the power to make their own decisions and actively participate in learning, they are more likely to absorb information. This is enhanced when training materials are studied a few times over a longer period of time. Wranx Drills for example are short quizzes of 10 questions a day that display both the question and answer, which is proven to improve long-term memory.   Audio and visual stimulation Although several traditional retail-training techniques remain effective and successful, the majority of millennials require a little bit more stimulation than just reading off a whiteboard or answering the teacher’s questions. But training via mobile introduces audio and visuals that are much more interesting and engaging. What’s more, employees are bound to be familiar with these devices and will have no trouble responding to questions or tasks. They are going to be more receptive to an interactive learning technique too.   Entertaining training In addition to stimulating sights and sounds, gamification is another training tactic that can be used in a retail environment. Some retailers might set themselves sales targets or bonuses based on commission, but there is no reason why competition can’t be introduced to training scenarios too. Wranx uses science driven techniques that have been proven to increase an employee’s learning capacity by introducing and enhancing competition, engagement, accomplishment and gratification. Our gamification model gives members of staff the opportunity to attain over 300 different achievements, which are won by demonstrating knowledge about certain topics. By explicitly telling employees know what is required for each award, every individual will know exactly what to do. They will also be able to compete on a leader board against colleagues and associates.   Train on the selling floor Most of the time, retail-training takes place away from the sales floor in the manager’s office or a back room somewhere. In addition to being fairly uninspiring, it also means that employees aren’t spending time where they are needed most. But if you train your staff using a mobile device, they can be in the right place at the right time. During busy periods, employees can help out customers, be of assistance and ultimately make more sales. But when things get a little quiet, they are able to utilise their smartphone or tablet and start learning on the job. This also provides more scope for real-life scenarios and role-playing in the actual working environment.   Multi device flexibility While several employees prefer to undertake training during working hours, many would rather acquire new skills in their own time, at a time and place where they feel more comfortable. In a retail environment, certain members of staff might not be at ease or fully focused on the teaching in front of them, which is bound to have negative results. On top of that, information might not be retained and training could well be a waste of time. But here at Wranx, we believe training should be flexible and adaptive for all employees. By letting staff learn when its convenient and appropriate for them to do so, favourable outcomes will undoubtedly be achieved.   By making our solution available on smartphones, tablets and desktops PCs, employees can start, pick up and put down their training schedules as and when they feel like it. However, as an employer you’ll also be able to update content remotely and track individual progress. With our entire solution hosted in the cloud, there is no need to download client software either. Therefore, even if retail members of staff aren’t interest in long-term employment or an enduring career, training via mobile has benefits for every party. Smartphones and tablets keep individuals engaged, entertained, interested, alert and above all else, successful in their jobs. 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Even though ‘the customer is always right’ has been challenged a fair bit in recent years, loyal purchasers and patrons still need a huge amount of attention, care and consideration. Loyalty is incredibly important in today’s highly competitive world and can mean the difference between success and failure. If you happen to have a group of devoted consumers, there are several advantages. They’ll act as brand ambassadors and be able to promote your business to family and friends without you having to spend a penny. What’s more, if they’ve got honest and reliable feedback about your products or services, they’ll be sure to tell you as well. Competitors won’t pose as much of a threat even if their prices are lower and you’ll be able to allocate budgets that were previously reserved for attracting new customers elsewhere. After all, it is 6-7 times more costly to attract a new customer than it is to retain existing ones. Unfortunately, faithfulness and fidelity isn’t an easy thing to achieve. It can sometimes take years for a company to form strong and long-lasting relationships with its customers. And even when this landmark has been realised, it only takes one false step or wrong move for a trusted bond to break. Nevertheless, follow these five tips, tricks and tactics to create loyal customers and you’ll be able to reap the profound rewards.   Create incentives and reward your customers One of the best ways to keep customers coming back is to acknowledge repeat purchases, introduce ways of encouraging further sales and reward their brand allegiance. You probably have a fair few loyalty cards for your favourite supermarket or coffee shop. Spend enough cash at these outlets and you’ll receive money off your next grocery shop or a complementary drink. The trick here is to acknowledge and appreciate the fact that consumers are choosing to ignore the competition, regardless of quality and price. If you neglect your customers, it won’t take long for them to look elsewhere. On top of that, rivals are bound to be to on the lookout for new clientele too. Here at Wranx, we know how important rewarding people is and this is why it is integrated into our gamification training solution. If an employee gets a question right, they unlock a new achievement and strive to achieve more awards. This keeps motivation levels high, enhances engagement and increases their chances of learning. If a member of staff is engaged with training, they are more likely to be actively interested in customers, which is another way of increasing loyalty.   Be transparent about company news and announcements Not long ago, if a company was involved in an embarrassing, delicate or tricky situation, it could probably sweep it under the rug fairly easily. But now things like social media means almost everything is out in the open and any organisation can ill afford to hide away or twist the truth. So, when it comes to reporting news and announcements, whether it’s good or bad, remember to be honest and transparent. This honourable and morally correct stance will be greeted with continued faith in your business and ultimately, ongoing sales. Just remember, if you are unveiling a new promotion for recently acquired customers, don’t forget existing clientele too. They are just as pivotal to the success of the business.   Communicate like a person, not a corporation In order to build customer loyalty, you need to build a relationship based on familiarity and trust. However, if all of your outbound communication sounds like it is coming from a faceless corporation instead of an approachable human being, this becomes incredibly difficult. Therefore, whether you’re sending out an email newsletter or posting a social media update, don’t forget to inject some personality. Adding a personal touch to your dealings with customers can also be the difference between loyalty and unfaithfulness. For example, if you have a database of your clientele’s birthdays and send out a best wishes email with their name on it, you might benefit more from simply offering a percentage off purchases that day. These personable and distinctive techniques will increase your chances of attracting loyal customers.   Pay close attention to the customer’s buying experience Some customers will make a purchase based on price, others are more concerned by quality, but most consumers want to have a positive and affirming buying experience. Research indicates that 70 per cent of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated. But when you take into account that 89 per cent of consumers have stopped buying from a business after experiencing poor customer service, you start to realise how consequential it can be. Therefore, try your hardest to ensure every part of the buying experience is as good as it can be. From browsing for products online or in a physical environment to aftersales care and customer service, each piece of the puzzle is equally important. Only when you complete this jigsaw will consumers recognise the effort you’ve put in just for them. As a result, loyal customers should become a regular occurrence.   Listen to your customers and make changes accordingly No matter how successful your business may be, there is always going to be room for improvement. Even if you believe you’re in the best position to make any changes or alterations, it could very well be a customer suggestion that has the potential to improve daily operations. However, turning a blind eye to these recommendations or disregarding the importance of your customers’ opinion will have a detrimental impact on loyalty. You might not agree with what your clientele is saying, but the very least you can do is acknowledge it. And if an abundance of customers are saying the same thing, then it is probably time to change your ways. By letting everybody know that you amended or improved an aspect of your business based on feedback, existing customers and prospective consumers are bound to be more willing to make a purchase. Image By: 10ch - CC BY 2.0 Share this post with your own audience

Highly effective learning and development professionals have seven habits which define the learning process within an organisation. The habits are intertwined with the very foundations of organisations and they promote stellar learning culture and work ethic.   Our research has uncovered what these common traits are.   1. Professionals understand communication is key Learning and development culture must be an integral part of an organisation, which means the communication of the importance of learning starts from the hiring process; employees need to understand and recognise that continuing professional development is key to their being respected and valued within an organisation and that only through continued learning can they continuously perform at their best. Communicating effectively is one of the biggest habits of highly effective learning and development professionals, for supporting learning and rewarding employees who seek to be the best and gain new knowledge and skills is the key to growing a highly talented workforce.   2. Professionals trust management It is much harder to learn and gain new knowledge and skills as an employee if there is no trust with those in management. Employees will invest their time into learning initiatives if they trust and believe in their manager to support them, but without that support and recognition professionals can and will elope from continued development. Within corporate organisations, this is a challenge, for it is only natural for managers to think about their own position when other professionals start to gain new skills and knowledge. However, corporate organisations must overcome this challenge, as without trust there can be no aspiring for advancement which translates to a lack of take-up on learning initiatives.   3. Professionals take risks For the vast majority of employees, the biggest lessons learned will come from risk-taking. This is a habit among learning and development professionals that should be encouraged, but only with risks that don’t directly affect business operations. At a minimum, mistakes made by employees should be addressed by the manager in non-punitive conversation. Whatever the result of risk-taking (a screw-up or success), employees learn best from risk-taking by sitting down and examining what happened, what can be learnt, and what should be done in the future. Many valuable lessons can be learnt from failure and success, and organisations would be wise to not slam employees who wish to take a risk.   4. Professionals like to engage with others Every stakeholder; employees, customers, business partners, investors; within an organisation will have something to offer to the collective wisdom of an organisation. These stakeholders need to be engaged to find out what they know and how that knowledge can benefit others, but also to find out what they don’t know, so a learning initiative can be applied. Engaging with stakeholders on a one-to-one basis, or in groups, is a great way to share knowledge. Learning and development professionals benefit from engagement massively for it promotes creativity and forward-thinking, and it will offer up plenty of information about individual performance, team work, organisational decisions, plus much more.   5. Professionals value feedback and reflection In a learning culture, feedback is essential. Feedback on what learning professionals do, and feedback on what needs to be done to improve, is an integral part of the learning process for it promotes reflection and professional improvement. It is at this stage that targets and KPIs can be applied to the learning and development initiative to help employees get the most out of their work. Organisations need to remember that the majority of learning happens when people talk to one another and share their experiences about problem-solving, planning, and more. Communicating with other professionals and giving feedback on learning is a common habit among learning and development professionals.   6. Professionals support social learning The modern learning culture is radically different to the learning culture of ten years ago. Now, it is an accepted practice for a workforce to support one another for individual, team, and organisational learning. Social learning isn’t simply about talking to one another, though; it’s about learning through observation and direct instruction, two methods of learning which form an integral part of the social learning theory. Social learning in the informal sense, such as coaching, mentoring, and experiments, are the most engaging types of learning for highly effective learning and development professionals. In a modern organisation, this type of learning is highly structured.   7. Professionals value time In a learning culture, professionals understand that time management is essential, but also that there is no better use of one’s time than learning or helping other people to learn. Highly effective learning and development professionals believe that learning is the key to success, and therefore they plan their entire week around learning initiatives. This is great for organisations because professionals ‘get into the books’ without any pressing and have the drive to achieve great things. 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The 70:20:10 model for learning and development originates from research carried out in the 1980s. In the 1994 book Career Architect Development Planner, data from a Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) study was published which revealed that the lessons learned by effective managers are 70% from tough jobs, 20% from people, and 10% from courses and reading.  The percentages within this study are the reason behind the 70:20:10 name. "The 70:20:10 framework is fast becoming the preferred strategy to improve workplace performance." says Charles Jennings, Duntroon Associates and founder of the 70:20:10 Forum. "It is applicable across all sectors and organisations, regardless of size, because of its holistic and agile nature. "  Regardless of whether the 70:20:10 framework becomes the preferred strategy for learning as Jennings says, though, it is still a sound concept and one that any organisation can employ.  Continuous Learning is the goal of 70:20:10 As Jennings says in one of his blog posts, most people get it with continuous learning, but some don’t.  Classes, webinars, courses, and other structured learning events are simply cogs in a wheel in a much larger world of learning and development. The roles of direct and structured learning can and do play an important role in organisational learning, but to create a culture of learning that promotes continuous learning, an organisation needs to think beyond structured learning. Simply, organisations need to think outside of the box, but this can be unsettling for organisations with a culture of structured learning. When you consider the very foundations of 70:20:10, that the majority of learning comes through experience, you can begin to understand why we at Wranx refer to continuous learning as the goal of 70:20:10; experiences within the workplace are continuous for the time of employment and they occur every second of every minute of every hour of every working day. Perhaps, then, the growing popularity of 70:20:10 stems from the need for modern organisations to have an effective culture of learning, for even if they don’t see it as a continuous learning strategy, it performs as one. But as Jo Faragher notes in 70:20:10 - a model approach for learning?, while organisations claim to have embraced 70:20:10, few can actually demonstrate it. "They are so immersed in the training model, or at least a content delivery model, that they struggle to figure out ways to promote and harness informal learning, especially experiential learning," comments Paul Matthews, managing director and founder of People Alchemy, on Personnel Today’s DiscussL&D LinkedIn forum. So how should you go about introducing 70:20:10 to your organisation? The idea with 70:20:10 is to remove the vast majority of structured learning from the learning process and to move toward a mindset where focusing on experience is more valuable. This will of course be unsettling at first, but it’s worth it when it comes to creating a culture of learning for the future. Most organisations are going to need to change their culture of learning drastically to fully accommodate 70:20:10 and for it to be truly effective. A good way to introduce this to employees is to create a video demonstration around the 70:20:10 concept which shows employees that learning does not just come from sitting in classes, webinars, and courses, and a video that demonstrates what direction the organisation is going to take in the future. Having a culture of learning means truly adopting a learning process and weaving it within the very fabric of the workplace. Share this post with your own audience

Organisations that value learning will outperform those that don’t. Or, at least, that’s what many people believe. At Wranx, we’re of the opinion that all organisations have some culture of learning, but that few can truly lay claim to a culture of learning that’s intertwined with the very fabric of the organisation. This is what it’s all about; inspiring a culture of learning from the employment process to executive roles. Corporations, SMEs, start-ups, sales directors, managers, and decision makers should start by asking themselves "How can I increase my organisation’s ability to learn". This is a very important question that needs answering, for modern organisations have a duty to train a workforce and a need to do so, because an organisation’s culture is the one thing that stands between an organisation’s results. To inspire a culture of learning within your organisation, you need to understand how you can improve learning within your organisation, and you need to understand the habits of highly developed learning and development professionals. Understanding how people learn, and what the tools are that people need to learn with, are the first steps toward inspiring a culture of learning. When it comes to creating a learning culture, there are several best practices that directors, managers, and decision-makers should take onboard. These are:   Send a clear message The passion directors, managers, and decision-makers have for learning will show through when it comes to creating a learning culture within an organisation. All of the people who roll out learning initiatives and get professionals onboard need to send a very clear message about just how important a culture of learning is to the business, and these personal feelings need to show how much you value knowledge, learning, information, and change. If you are a decision-marker, you MUST remember that professionals need to trust you to back them when it comes to learning. So send a clear message.   Understand your colleagues Of course, sending a clear message about how important knowledge, learning, information, and change is to the organisation is no good if you don’t fully understand your colleague’s orientation to learning, and for this reason a great idea is to run an assessment to find out the characteristics of cultures that encourage learning. With this information, you will be empowered with the ability to connect with employees within an organisation on a professional and personal level, and get employees excited about potential learning initiatives thanks to proposing initiatives that suit learning orientation.   Let colleagues get involved As a decision-maker, you have the final say on what learning initiatives the organisation rolls out, but it’s important to remember who is going to be benefitting from them most; the workforce. As such, during the planning stage, it’s wise to let colleagues get involved who have regular contact with workers ‘on the ground’, so to speak, to help people understand that this isn’t simply just another corporate initiative, but one that has taken on board the ideas and fears of those it will affect. Creating new relationships among people in your organisation is a great way to bring people together and get everybody involved.   Tailor your learning to mobile If the past 10 years has taught us one thing, it’s that mobile learning is now a key part of the learning culture. Mobile learning environments, such as those from Wranx, empower employees with the tools to learn on-the-move and of course all of this is monitored and tracked to tailor learning experiences to the individual. When it comes to inspiring a culture of working, nothing inspires more than giving people the ability to learn at their own pace, share ideas on-the-move, and take work out of the office. This is a particularly powerful way to inspire a culture of learning with mobile sales teams.   Start at the beginning In true Wranx style, we have saved the best till last. The most important thing an organisation can do to inspire and create a culture of learning is to start at the beginning and communicate the expectations for employees to learn and develop new knowledge and skills at the recruitment stage. Your organisation should encourage learning immediately and have the infrastructure in place to support employees of different roles, such as sales, marketing, and human resources, to allow the organisation to develop skills evenly across departments. With structured and informal learning experiences playing a key role in a culture of learning, however, this infrastructure may take some time to build. Share this post with your own audience

For quite some time, classroom training has been the preferred teaching method for most learning institutions. Children enter this environment on their first day of school, experience it right up until finishing university and continue to receive lessons or further enlightenment during full-time employment. Acquiring new knowledge in the classroom still remains incredibly effective, as it takes place away from the workplace in a dedicated environment, provides two-way communication with another human being and encourages group interaction. However, today’s fast-paced working world means that classroom training isn’t always the perfect solution, especially for the modern employee. As opposed to simply writing down notes in a classroom, the modern employee cohort are tech-savvy individuals who would much rather interact with and share the information they receive. Not only do they want to obtain new skills and benefit from additional training, they expect it too. Work doesn’t just occupy their time and put money in the bank, it is a setting where progression and development are perhaps the most important considerations. On top of this, a whole new level of engagement is required due to this generation’s love of technology and social media. For these reasons, classroom training doesn’t always suffice and an alternative or appendage is required.   Technology We are now living in an increasingly connected digital world where nearly every element of society is completely reliant on technology. Therefore, it is somewhat unbelievable that several types of teaching and training continue to use traditional techniques. Even though they have clearly worked in the past and will probably still be used in years to come, the modern employee fully understands the power and potential technology can afford. From physical devices to virtual databases, technology makes training convenient, constructive and compelling. With progressive training technology, you can help your employees gain new knowledge on the daily commute, on their lunch break or outside of normal working hours, which is actually the preferred learning time for a surprising number of people. How is this possible? Through multi device support for smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. No software needs to be installed either as most of these solutions are hosted in the cloud, which means employees can start learning on their phone, pick it up again on a tablet and finish off on their desktop PC. These virtual environments enable you to update learning content remotely to every single employee as and when you see fit too.   Gamification Getting children excited about subjects like maths isn’t easy, which is why more and more developers are creating learning-based games on smartphones and tablets that are both educational and entertaining. While gamification motivates youngsters to learn and participate more, it can also be an incredibly powerful training tool in the corporate and enterprise world too. Why? Because the majority of modern employees will have experienced and enjoyed all the benefits that gaming provides. This ambitious cohort want to solve problems, achieve goals, compete with others and ultimately receive rewards. Easier said than done in the classroom, but if you add some technology into the equation things become a lot simpler, especially with corporate gamification. Gamification promotes the use of achievements, which concern appropriate business topics, and are there to engage, motivate and encourage. By letting employees know what is required to achieve high-ranking rewards and setting limits on certain awards, your members of staff will become more focused on the end goal and strive to develop appropriate skills. Leader boards and ranking tables might seem superficial or unimportant, but competition through gamification is scientifically proven to enhance engagement and promote greater learning. At the same time, keeping tabs on your employees’ achievements enables you to monitor competency and retention levels too.   Micro Learning and Accelerated Learning Not long ago, The Telegraph published a story that claimed the growth of television, the Internet and mobile phones means we receive five times as much information today as we did in 1986. This profusion of data has probably increased in recent years and in many respects, presents more problems and questions than solutions and answers. How on earth are employees expected to absorb, understand and retain what is being taught to them if an abundance of additional facts and figures are constantly being produced and distributed? This is where accelerated learning and spaced repetition comes in…   Accelerated learning is all about being actively involved with acquiring knowledge and gaining skills. We are talking about creation not consumption, doing not receiving and collaboration not isolation. Not only does it increases an individual’s ability to digest new information, accelerated learning is also more cost-effective and quicker. To make this teaching and learning technique even more successful, algorithms such as spaced repetition, which capitalises on the fact that the brain easily remembers new things if they are spaced out over a long period of time, can be used to great effect. So how can you engage the millennial generation more productively than classroom training? By identifying with the society we live in today and appealing to their wants, needs and expectations. Accelerated learning enhances knowledge acquisition, gamification increases engagement while technology makes training for millennials available at anytime, anywhere. Share this post with your own audience

What is a sure fire way to improve your sales performance? Reduce the price? Include an incentive to sweeten the deal? Encourage staff to up-sell? Set up a rewards program? Give away free products? All of these tactics and techniques will probably work, but they might not guarantee prolonged success. For that to happen, you need to focus on one thing and one thing only - the customer. Without a regular stream of dependable and loyal customers, chances are your business will fail. Therefore, they must be cared for, given attention and held in high esteem. But above all else, they needed to be treated with respect and not regarded as another sales figure. But what is the best way to improve relationships with the customer? It’s quite simple really - by listening to what they have to say.   Customers have a problem; you’re there to solve it More often than not, a customer will approach your business because they have some kind of problem or question that requires a solution or answer. If this is the case, then there is no real need for you to do or say much at all, as half the battle has been won already. Let the customer speak and give them time to explain the issues they are experiencing. There is a good chance you understand exactly what they’re going through and know implicitly that you possess the skills or expertise to help out, but let us not get ahead of ourselves here. This is not the time or place to begin any pre-rehearsed sales pitch. Every customer is different and your response can’t be the same to every potential purchaser or patron that walks through the door. Pay close attention to each individual dilemma and be attentive to what every customer is asking of you. This way, you can provide the best product or service possible. Along with increasing your chances of securing a sale, there is the distinct possibility that repeat business will come to fruition too. When all’s said and done, acquiring new customers costs far more than retain existing ones, so it really is in your best interests to treat every potential sale like it could be your last.   How to solve problems As mentioned previously, no two customers are the same, so the solution you provide will always be different. However, your approach towards problem solving doesn’t have to change. A systematic approach enables you to put every query in context while not jumping to conclusions. Here’s how to go about it: Identify - After the customer has explained their concerns, ask more questions and really get to the heart of the issue. It is imperative that you start solving the right problem and not one the customer doesn’t believe is a big deal. Analyse - Come up with a list of questions that will give you the best chance of delivering the right product or service. At the same time, they also need to satisfy the customer’s wants and needs too. What causes the problem? When does it occur? Why does it occur? How long has it been happening? Specify - When you’ve comprehensively analysed the problem, think about specifying the most appropriate way to solve the problem. This might involve developing some sort of criteria that both you and the customer agree on. It may even be beneficial to research and find some independent standards or benchmarks to work from. Choice - Propose or put forward some additional solutions and don’t be afraid to suggest multiple ways in which you could help out. List the advantages and disadvantages of each and think about whether your proposed solution would lead to certain benefits or drawbacks. Decide - Once all of these steps have been taken, you should be in a strong position to pick one optimal solution. Develop a plan of action and be sure that you can deliver your promises. Prepare for every eventuality as to not let your customer down and strive to provide a superior product or service to industry competitors. This orderly and organised process should also help you save time and money in the future. By the same token, a logical approach to problem solving should achieve better results too, which in turn will increase your reputation and value. The customer is bound to appreciate the effort you’ve gone too and will no doubt become a loyal regular.   The changing face of sales Technology has now been integrated into every aspect of our daily lives and sales are no different. In fact by 2020, 80 per cent of business-to-business transactions will be automated. According to Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and CEO of Selling Power, this means that sales jobs will tumble from 15.5 million to just four or five million in the coming years. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean staff are no longer needed in this line of work. Due to the rise of technology, more and more personnel are required in sales support roles. And while young reps don’t necessarily posses the traditional people skills required to make sales, they have grown up with technology and understand this world completely. Thankfully, there is a way to train and educate a generation that aren’t used to face-to-face communication as much as interacting with others on smartphones and tablets.   Wranx takes advantage of mobile technology by making targeting training available on the go via smartphones and tablets. Therefore, sales staff can learn about the importance of things like people skills and problem solving at a time that is convenient for them. Even if an individual starts their learning on one device, they can pick it up and finish on another. Changes or alterations can be made remotely, which allows you to alter your employees’ learning without having to call them into the office. And because our solution is hosted in the cloud, there is no need to download specific software either. Therefore if you want to increase sales through the aforementioned methods, Wranx is here to help. Image By: Tim Pierce - CC BY 2.0 Share this post with your own audience

Let’s be honest for a minute. If you let your staff know they’ve got a corporate sales training course coming up, chances are they won’t be overly excited about it. Even though further coaching and tuition is an important part of personal and career development, it isn’t always greeted with delight or glee. On top of that, there are no fixed guarantees that your sales staff will retain and be able to apply every piece of information they’ve been told. Even with the best will in the world, the variety of techniques used to teach sales isn’t overly effective or fruitful. Therefore, a great of money is potentially wasted on training programmes that aren’t benefitting employees or the company. For these reasons, a different approach, such as spaced repetition, will feel like a breathe of fresh air. With this learning technique, engagement and retention levels increase significantly. Along with proving to be a wise investment by the company, sales staff will enjoy and appreciate training a lot more too.   The problem with current corporate sales training Most of the time, corporate sales training is one-off event which takes place within the space of a day. On some occasions, it might even last a weekend. But there are several downsides to stuffing as much teaching as possible in a short period of time, even if feels like the most cost-effective way of going about training. Employees will get bored and restless easily, meaning their attention levels drop. By not listening to what is being said, only a fraction of the training will be learnt and retained. Even though these are the members of staff that want to succeed and earn more money, they have to be proactive and incentivised, not only on the sales floor but in the classroom as well. Common and constructive techniques such as interactive tuition, role-playing and case studies might teach sales staff a few nuggets of information, but concentrated training sessions do not lead to permanent behaviour changes. After all, this is what you want to achieve when you send employees off to training.   Spaced repetition - The alternative to traditional training One of the most fruitful and worthwhile alternatives to current corporate sales training techniques uses scientifically proven methodology to ensure staff actually benefit from teaching and tuition in the long-term. What’s more, spaced repetition is not a particularly new, complex or revolutionary approach. In fact, the majority of us have come into contact with this method of working several times before. As a child at school, you were taught to read, write and count through spaced repetition. At first you’d learn the alphabet, recite the letters and then write them down. After that, it was time to put together small words, then sentences and whole stories. This technique of practice and repetition spaced out over time provided you with the ability to read and write, which has never gone away. There is no reason why this teaching method cannot be replicated in the training classroom, as it has worked in the past and is now how our brains are programmed to learn new information. Deliver a piece of corporate sales training and then follow it up. Revisit it again later with more training and follow up once more. While this might not be the most immediate way to teach employees, a gradual process of tuition is far more advantageous over time.   Implementing spaced repetition As opposed to traditional training, implementing spaced repetition might seem lengthy or expensive. Therefore, business leaders are sometimes apprehensive or reluctant to introduce it. However, the age-old phrase ‘speculate to accumulate’ could not be more appropriate here. Any spaced repetition investment will undoubtedly be worth it, as both employee and business performance are sure to increase. Keeping a close eye on budgets and profit margins is understandable in today’s competitive and changeable corporate world, but you’ll have greater chance of achieving success with a more knowledgeable and competent workforce. What’s more, spaced repetition can also work alongside existing training courses or programmes, which are already set-up or underway. After an employee undergoes some teaching, they can take 10 minutes or so a day to go over these subjects again, remember what was taught and eventually change their workplace behaviour.   Spaced repetition with Wranx Here at Wranx, we believe accelerated learning is possible through spaced repetition techniques. With our training solution that intelligently adjusts the length of time between questions, knowledge gradually moves from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. Essentially, Wranx Drills consist of short, sharp quizzes of 10 questions a day. But rather than asking the individual to pluck a response out of thin air, we present both the question and answer. This is because spaced repetition works more effectively by rating how well you know an answer. If you’re confident in your response, Wranx will schedule that question again further down the line. However, if your knowledge of another subject isn’t particularly strong, we will ask the question and show the answer once more the following day. Prioritising weaker topics and disregarding subjects you strongly comprehend is a fundamental aspect of space repetition. While the schedule of traditional training might go over issues you already understand, Wranx Drills is totally flexible and provides a superior learning experience.   Spaced repetition summary While corporate sales training is carried out to improve employee knowledge and enhance daily operations, it can sometimes have the reverse affect. Members of staff may become disillusioned or uninterested in the teaching they are presented with, while businesses might suffer from a lack of progress. As a result, a more appropriate and effective alternative is required. Spaced repetition is nothing new, but it can have overwhelming benefits when applied to corporate sales training. One of the reasons why it hasn’t been widely adopted so far is that managers and leaders are unwilling to wait for the results. But with better technology and ever-changing attitudes, solutions like Wranx Drills have a place in every working environment, especially the corporate sales department. 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Irrespective of the customer’s circumstances or buying environment, purchase decisions and the sales process can be a long drawn out affair. Before a customer even thinks about parting with their hard earned cash, they’ll need certain assurances about the product, brand or even the salesperson. In addition to price and quality, other factors like warranty information, financing, availability and shipping will also come into play. However, several purchases hinge on factors such as familiarity, confidence and trust, which often boils down to how competent and knowledgeable sales staff are. From impulse buys to major purchases, passing on some product knowledge to the customer can potentially make or break a sale. If employees do not know about the boons and benefits of particular goods or services, chances are the consumer won’t convert. Therefore, some training or tuition is usually required. If the employee has an interest in the industry or product, this becomes a lot easier. Their engagement levels and willingness to learn are bound to be high while previous knowledge could also be beneficial. But if staff have no skills or expertise about your business’ portfolio, things are much trickier. Even so, teaching existing or new employees is imperative in most retail settings, as it has been proven that people buy from people with great product knowledge.   Knowledgeable staff make more sales Take a guess at how many more sales an employee with product knowledge makes compared to a member of staff with little to no expertise? 10 per cent? 25 per cent? Perhaps even 50 per cent? With an abundance of product and brand information online, it isn’t difficult for consumers to go on the Internet and do some research. They’ll probably find what they’re looking for in no time and continue with the purchase even if employee knowledge is lacking right? Wrong! According to research, retail sales associates with strong brand expertise sell 87 per cent more than peers without out. That’s on the brink of twice as many sales. Imagine how much more successful your business would be if staff were able to sell double the number of products in a day. However, even if a consumer decides to conduct some prior research, it is important to remember not everybody has instant and immediate access to product information. Despite the rise online shopping, numerous individuals prefer to visit physical stores and speak to another human being face-to-face. They will be putting complete faith in what the salesperson says and if the product doesn’t live up to expectations, you could be dealing with a backlash or several complains. Research also indicates that when entering a store, 50 per cent of customers are looking for expert advice on what to buy while a further 73 per cent say product knowledge is what they need most from a sales associate. This level of expectation means that retail or sales staff simply cannot shy away or improvise with what they’re telling the customer. As a result, comprehensive training or teaching is needed.   Potential issues with sales and retail training Taking these statistics into consideration, it seems like a foolproof idea to train up staff with as much brand and product information as possible. Regardless of the level of investment required, tuition and teaching is sure to be worth it in the long run. However, this is easier said than done. In spite of the fact that retail employs roughly 14.4 million people in the US alone, it also has the highest rate of staff turnover. Numerous individuals that enter this line of work consider it to be a stopgap or stepping-stone to something better and are therefore unconcerned or indifferent to acquiring new knowledge and expertise. Likewise, one in five sales staff leave their jobs each year, with the cost of filling these vacancies costing tens of thousands of pounds. Then there is the issue of training itself. Traditionally, this takes place in a backroom or office over the course of a day. If lots of teaching is required, then it might be more beneficial to send staff on a weekend course. But constantly being bombarded by masses of information in such a short space of time does not help employees learn. If anything, it will cause more harm than good. They could easily become bored or disillusioned, focus their attention elsewhere, forget everything they were taught and not improve sales in the slightest. Add into the bargain the time they were away from the sales floor and this type of training becomes an incredibly expensive and pointless exercise.   Teaching product knowledge the right way In the past, Wranx has worked with numerous companies that need to teach staff in-depth details about products and services. But rather than approaching this in the traditional sense, we believe that advanced learning through speed retention is the most effective way of teaching people new skills and expertise. Essentially, we provide an employee with short quizzes about certain subjects or topics, in this case product information. By giving each member of staff a series of 10 questions each day, they gradually build up their knowledge base and become better sales people. And rather than plucking responses out of the air, we give employees the correct answer too. This is because speed retention works best when an individual tells us how well they know an answer. We can then schedule easier or more difficult questions accordingly to make sure all bases are covered. Another part of our training solution is that employees can learn whenever and wherever they want. It is available on a range of devices including smartphones and tablets, enabling staff members to pick up and put down their tuition at a time and place that suits them. In theory, they never need to leave the sales floor.   It is in every business’ best interests to provide employees with as much product knowledge as possible. Even if differing attitudes and techniques towards learning exist, there are certain solutions that guarantee positive results can be achieved for each and every salesperson or retail associate Share this post with your own audience

In order for any business to strive or even survive, a profit needs to be achieved. Therefore, numerous entrepreneurs and enterprises make this their number one priority. From cutting down overheads to rapid expansion, there are various techniques and tactics that can help improve the bottom line. However, turnover is still completely dependent on just one thing - the customer. Without a steady stream of purchasers and patrons, your business will ultimately fail. You can streamline and improve internal operations all you want, but disregarding or ignoring the importance of the customer could prove to be fatal. Consequently, more and more businesses are starting to give consumers or clients their undivided attention. One of the best ways to do this is to make customers a fundamental part of your company culture. After all, there are several immeasurable benefits to prioritising the wants and needs of your clientele, especially when you take into account the following statistics: It takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for one negative experience 70 per cent of buying experiences are based on how the customers feels they are being treated 55 per cent of consumers would pay more for a better customer experience A 10 per cent increase in customer retention levels result in a 30 per cent increase in the value of the company It is 6-7 times more costly to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer So if you’re interested in developing a customer-centric culture for your business, consider implementing these five tips and tricks.   Start with the customer experience First and foremost, think about the experience customers go through when searching, browsing and buying your products. Think carefully about their possible feelings and emotions, as these will have a dramatic impact on whether they decide to convert. Frustration and annoyance over your sub-standard website or incompetent staff probably won’t lead to a sale. Conversely, joy and relief can be achieved if your product comes with dedicated after-sales support or some sort of money-back guarantee. If you empathise with your patrons and see where they’re coming from, you’ll be able to develop and implement a forward thinking customer-centric company culture.   Prioritise long-term success When you start introducing more customer-focused policies, it might feel like you’re sacrificing profit for the sake of satisfying a small amount of people. What’s more, you probably won’t see a big difference in sales straight away, which could cause fear and anxiety that this isn’t the right approach for your business. However, instilling a new culture does not happen overnight. It is bound to take a bit of time, as staff members have to get to grips with different outlooks and procedures. And it is vital to remember that any drop in short-term profit will inevitably lead to prolonged success. As mentioned previously, every business needs to make a profit to stay afloat, but money shouldn’t be how a customer-centric company’s success is measured. Instead, your goal should be to deliver unique and unmatched experiences that customers are so satisfied with, they’ll recommended their friends and family at the drop of a hat.   Make it part of your employee’s teaching There is no point in simply telling your workforce that more time and attention needs to be spent on the customer; it has to be an intrinsic part of their thinking and ideology. Every single encounter, interaction and confrontation has to put the customer first, which can be fairly difficult for people who haven’t experienced this kind of company culture in the past. Therefore, some sort of training is required. This teaching and tuition should encourage staff to deliver extraordinary customer service at every opportunity without giving it a second thought. Unfortunately, traditional training techniques are far from perfect in coaching customer-centric ideas and concepts. Employees won’t exactly benefit from learning what to do on the sales floor when they’re stuck in a classroom. But our unique training solution here at Wranx is a bit different. Available on a wide range of devices, employees can learn about customer service principles and philosophies in the workplace. After learning about what is required, they can put theory into practice straight away.   Get creative Even though the world’s major economies have now recovered from the global downturn, market conditions are still precarious. With competition between companies more fierce than ever before, the need to be different is crucial. But if you get creative with customer-centric policies and develop a culture like no other company, you’ll have a unique selling point that sets your business apart from the rest. Think of ways you can surprise your customers and provide them with the unexpected. By giving patrons and purchasers something to remember, it will get them talking about your business. In turn, they’re more likely to return or speak highly of their experience to others. It doesn’t have to be a major new policy or proposal either, as sometimes the small things are what resonate with consumers the most. This is where social media comes into play, as a reply or response on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn could get picked up by thousands of people.   Never lose track of your objectives If you truly want to develop a customer-centric culture, your business has to be completely committed. This means not losing sight of why you are trying to change in the first place - providing customers with the best experience possible. By taking a walk in your customer’s shoes, you’ll be able to define some key goals and objectives based on what you’re doing right and wrong. Some of these may comes as a shock, but being honest and humble will give you the best chance of achieving your primary objective.   The road to implementing a customer-centric culture can be tough and is bound to take some time. But if you teach your employees in the right way and set apart the business from industry rivals, there is no reason why you can’t succeed. Share this post with your own audience

Even though every business tries to teach employees to the best of its abilities, a fair amount of knowledge will be lost over time. From teaching techniques and individual ability to methods of testing and evaluation criteria, there are various reasons why ‘skill fade’ happens. However, the majority of these causes can be rectified with the right approach.   Defining skill fade There have been various studies and lots of research into the subject of skill fade, however it can be defined as the decay of ability or adeptness over a period of non-use. However, a lot will depend on the type and nature of the individual’s expertise or competence. For example, if you haven’t ridden a bike for a number of years, you’ll still be able to get on and not fall off with relative ease. This kind of skill is like an automatic or natural tendency that is hard to forget and lose. Conversely, it is much easier to forget how to complete tasks or activities that are more complicated and less predictable. At school, you might have been able to explain Pythagoras’ theorem in great detail. But seeing as you haven’t needed to recite this piece of information for quite a while, that knowledge could easily be lost. In the world of work, there could be certain skills or pieces of information you taught employees early on in their careers. But if you were to ask them to perform or regurgitate what was taught, there is every chance they won’t be able to. Therefore, it is necessary to look at how and why skill fade happens.   Factors affecting skill fade Retention interval - The biggest and most widely accepted reason for failing to remember certain information is the interval between retention. Essentially, the longer the period of non-use, the greater the probability of decay. Overlearning - Often said to be the single most important factor in knowledge retention, overlearning refers to the amount of extra training beyond the point needed to reach competency. The reason why this is a potential problem is because overlearning can induce complacency and increase the association between stimulus and response. On top of that, by identifying the perfect way to perform a task or duty through too much training, employees can get stressed or anxious that only the very best will suffice. Task type - Whether it is physical, cognitive, open-loop, closed-loop, natural or artificial, the type of task also makes a big difference. Some people are more capable of performing duties that require physical strength or an exertion of forces, while others excel at problem solving and decision-making. In terms of skill fade, cognitive tasks can be rehearsed easier than physical ones. Duties that have no beginning or end and a specific context are better retained than those with no conclusion or frame of reference. Conditions of retrieval - Retention is also dependent on the conditions and environment of training. If this is vastly different to the real-life scenario, skill retention will suffer. However, if the test and learning setting is similar to the workplace and the employee has cues to draw upon, they will perform a lot stronger. Methods for training, testing and evaluation - The type of training and testing methods used also affects knowledge retention. Practical tuition or on-the-job training might lead to better retention in some job roles compared to lectures and classroom teaching for others. Furthermore, the majority of retention tests take place after teaching has taken place at a later date. By this time, retention interval becomes an issue again. While evaluation criteria such as reactions, learning, behaviour and results do not affect skill fade, it is an important consideration as this is how knowledge retention is measured. Individual ability - It is no real surprise that individuals with higher abilities show less skill fade than their less able peers. This is usually because lower ability learners forget larger chunks of abstract and theoretical material easier than others.   How to combat skill fade Having looked at all the aspects of skill fade, there are various steps a business can take to ensure their employees retain and recite valuable information. A lot will come down to the recruitment process, but the overriding issue with skill fade is training. Therefore, a balanced and systematic approach to teaching or tuition is required. To deal with the biggest issue of retention interval, it is clear that employees need to be continually asked about subjects or topics they’ve previously learnt about. However, a training program based on advanced learning and speed retention can also address methods for training, testing and evaluation too. Here at Wranx, we aim to fight and irradiate skill fade by exploiting the psychological spacing effect, which refers to the way we easily remember or learn items when they are studied a few times over a long period of time. Our Wranx Drills ask employees a series of 10 questions per day about certain topics or themes. After the respondent rates how well they knew an answer, we schedule and prioritise questions based on ability. Unfamiliar topics are given precedent but once these are gradually understood over time, they will become imbedded into the individual’s long-term memory. As for the issue of overlearning, subjects or questions that are comprehensively understood won’t be asked again until an appropriate time arises. When it comes to conditions of retrieval, our multi-device solution enables any business to implement training wherever and whenever they want. Available on smartphone, tablet and desktop, Wranx’s training solution enables employees to learn new skills in the same environment where they’ll be applied. And to ensure skill fade isn’t becoming an issue, our deep dive reporting provides in-depth statistics and analysis into each employee’s progress. Even though skill fade might be a frustrating and annoying thing to deal with, there are a few straightforward and simple things you can do to ensure it does not become an issue for your workforce or business. Share this post with your own audience

Even if you’ve got the highest quality product around, which is available to buy at an affordable price, there are certain consumers that won’t part with their money unless they’ve been treated the right way. These days, consumers require a great deal of attention, consideration and respect, as precarious market conditions and increased competition mean that losing out on just one sale could have dramatic consequences. Therefore, several businesses are prioritising customer service, as this can make all the difference. After all, 89 per cent of consumers have stopped doing business with a company after experiencing poor customer service. What’s more, consumers are two times more likely to share their bad customer service experiences than they are to talk about positive ones. Reel off these facts and figures to your staff each day and they might make more of an effort in the short-term. However, the only way to instil a permanent behavioural change, which will have your employees prioritising the wants and needs of every customer that walks in the door, is through training. However, this is sometimes easier said than done…   The wrong way to train your customer service team Traditional and existing training methods are from ideal when it comes to teaching customer service theories and principles for several reasons. First and foremost, it often takes place in an arena or environment far away from the workplace. This makes it difficult for employees to relate to the concepts and coaching they are being taught. As for retaining and reciting this information, staff members often struggle to transfer classroom teaching to real-life scenarios. And all of this doesn’t take into account the rather boring and tedious nature of listening to a teacher, writing down notes and taking an exam when the course has finished. Then there is the issue of bombarding employees with a vast amount of information in a very short period of time. A lot of training only lasts a day or so, but in this time members of staff are expected to learn, understand and remember a great deal. But it has been proven that people do not benefit from this kind of teaching in the long-term. Instead, it is far more beneficial to educate and coach in short sharp doses over a period of time. In other words, continual training is the key to a great customer service team.   The right way to train your customer service team Rather than subjecting your workforce to condensed, monotonous and uninspiring one-off training sessions, think about introducing continual teaching and tuition. Along with being far more enjoyable for employees, they are also much better at teaching your team how to deliver great customer service. Furthermore, it doesn’t have to be a formal program or course that members of staff need to leave work for… Take the famous ‘daily line-up’ approach used by the Ritz-Carlton. Once a day for a couple of minutes, the workforce gathers to discuss and review one of the company’s key customer service principles. While this might work wonders with hospitality organisations, it can also be incredibly successful and fruitful for several other businesses, regardless of their size or sector.   Implementing daily training Explore the idea of holding daily meetings with every department at the same time. Use these valuable few minutes to discuss one aspect of customer service that you want to focus on or prioritise and see what employees have to say. They may have encountered problems recently and need help to overcome the situation in the future or received praise from a consumer for something they said and did. Try and host this meeting in an environment or setting where staff feel comfortable and aren’t afraid to speak out. However, if you want to create the best consumer experience possible, it is vitally important to concentrate on customer service issues at these daily sessions and not functional problems. There is a good chance that technical aspects of the job will frustrate and fluster employees, which could eventually take precedence over customer service. But remember that these situations or snags can usually be fixed fairly easily, whereas convincing a consumer to come back after having a bad experience is a lot more difficult. So focus on your primary objective of delivering superior customer service and be sure that employees have the same mind-set too.   Continual training with Wranx Even though these informal meetings are a great way of keeping tabs on employee performance and customer service principles, there is another non-invasive method for introducing and integrating continual consumer-focused training. Wranx’s multi-device solution enables members of staff to learn about customer-service principles without having to leave their place of work. Available on smartphone, tablets and desktop, employees can start their learning on one device and complete it on another. Even so, this isn’t a one-off training program, as Wranx Drills will deliver short sharp quizzes of 10 questions each day. Therefore, your workforce won’t be overwhelmed by a great deal of information all at once and can gradually learn new skills or expertise over time. This type of advanced learning, called spaced repetition, has been scientifically proven to move items from our short-term memory to our long-term memory in an incredibly effective way.   Essentially, we show your staff members the question and answer at the same time. By telling us how well they know a subject, we can schedule future questions accordingly. Topics that are easily understood won’t appear again for some time, but themes that require more work will come up the following day. As for you the employer, comprehensive facts and figures can be found using our deep-dive reporting. From enrolment metrics and retention rates to employee progress and predicted course completion dates, every piece of data you could possibly need is easily available. Therefore, there is no reason why continual training cannot be adopted by your business, as it is far more effective at achieving exemplary customer service standards. Share this post with your own audience

Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? Are you currently pursuing that career or doing something completely different? It is fairly normal for today’s generation to change what they want to do in life, but this is a trend that is becoming increasingly apparent for all ages across the job spectrum. According to research, half of hourly workers leave their jobs within the first 120 days of employment. On top of that, managers begin new jobs every two to four years on average. And as a whole, 25 per cent of the working population undergoes a career transition each year. As a result, it is fair to say to say there is no such thing as a ‘job for life’ anymore. But why are so many people deciding to leave their posts so hastily? Certain employment is seen as mere experience or a stepping-stone to something better. Some people get bored with their chosen profession and feel like a career change or new challenge. However, a lot of the time it is because staff are not prepared enough or equipped with the right skills to enjoy and carry out their job effectively. Therefore, employers need to do more to ensure new members of the workforce don’t leave before they got going. While some may look to implement a more rigorous and thorough recruitment process, another option is onboarding.   What is onboarding? Onboarding refers to the process of helping new employees get up to speed with the social, cultural and performance aspects of their job and the company. This orientation will teach new hires about attitude and behaviour along with the skills and expertise required to succeed. If members of staff feel welcome, confident and as comfortable as possible early on, then they have a better chance of hitting the ground running. The company’s objectives or mission can be achieved faster and more effectively. It might not sound like an alien concept, as numerous organisations have introduction days or induction training, but it is the comprehensiveness of onboarding that can make all the difference. Certain companies prefer to throw new employees in at the deep end and encourage them to use their own initiative, figure out what is required and learn on the job. Others have formal onboarding programs, which are structured and systematic in their approach to teaching. A lot will depend on the type of company or hierarchy, but disregarding the significance of onboarding could dramatically increase employee turnover.   Implementing onboarding Regardless of your organisation’s size, shape or sector, there are several best practices for onboarding that everyone can adopt. Therefore, think about introducing some of the following when a new member of staff joins the business. Introduce onboarding before employment commences - This may sound a little radical, but it is something we have seen several times here at Wranx. Various clients like to give new hires access to Wranx before their first day to get them up to speed with a few things. Seeing as our solution is available on a number of devices such as smartphones and tablets, employees can learn in their own time while the employer assesses their skills before work commences. Our solution is hosted in the cloud too; meaning problems like accessing internal systems are easily overcome. Create an enjoyable and hassle-free first day - Overwhelming an employee on their first day is probably not the best idea. They will be nervous enough without having scores of handbooks and guidelines thrust upon them. So try and make it an agreeable and easy going experience, then gradually introduce more duties, requirements and responsibilities. Have a formal onboarding program - After a laid back introduction to the business and staff, think about carrying out a formal onboarding program. New hires will be familiar with their colleagues and surroundings by now, meaning they can get stuck in to the stuff that matters. Continually perform onboarding - If you present new members of staff with everything they need to know within the first week or even day, there is a good chance you’ll scare them away. What’s more, employees won’t learn or retain information that is given to them all in one go. Instead, consider onboarding a gradual process that should be continually performed over a prolonged period of time. The best way to teach and train newly recruited personnel is through speed retention, a learning technique that Wranx is passionate about. Make onboarding personal - A big part of employment and enjoying your job is down to the people you work with. After all, a happy worker is a productive worker. Therefore, it might be a good idea to introduce a mentorship program as part of onboarding. Rather than learning what to do from a handbook, have an experienced and affable member of staff teach the ropes instead. They’ll also be able to answer questions too and put the new hire at ease. Monitor progress - There is little to no point of onboarding if you don’t know whether employees are actually benefitting from it. Therefore, take some time to monitor your new worker’s progress over time and adjust their training accordingly. However, with our deep-dive reporting, seeing how employees are getting on is easier than ever before. With Wranx Action Report, you can see enrolment and activity metrics, cohort knowledge retention rates and predicted course completion dates.   Onboarding summary Current figures and statistics relating to employee turnover rates can be a little disconcerting for business leaders. With so many new hires leaving their posts within a short period of time, fingers are usually pointed at the recruitment process. However, onboarding is often overlooked, even though it can make a huge difference in keeping employees interested, engaged and focused on their jobs. Thankfully, implementing some sort of casual or formal orientation doesn’t have to be a difficult or troublesome process. From giving new hires access to teaching material before their first day to introducing speed retention over time, Wranx possesses the tools to assist any onboarding program. Share this post with your own audience

According to a report carried out by Oxford Economics, replacing members of staff costs £30,614 on average per employee. This is due to the cost of lost output while a replacement gets up to speed and the expenses involved with recruiting and assimilating a new worker. The research goes on to add that it takes around 28 weeks for a new hire to reach their optimum productivity level and outgoings for advertising costs, agency fees together with invested time during the interview process contributes to the price of recruiting replacement staff. Therefore, it is in a business’ best interests to find ways to improve employee retention. Increasing salaries and benefits, introducing flexible working schedules or providing plenty of praise are fairly effective tactics, but even these can have a detrimental impact on employee motivation, daily operations and most importantly, profit margins. As a result, more and more organisations are prioritising training, as it has a wealth of far-reaching benefits, which include boosting employee retention rates. After all, the famous US motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said: "The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them." Misconceptions about investing in training Despite the numerous advantages that training can provide, some businesses feel it is an unnecessary exercise and does not make a difference when it comes to employee retention. Common misconceptions include: Once employees are trained, they will look for a different job or better opportunities elsewhere. Rather than investing time and money in training for existing members of staff, it is cheaper to hire new employees with the necessary skills. Employees do not like or often resist training, as it can be viewed as micro-management. However, these statements could not be further from the truth, as we will now explore and prove. Employee attrition The view that a member of staff will leave your organisation as soon as they have acquired new and valuable skills, which can then be utilised elsewhere, is a fairly pessimistic one. It is an understandable point of view, but if you approach training in the right way while recognising and respecting your employees at the same time, they’ll have little to no reason to leave. "Training is a key retention tool," says Nick Russell, associate director, consultancy, at The Work Foundation. "It is part of the employee’s psychological contract of employment - ensuring that they get the opportunity to develop and improve their skills." Thus, if you provide the right training for your workforce, they will appreciate the lengths their employer is going to. Training has also been proven to increase job satisfaction and motivation for work. In fact, happiness makes people around 12 per cent more productive according to a study by the University of Warwick. Cost of hiring new employees As previously mentioned, it can cost an extraordinary amount of money to hire new employees. And even if businesses do decide to take this route instead of training existing workers, who’s to say that new hires won’t end up leaving in the near future anyway. Consequently, training is considered to be the more viable option by numerous organisations. A survey on training and development by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that 95 per cent of employers believe training can not only improve retention, but also avoid hefty recruitment costs and reduce sickness absence. The most important message to take away from this particular misconception is that businesses need to speculate to accumulate when it comes to training. Investing in further teaching and tuition might seem expensive at the time, but in the long run it will prove to worthwhile, especially when the cost of recruitment and absence is taken into account. Employee resistance to training The final misbelief or fallacy associated with training and employee retention is also the most complex. Several businesses may feel or have previously found that employees don’t like training, resist certain teaching methods and view it as micro-management. Unfortunately, in some cases, this is true. However, traditional methods of teaching and tuition such as classroom-based courses or one-on-one office tutorials aren’t exactly relevant, appropriate or effective anymore. Studies into how we acquire and retain information have found that our brains do not react well to this passive style of training. Inevitably, employees will become bored, disillusioned and frustrated with antiquated education methods that they experienced in school. But if you introduce training that is linked to your employees’ professional objectives and personal development, they will feel empowered to work harder and stay with the company. In many respects, it is actually more harmful to have no training programmes whatsoever, as members of staff will look elsewhere to sharpen their skills or acquire new knowledge. Implementing the right training In order to entertain and engage employees, training needs to address a few pivotal issues. It must cover relevant critical skills, involve up-to-date learning technologies and techniques, be flexible enough to revolve around current operations, and contribute to the employees’ personal development. This is where Wranx’s training solution really comes into its own. We have developed a platform that deals with the aforementioned issues in an efficient and effective way thanks to accelerated learning, gamification, and multi-device accessibility. Accelerated learning is possible thanks to a technique known as spaced retention. Essentially, we will ask your employees 10 questions a day about skills or topics that are important to you. After ranking how well the worker knew a particular answer, we can schedule future learning accordingly. Rather than overwhelming members of staff with information, we take things slower, as this is a much more effective learning technique. Spaced retention is coupled with gamification, which injects a bit of fun into training. By applying game design thinking to real-world training scenarios, we are able to engage employees in learning and development, which in turn improves acquisition and retention. What’s more, all of this is available on desktop and mobile, meaning employees can take part in training without having to leave the workplace. Share this post with your own audience

Despite the changing economic environment in recent years, it seems like a great deal of businesses remain committed to learning and development. According to ASTD, the Association for Talent Development, US organisations spend a total of $164.2 billion on training per year. The State of the Industry report also revealed: Businesses spend on average $1,195 per employee. Employees average 30.3 hours of training annually, while members of staff in BEST organisations average 57.7 hours. 61 per cent of training expenditure was internal ($100.2 billion). 11 per cent of training expenditure went to tuition reimbursement ($18 billion). Technology-based delivery of instruction made up 39 per cent of formal hours. This survey of 475 organisations found that senior managers know how important a highly skilled workforce is, as it can be a strategic differentiator. In order to deliver learning, businesses are using both technology and instructor-led training as well as blended solutions to meet the modern-day challenges of teaching employees. But while high levels of expenditure and ever-changing teaching methods prove that several organisations hold training in high regard, arguably the most pivotal question to ask is: In the end, is it all worth it? The importance of measuring the effectiveness of training Without measuring the effectiveness of training, you’ll never know whether your employees actually learn anything. Regardless of the money you invested or time it took to train members of staff, simply assuming that your workforce is now more competent and capable is quite foolish and can be incredibly harmful to the business. However, the ways in which an employee can be assessed or evaluated are varied. Traditionally, measurement was based on multiple-choice questions or an exam at the end of training. But this only focused on short-term retention of knowledge, so there was no real way of knowing whether an employee could effectively apply recently acquired skills and expertise in a working environment. Instead, measurement should be focused around the individual’s capacity to carry out a particular task or duty and not whether they can pass a test. If businesses know that members of staff are comfortable and confident in their roles, then the investment of time, energy and resources on training will all be worth it. By their own admission, learning and development professionals have often struggled to find effective measurement methods, but it is still possible…. Visual confirmation and implementing technology Measuring training effectiveness has to move with the times, which means greater integration of technology. Even so, this doesn’t mean to say traditional demonstration techniques become less useful or effective. Let’s take role-playing for example. Traditionally, this would show whether an employee could carry out a certain duty in a made-up scenario. But now members of staff can actually carry out the task in real-life and provide visual confirmation that it can be completed. Due to the rise of smartphones and tablets, an employee can take pictures or even stream video of them in their role. With access to this content, a training manager will know for sure that the teaching and tuition has worked. Greater adoption of technology is something we promote here at Wranx. Our training solution is available on both desktop and mobile, enabling employees to learn at home or in the workplace with minimal intrusion. What’s more, learning content is hosted in the cloud, so it can be accessed conveniently from anywhere. Social ownership and ranking employees If training was successful, then employees should technically be experts of the subject in question. But by asking your workforce to take social ownership and teach others, their true level of mastery will become apparent. For an employee to teach others about a particular topic or theme, they will need to clearly show how training concepts can be applied to their role in the real world. From this, training managers can decide how well their teaching is being applied within the business. Workers that teach each other will be forced to engage with the job in hand, collaborate to find solutions to problems but most importantly, call upon their previous training. Wranx also believes in bringing employees together, as cooperation and competition can have immeasurable training benefits. With gamification, we give trainees the opportunity to earn over 300 different achievements and encourage employees to battle with their peers. Rankings and leader boards push individuals to improve while measuring training effectiveness at the same time. Skill assessments and analytical investigation Visual confirmations can also be used to assess an employee’s skill set before and after training has been carried out. By identifying the specific areas in which you want to train members of staff, it is easier to gain an overall idea of learning success. For example, you could see how skilful an employee is at selling prior to training. Once weaknesses have been identified, appropriate tuition can take place and after this has been carried out, the same test should be applied. With greater data analytics now available for any organisation, in-depth details about the effectiveness of teaching techniques and knowledge retention can be studied and scrutinised. This is something that has not gone unnoticed by Wranx and our deep-dive reporting facility enables you to discover real world actionable metrics. Information about enrolment and activity, timing and durations, cohort knowledge retention rates, predicted course completion dates, cost and time saved as well as employee rankings is readily available. Therefore, you’ll gain a thoroughly comprehensive picture of whether training was effective or not. Measuring the effectiveness of training conclusion With so much time, effort and money being put into training by numerous organisations, there needs to be an effective way of knowing whether it was all worth it. Unfortunately, several businesses seem to be more concerned with the actual teaching rather than discovering whether employees learnt anything. But by adopting modern techniques and utilising the latest technology, any entrepreneur or enterprise can determine the successfulness of training. Although seeing a return on investment is important, knowing that employees have progressed and developed should be the overriding priority. Share this post with your own audience

If a business finds itself struggling, there are numerous steps and measures it can take. From reducing the cost of certain products and providing purchase incentives to prioritising customer services and improving after sales care, these tactics and techniques have been proven to be fairly successful. Unfortunately, these are short-term fixes to long-term problems. An organisation that truly wants to improve bottom line performance must take a long hard look at internal operations, daily procedures and perhaps above all else, the company culture. If every employee is singing from the same hymn sheet, things are bound to improve. Not only will productivity and efficiency increase, workforce motivation and happiness is bound to be high as well. But how can a business implement and maintain such an effective and successful environment? The answer is by introducing a culture of learning.   The relationship between learning and performance At its very basic level, the relationship between learning and performance is quite simple to understand. If a business prioritises the training of employees and believes in teaching them new skills, then members of staff will be a strong position to carry out their job roles and responsibilities in a competent way, thus improving performance. Investigation and studies into the subject performed by research and advisory firm Gartner backs up this statement. It found that in regards to information technology training: It takes untrained employees twice as long to perform a task by themselves through experimentation, compared to receiving tuition. Every hour of training reduces help desk support time by a quarter of an hour. Every hour of training reduces review and fixing errors by one hour. Training increases an employee’s performance by 5.75 hours Therefore, it is clear to see that having some sort of training program or teaching schedule is highly beneficial for employees and company performance. However, simply coaching members of staff in topics and themes relevant to the business is not enough, as performance drivers must be understood, managed, maintained and analysed.   Understanding and managing performance In order to effectively measure performance, certain indicators must be established, which can provide invaluable feedback about daily operations. However, key drivers should also be identified and recognised, as these are the things that deliver results. It is easy to fall into the trap of focusing too much on measurement metrics and ignoring the importance of the drivers that actually bring about performance. The things that can truly improve and enhance performance include business strategy and structure, daily processes, employees, and of course, the company culture.   Implementing a learning culture As research from Gartner has already found, a culture of learning brought about by regular and relevant training can improve performance significantly. However, it can also attract and retain talent, integrate new and effective forms of technology as well as streamline and modernise internal operations. Shifting a business’ way of thinking is not an easy exercise and could be met by resistance from employees, stakeholders and customers. However, more so than ever before, organisations need to be flexible and adaptable given current economies, market conditions and employee attitudes. A culture of learning allows for sudden changes and constant adjustments, which is more difficult to achieve with traditional corporate customs. When is comes to analysing your own company culture to see whether ongoing training and tuition is a possibility, ask the following questions: Do the company’s managers and leaders recognise the benefits a culture of learning can afford? Do they themselves invest in personal development or strive to acquire more knowledge and skills? Do employees have a say in their career development or personal progress? If not, could this become a formal process or regular procedure? Do you reward or acknowledge employees that come up with innovative concepts, valuable feedback, cost-cutting ideas or constructive criticism? Do internal discussions take place after training has taken place to measure its effectiveness or success? While return on investment is important, does the workforce’s development take precedence? Do you give employees the opportunity to apply for higher positions in the company? Are internal job postings encouraged or advised against? Do employees have access to training materials, such as eLearning courses? Can members of staff monitor their own progress and development? Do employees understand why training is taking place? Do they believe the teaching and tuition they receive is beneficial? The aforementioned questions cover some of the fundamental basics of ongoing training and employee empowerment, which must be adhered to if you want to implement a culture of learning.   Establishing a culture of learning with Wranx Recognising the fact that more and more organisations want to introduce and establish a culture of learning, Wranx has established a non-invasive training solution, which works alongside existing tuition but also gives employees access to regular coaching. What’s more, we make this cloud hosted solution available on a range of devices, deliver innovative types of teaching to increase engagement, provide in-depth reporting and intelligence together with dedicated customer support. Wranx has found that several employees prefer to take part in training outside of normal working hours, so we made our training solution available on desktop, smartphones and tablets. There is no need to download client software either, meaning that training content can be updated remotely too. But one feature in particular, which can really help out businesses interested in developing a culture of learning, concerns a scientific brain hack known as spaced repetition. Essentially, this is a form of accelerated learning that moves knowledge from the employee’s short-term memory to their long-term memory in an effective and efficient way. In essence, we ask the individual 10 questions a day, see how well they knew an answer, and schedule future training accordingly. Finally, in order to know whether your culture of learning is effective, deep-dive reporting from Wranx reveals information about activity, retention rates, predicted completion dates, cost savings and employee rankings. So, even if a business wants to introduce more training and better tuition, then a culture of learning must be considered the rule, not an exception.   A version of this article originally appeared on elearningindustry.com . Make sure to check them out, it’s a great resource for L&D professionals ( although it’s so good you probably already known that! ). Share this post with your own audience

At the end of the day, the majority of companies are hugely reliant on sales to achieve success. If you don’t generate sufficient turnover and profit, chances are your organisation will fail or founder. Therefore, it is in an executive or manager’s best interests to find ways of improving sales team performance, particularly in the knowledge-intensive arena of technical sales training. Product knowledge training has long been held as one of the secret weapons of successful sales organisations. From changing the company culture and hiring more talented staff to providing incentives and introducing performance-based bonuses, there are a number of different techniques and tactics to boost bottom-line conversions. However, several of these approaches are short-term fixes and won’t lead to prolonged prosperity. That being the case, a more sustainable and sure-fire strategy is required. This is where the boons and benefits of training become apparent. By teaching your sales teams new skills, expertise and knowledge, they will feel more comfortable at work, be better equipped to carry out their role and inevitably deliver better results. Training can change workforce behaviour, enable personal growth and transform a company’s fortunes, which is beneficial for both individuals and enterprises. However, training presents a few problems too. First and foremost, some managers are reluctant to invest in certain teaching methods, even though the potential advantages are vast. This is because traditional training courses and programmes don’t always motivate or inspire. Employees are often swamped with information on how to be a better salesperson in an environment that isn’t conducive to learning. What’s more, simply telling members of staff what they need to know won’t increase retention rates. Even so, there are a few ways in which you can improve your sales team performance without having to follow or adhere to traditional methods of training.   Mobile sales training Although the individual members of your team will share some of the same qualities and quirks, which is what makes them such great sellers, they are bound to have one particular thing in common. Today, nearly every salesperson owns a smartphone or tablet to communicate with friends or colleagues, access personal or work-related information and help them carry out daily tasks and responsibilities. Therefore, it makes complete sense to make training available on these mobile devices as well. According to research by Towards Maturity, 70 per cent of learning and development staff were either using or planning to introduce mobile learning by 2014. 62 per cent said this was to deliver learning content to support formal learning, 54 said it would help communication and collaboration, while 43 per cent wanted to support the application of learning back at work. Thus, there are numerous opportunities and options available when it comes to introducing mobile sales training. Multi-device and mobile training is a fundamental part of our solution at Wranx. Our case studies have that found many workers prefer to take part in training outside of their normal working hours, such as on the daily commute or while relaxing at home. With this in mind, we made sure that employees can begin their learning experience in the morning on a smartphone, pick it up again on the office PC and then complete the training at home on a tablet. When it comes to sales team training, you have the power to update learning content remotely and introduce new subjects or concepts when you feel it would be appropriate.   Gamification The sales floor can be quite an intense, fast-paced and heated place at the best of times. It is easy for tensions between individuals and the whole team to spiral out of control if sales aren’t captured or closed. However, what if there was a way to provide your employees with a bit of light relief while maintaining the competitive element of sales and introducing new concepts to learn? Well, there is and it’s called gamification. Gamification is the theory of applying game mechanics and techniques to everyday situations. It taps into the wants and needs of a human’s impulses of status and achievement to engage and motivate. Essentially, individuals develop their skills by earning points and badges while playing games and following storylines. It might sound more fun than informative, but gamification takes influence from behavioural science, motivational theory, human psychology and video game design to effectively teach information and change an employee’s way of thinking. Wranx has developed a science driven gamification model that interests, incentivises and engages your employees. With 300 different achievements to win, which can be compared with colleagues, your sales team will retain their competitive instincts while learning about new concepts and topics. We also encourage employees by letting them know what is required to obtain more prestigious awards and rank their performance on a workforce leaderboard.   Measurement One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is assuming that training finishes when the course or programme is complete. By doing this, the only way of knowing whether training or tuition actually worked is to wait until members of staff get back into the working environment and encounter the problems they were taught about. From a sales point of view, you can see whether individuals are generating more money after their learning experience, but this doesn’t provide detailed insights into their newly acquired skill set and knowledge base. For this reason, measurement should also be a pivotal part of your approach towards improving sales team performance. In the past, training was assessed through examinations or appraisals at the end of course. However, employees struggle to remember information in this scenario, which isn’t a fair evaluation of their learning. But there is another way… Wranx has developed a version of accelerated learning known as spaced repetition. We ask employees various questions on a regular basis to find out whether they understand certain concepts or notions. That way, we know for sure whether they can move onto a new topic or need further teaching. On top of that, our deep-dive reporting facility provides insights into cohort knowledge retention rates, progress over time and employee rankings. So, if you’re struggling to improve sales team performance or want to find another way of incentivising and motivating employees, consider implementing mobile training and gamification, but don’t forget about measurement. Share this post with your own audience

In today’s commercial environment, where market conditions are precarious and competition is fierce, there are a number of things that could cause a business to fail. But according to recruitment agency Express Employment Professionals, there are five major problems that are more concerning than others and nearly all of which are to do with employees. These are: Inability to Innovate - 83 per cent of companies cited shortage of talent as their number one pressure. Losing Your Competitive Advantage - Employee disengagement costs businesses $328 billion every year. High Costs of Reckless Hiring - 80 per cent of turnover is a result of mistakes made during the hiring process. Poor Leadership and Communication - Two-thirds of companies are more concerned about retention now than they were before the economic crisis. Regulatory Nightmares (US) - In one year, federal regulations can cost businesses over $1.75 trillion. As a result, more and more businesses are prioritising training in order to increase employee ability, enhance personal development, improve retention rates, and ultimately generate higher revenues. One of the best ways to do this is through Competency-Based Education.   What is Competency-Based Education? Competency-Based Education (CBE) refers to adaptive outcome-based instruction that caters for the changing wants and needs of students and teachers. Employees participating in this type of training are able to progress by achieving objectives and demonstrating mastery of a certain topic or theme. However, it is conducted at the member of staff’s own pace and allows them to demonstrate what they have learnt, as soon as they’ve learnt it. In this respect, CBE is incredibly flexible, because it allows individuals to work quickly or slowly, polish up on existing knowledge or engage with new information. But above all else, CBE measures learning rather than time. Regardless of how long it takes for an individual to grasp a certain subject, as soon as competency is achieved, they can move onto another topic or complete their learning. This has immeasurable benefits from an educational point of view, as students can complete courses or degrees in half the time of traditional teaching techniques. However, it can also be incredibly useful and valuable in the enterprise too, as businesses need their employees to acquire new skills and knowledge in a quick, efficient and effective way.   The principles of Competency-Based Education Progression through mastery - The cornerstone of CBE is that employees can only progress to more advanced work after competency of previous skills and content has been achieved. Empowerment via measurable learning objectives - By providing and setting out the measurable learning objectives of a training course or module, employees take responsibility and ownership of their learning, which increases engagement and motivation. Assessment facilitates a meaningful and positive learning experience - As opposed to traditional types of examination, CBE aligns assessments next to learning objectives. Therefore, employees receive immediate feedback when testing or appraisals take place, which supports and encourages the individual to do better. Immediate and differentiated support - If an employee is struggling with a certain subject or topic, they could quite easily become disengaged or frustrated. But a core principle of CBE is that both teachers and trainees should have access to technology-enabled solutions that feature predictive analytic tools to prevent this from happening. Greater competency emphasises the application of learning - Employees are more likely to apply skills and expertise to new situations through a competency-based approach to training. They will also be more eager to acquire new knowledge and learn life skills.   The benefits of Competency-Based Education A handy infographic produced by Rasmussen College points out some of the advantages that students can benefit from if they take part in CBE. However, these can be applied to a commercial environment too. Quick completion time - 90 per cent of those in Competency-Based programs completed their degree quickly. Therefore, any business putting its employees through training will be pleased to know that this type of tuition doesn’t have to be a prolonged exercise. Avoid repeat learning - 81 per cent of students managed to avoid taking traditional courses that covered topics or themes they already knew about. From an organisation’s perspective, relevancy, efficiency and productivity is improved with CBE. Cost-effective - Eight out of 10 students said they saved money with CBE. Thus, a business doesn’t need to worry about wasting money on traditional training techniques if CBE is the more cost-effective and successful option. Pathway to higher learning - 62 per cent of students went on to complete high-level coursework shortly after taking a CBE course. After completing a training program, there is every chance that employees will want to develop their skills and expertise further too. Over half of these students also said that all of the aforementioned boons and benefits applied to them. For a business, employees could potentially complete a training course quickly and efficiently in an inexpensive way if CBE is introduced.   Wranx relationship with Competency-Based Education The comprehensive training solution we have here at Wranx takes all of the principles and benefits associated with Competency-Based Education and make it available for any business. Rather than giving employees an overwhelming amount of facts and figures in one go, we space out our training over time. This allows members of staff to learn at their own pace while effectively acquiring and retaining new knowledge. Spaced retention, another teaching technique that prioritises unfamiliar topics and limits training to short periods of time each day, is another method Wranx uses to accelerate learning. This also helps employees avoid subjects they already have sufficient comprehension of. Through gamification, we also exploit the human instinct of competition and take advantage of our natural quest for greater knowledge. By applying game design thinking to training scenarios, employees become incentivised and engaged with the topics they are learning about. As a result, development, competency, knowledge acquisition and retention levels increase. While CBE is becoming an increasingly common teaching method in schools, colleges and universities, it also has innumerable benefits for businesses too. Share this post with your own audience

If planned and carried out correctly, corporate training can have incredibly far reaching rewards and merits. From increasing employee adeptness and proficiency to improving bottom line performance and sales, teaching your workforce new skills and changing their behaviour will undoubtedly bring about more success for both individuals and entire enterprises. However, training isn’t always a straightforward exercise and there are several challenges to overcome. Along with establishing a budget, finding time to coach individuals, choosing the right teaching methods and examining a training programme’s success, actually knowing whether employees have learnt and retained valuable information is one of the biggest obstacles a business faces. Unfortunately, several employees find training fairly tedious and uninspiring. Sometimes this will be down to the teaching method itself or the person leading the programme. However, it can also be caused by the subject matter, which could be quite irrelevant or not connected to the individual’s job role. Consequently, workers aren’t prepared to learn new knowledge or skills in the first place, let alone retain and apply this information when back at work. Even if members of staff can demonstrate their learning in the working environment or real-life scenarios, there is always room for improvement. If you’ve invested a significant amount of time, effort and money into training, then you’ll obviously want to achieve the best results possible. For this reason, more and more businesses are exploring ways to increase learner retention rates through eLearning. Thankfully, there are a few common and lesser-known techniques out there that have been proven to increase an individual’s ability to remember crucial information. Therefore, if you’re worried that corporate training isn’t improving your workforce’s performance, the following eLearning tactics should provide some invaluable and useful insights.   Virtual simulations To discover whether employees will be able to remember and apply new skills or knowledge in a realistic situation, it is highly advantageous to develop simulations as part of a corporate eLearning training programme. These virtual environments feature the same characteristics and challenges as the real world while giving individuals the opportunity to develop expertise and demonstrate proficiency. Simulations provide a stress-free environment featuring familiar or unique scenarios for members of staff to make mistakes without criticism and learn from these shortcomings. When employees do provide evidence that they are improving, managers can assess this progress and introduce new situations. For maximum effectiveness, it is recommended that simulations strike a chord of familiarity, as several learners may feel a bit overwhelmed by this advanced form of learning. An exact replica of the workplace isn’t required, but using real names or landmarks can make all the difference. Some sort of support, like a help function, is also advantageous for those unfamiliar with new technology. Learners should be given time to complete the simulation while feedback on their performance helps too. On top of that, employees need to be encouraged to develop and increase their knowledge, as eLearning puts a great deal of emphasis on individual progression. This can be achieved by tapping into the natural human instant of competition. At Wranx, our gamification model pushes employees to learn more by providing the chance to obtain over 300 different achievements. A workforce leaderboard also motivates learners to try and beat their colleagues while acquiring new knowledge.   Theme-based learning Despite the fact that eLearning is an incredibly flexible and effective way of teaching individuals important information, the absence of an instructor can have a few negative implications. Some trainees feel alienated or disjointed during self-paced learning, which calls for a training solution that does not take into account social, educational or professional backgrounds. While this sounds like a difficult challenge, theme-based learning can increase familiarity for all learners while building strong relationships with the teaching and tuition in question. From a corporate training perspective, creating a theme where common ideas and topics work across multiple contexts can markedly improve knowledge retention. What’s more, individuals who aren’t overly familiar with technology-aided learning can overcome any fears and subjects will be understood in more detail.   From taking employees on a virtual worldwide journey with a travel theme to developing a programme where learners find themselves at a theme park or playground, there are various avenues to explore. For example, if a department store’s sales team need to improve and develop their knowledge about various items, a theme-based eLearning programme could feature an interactive house where trainees can click on a room or product and find out more information. Every learner will be familiar with the layout of a standard home and can concentrate on areas where their knowledge might be lacking. If each item has in-depth product information and the benefits of buying, employees are better prepared to deliver convincing sales pitches to their customers.   Spaced repetition With traditional corporate training, employees are told vast amounts of information in one go and are expected to retain this knowledge straight away. However, this isn’t an effective method of teaching because our brains aren’t programmed to remember things this way. Conversely, spaced repetition is a learning technique that exploits the psychological spacing effect to help increase long-term memory retention. If you implement a training programme where subjects are occasionally studied over a prolonged period of time, employees are more likely to keep hold of new skills and knowledge in their minds. But it is crucial to schedule teaching and tuition at the right time so that members of staff don’t forget important information before the next review. With Wranx Drills, we know exactly when to schedule new or existing topics to improve your long-term memory. Our short sharp quizzes feature 10 questions where learners have to rate how well they know an answer. If the subject is comprehensively understood, it will come up again at an appropriate point in the future. However, if employees struggle with a certain question or topic, it will be scheduled again for the next day. This scientifically proven technique works better than any other study, teaching or learning method and can transform your corporate training approach. Share this post with your own audience

Using electronic media or information and communication technologies for educational purposes is becoming an increasingly popular trend. When it was first developed and introduced, eLearning came in for some criticism, as many people believed that computers would replace teachers and lines of communication or human support would be lost. However, technology has now progressed to a point where smartphones and tablets can be fully integrated into a learning environment, which is beneficial for both educators and students. Although eLearning can be hugely advantageous in schools or for people taking distant learning courses, it also has several plus points from a corporate perspective. Training and tuition is an ongoing challenge for several businesses, as employees are often uninterested or demotivated by boring and out-dated teaching techniques. What’s more, for certain courses or programmes, members of staff are taken away from where they are needed most, which impacts on operational efficiency and increases expenditure. For these reasons, eLearning has turned out to be an attraction option for businesses looking to increase employee proficiency while maintaining productivity and cutting down the cost of training. However, that doesn’t mean to say corporate eLearning can be introduced and integrated anytime, anywhere. There are certain times, instances and situations when it will be more influential, significant and effective.   Less is more Thanks to the growth of the Internet, mobile devices and on-demand streaming services, we now receive five times as much information as we did in 1986. Scores of emails, social network updates and text messages also contribute to the average person’s growing production and consumption of data. This is a trend that shows no signs of slowing down and will probably increase in the years to come. This doesn’t exactly bode well for employers attempting to train and teach their staff new skills, expertise or information. On a daily basis, individuals are bombarded with a profusion of facts and figures, which are only sometimes retained and applied in real-world scenarios. Therefore, it is crucial to keep this in mind when corporate eLearning courses or teaching programmes are developed and introduced. When it comes to teaching employees with short attention spans on small smartphone or tablet screens, learning materials and key concepts need to be easily digestible. By breaking down complex subjects into bite-sized chunks, members of staff are more likely to remember important pieces of information. Manageable modules and easy to consume theories can also be made part of the working day, as opposed taking employees away from their post for lengthy subject teaching in a classroom.   Relevant and engaging learning In addition to easier integration in a working environment, smartphones and tablets are also capable of delivering entertaining and engaging teaching. Rich content in the form of informative images, entertaining videos or interactive games give employers various options for each individual learner. As a result, teaching can be visual, auditory or tactile depending on what works best. Here at Wranx, we have developed a training solution that capitalises on the capabilities and capacity of smartphones and tablets. Our gamification model uses sophisticated, science driven techniques to provide learners with interesting, engaging and appealing content. With over 300 different achievements to win, employees are incentivised to do their best and beat fellow workers on competitive leaderboards. What’s more, our training solution is hosted in the cloud, meaning it can be accessed everywhere. Your members of staff will have independence over their learning experience and can complete tasks when it’s convenient for them. On top of that, you can update content remotely every time you want to teach the workforce something new. In the past, mobile devices were seen as a workplace distraction. But now that they have become essential items in society, it makes sense to take advantage of their multi-tasking and adaptable nature for training purposes.   Monitoring employees Another distinct advantage of eLearning is that employee performance and progression can easily be monitored, tracked and analysed. By collecting and collating user data, you can compare it to business objectives like sales performance and new employee onboarding to see whether training has had the desired effect. eLearning also allows you to introduce checks, tests and assessments throughout the teaching experience, which will improve competency and retention. At Wranx, our training solution has a couple of features that can help you to discover how each and every learner is getting on. With Wranx Drills, individuals are asked a series of questions everyday, which also displays the answer. That way, we can rate how well the respondent understands a topic or theme and schedule future learning accordingly. This exploits a scientific ‘brain hack’ and is a proven technique to improve long-term memory retention. To find out whether training is actually working, you can also visit our deep-dive reporting facility. Displaying enrolment and activity metrics, cohort knowledge retention rates, employee progress and predicted course completion dates, this analytics feature is a powerful resource that provides truly invaluable facts and figures about your workforce. There is little to no point in implementing a training programme if you don’t scrutinise and examine its success. But with eLearning, analysis is easy to carry out, and provides hugely detailed data.   The effectiveness of eLearning So when is corporate eLearning most effective? When it is presented to employees in easy to consume chunks at their actual place of work. If possible, training materials should be personalised to each individual member of staff by taking advantage of the competency and capacity of today’s mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Teaching and tuition as well as assessments and appraisals can be delivered at regular intervals to sustain interest, increase long-term memory retention and improve the chances of applying newly acquired skills in a working situation. Corporate eLearning can be capitalised on by almost any organisation, as it is a cost-effective way of delivering relevant training in a quick and efficient way. Knowing when and how to introduce and implement eLearning doesn’t have to be a difficult or drawn-out process either. Share this post with your own audience

Conducting and carrying out sales training is a common tactic used by a variety of businesses to improve bottom line performance. In addition to teaching members of staff new skills and expertise, it can also change an employee’s attitude and behaviour at work. What’s more, teaching and tuition may even fuel your workforce’s thirst for knowledge, thus improving personal development and increasing promotion opportunities. However, what is the point of performing training courses or programmes if you do not measure how successful they have been? On top of that, you may never know whether your ROI was worth it in the end. The majority of organisations will probably look at their end of quarter to sales to see whether the cost of training has been cancelled out by greater turnover and bigger profit margins. Unfortunately, this doesn’t provide an in-depth understanding of what employees benefitted from the most, which training techniques were more effective, how the business can improve on coaching in the future and whether the invested capital made a difference. Therefore, it is in any company’s best interests to comprehensively measure the ROI of sales training, as it has a myriad of boons and benefits.   Objectives and intentions In order to effectively and accurately measure the ROI of sales training, some objectives and intentions need to be established in the first place. It is fair to say the majority of organisations that rely on sales will simply want to improve new customer conversions, close more deals with existing clients or enhance overall performance. However, having clearly defined targets and goals remains crucial, as this is what a lot of your measuring will be based on. First and foremost, you’ll need to conduct a bit of training need analysis to find out what kind of tuition your sales team requires. Do they simply need a boost in confidence or is a bigger skill set required to proficiently carry out their roles? From here, you can establish measurable and observable targets that can be assessed later on. But perhaps most importantly, you’ll need to identify appropriate and suitable training methods or approaches. From one-the-job training to action learning, there are various different options available. However here at Wranx, we have found that gamification is an extremely effective technique. By taking influence from behavioural science, human psychology and motivational theory, this training tactic uses games and puzzles to engage and motivate employees to improve their learning. Achievements are ranked on a leaderboard to encourage competition between employees while individual progress is constantly monitored too, improving the chances of measuring ROI accurately.   Reaction and retention At the end of the day, training is all about improving or changing the skill set and attitude of employees. Therefore, the most fundamental thing to measure is whether training has strengthened their knowledge, enhanced job responsibilities and helped them progress as people. Hence, you should evaluate your trainees’ reactions through questions and queries. First of all, determine what kind of information you want to find out and think of ways you can quantify responses to fit in with your ROI requirements. Encourage honest comments and suggestions and measure employee reactions against acceptable standards. How did they rate the subject, teaching and facilitator? How would they have improved the training and most importantly, what did they learn? It is incredibly straightforward to determine an employee’s reaction to training with Wranx’s Deep-Dive Reporting feature. This detailed analytics tool tells you how quickly training was completely, what employees learnt about and whether they are progressing or not. What’s more, value metrics also tell you how much time and money was saved using Wranx.   Behaviour and application While it is important to find out whether employees actually enjoyed or benefitted from training on a personal level, sales is all about generating more revenue and returning a profit. For this reason, you’ll want to measure your workforce’s behaviour and see whether skills can be applied in a real-world scenario. In the past, tests and examinations at the end of a training course usually sufficed, but this didn’t provide accurate retention information or translate to actual workplace situations. These days, it is more advantageous and appropriate for employees to practically demonstrate their learning along the way. Take our accelerated learning solution for example. Here at Wranx, we have taken advantage of a scientific "brain hack," which proves that people remember or learn items when they are studied a few times spaced over a prolonged period. On top of that, we constantly test individuals to make sure their learning is at a sufficient standard. Wranx Drills can detect and monitor changes in employee behaviour by asking questions about particular subjects. Once they are understood enough, trainees can move onto another topic and repeat the learning process.   Impact and results After spending some time examining and analysing the newly acquired knowledge and improved behaviour of employees, assessing the impact training has had on bottom line results is a good idea. This will involve a lot of number crunching, but should ultimately provide an accurate insight on your ROI. Is the business closing more deals and are these being completed faster? Are more existing clients being retained and are they happy? Are you generating more revenue and have profit margins improved? With all this information, you should be able to determine whether sales training and the amount you invested are positively correlated. From employee behaviour to business results, several ways of measuring training are open to interpretation and it can be difficult to link a specific benefit directly to workforce learning. However, a lot will depend on the type of training itself and how this has been carried out. With Wranx, you can carefully manage, monitor and maintain every stage of the process, from setting objectives and establishing subjects to observing progress and measuring success. Our multi-device solution, which is conveniently hosted in the cloud, allows training to take place anywhere, accelerated learning improves long-term memory retention rates while deep-dive reporting provides detailed insight into employee behaviour. Share this post with your own audience

Even if you’ve been part of a certain company or specific industry for years, there is a good chance that things aren’t the same as they were a decade or so ago. In fact, even over a length of time as short as the past 12 months, certain aspects of the role, organisation or sector may have changed dramatically. Nowadays, business moves forward incredibly quickly and it is imperative to move with the times. Entrepreneurs and enterprises staying ahead of the curve are bound to be better prepared and more likely to succeed, while those left trailing behind will ultimately fail. But whatever the future may have in store, how can you and your employees increase the chance of prosperity and reduce the risk of collapse? The answer for many is continual learning. By providing ongoing training at various levels, an organisation can carry out present-day operations to the best of its abilities while adapting effectively and efficiently to what lies ahead.   Levels of continual learning Even though a business with good intentions may wish to implement continual learning through comprehensive training courses, which involve every single department or member of staff, it is best to approach this type of ongoing development at individual, team and organisational levels.   Individual continual learning The most basic way to introduce continual learning is at an individual level. Employees can receive ongoing training that changes their behaviour at work while acquiring new skills and greater knowledge. From learning how to handle certain situations to gaining competency in other areas, continuous teaching can achieve a number of things. However, this type of training requires a lot of time and effort together with the individual’s willingness and inclination to learn. Investing in a course for a single person could be an expensive exercise, especially if the employee does not want to develop or progress in the first place.   Team continual learning Depending on the type of organisation, collective learning in a team can be a lot more efficient and appropriate than on an individual level. This type of training will also teach employees new skills or expertise, but features greater support in the form of feedback, experimentation, question and answer sessions, role-playing and group discussions. While teamwork can help find solutions to problems and improve decision making, it isn’t always an effective way to teach employees. Certain members of staff may already be familiar with certain topics and themes, while others might learn at a quicker pace compared to the rest of the group.   Organisational learning Due to some of the problems or issues associated with continual learning at an individual and team level, several organisations are making it an integral part of their company culture. Introducing new policies, systems and procedures may take time to implement and could be met with some resistance, but it can also transform the fortunes of a business. If continual learning is a core component of an organisation’s culture, then it will eventually trickle down to teams and individuals. Members of staff are sure to be more willing to take part in training and tuition if it is an integral part of the business they work for.   How to implement continual learning Suddenly deciding that your business now promotes and performs continual learning doesn’t cut it, as you’ll need to make a few fundamental changes to the way teaching and training is approached. However, this can be achieved by adopting Wranx’s comprehensive training solution, which has been set-up to provide employees with continual access to tuition and instruction. Introduce ongoing performance management - By finding out where the business is performing well and doing badly, training programs can be implemented accordingly. From defining standards and expectations at all levels to developing teaching systems and identifying shared objectives, you will always know where more training is required. This is similar to Wranx Drills, which identify the areas where employees are lacking knowledge. If the respondent does not have a solid grasp of a certain subject, we will ask the same question the next day. But if they do understand the topic, we won’t bring it up again. This is a form of accelerated learning, which has been proven to cement knowledge in your long-term memory.   Create empowerment and authority Giving employees the tools and resources to constantly learn will give them ownership over their own knowledge acquisition. As a result, they will be more willing to grow and develop within the organisation. Seeing as our solution is available on desktop and mobile, employees can take part in training at a time and place that suits them. Giving members of staff the opportunity to learn on the commute to work, during lunch or in the comfort of their home promotes and encourages individual freedom.   Adopt effective teaching methods Approaching continual learning with traditional training techniques or existing frameworks is far from ideal, as these are usually set-up with one-off coaching sessions in mind. Therefore, find a system or solution that facilities training on a regular basis, where employees are more likely to acquire and retain information effectively. As mentioned previously, Wranx Drills use a form of accelerated learning known as spaced repetition, which is much more effective than traditional training techniques. By introducing new themes or topics over time and not overloading employees with too much information, your members of staff will have a greater chance of remembering crucial subjects.   Make training fun and engaging Even if you’ve introduced a culture of continual learning, there may be some employees that reject this ideology. To them, training will evoke feelings and emotions of dread, fear, boredom and frustration. But if you make training fun and engaging, they will soon change their ways. Wranx uses gamification to get employees excited about studying and learning. With over 300 achievements to win, members of staff strive to work hard, learn more and consequently enjoy themselves by playing scientifically developed educational games. Continual learning is an ideology or objective that several businesses aspire to achieve, but without a fundamental change at an organisational level, it is incredibly difficult to implement. But with the right approach, it can be successful executed and bring about favourable results. Share this post with your own audience

When it comes to any sort of instruction, schooling or teaching, thought leaders Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher believe there are five specific situations where people need to learn. You may not be familiar with the "Moments of Need" model, but it can be hugely beneficial from a corporate training perspective. In contrast to formal methods of learning and knowledge acquisition, which concentrates on achievements and certification, the five Moments of Needs are more concerned with proficiency. This involves a combination of formal, informal, social and real-time learning strategies. Here at Wranx, we are great believers in this multi-faceted approach. Although there is a time and place for classroom-based teaching, this needs to be complemented by additional techniques and methodology such as on-the-job training, advanced learning and gamification. This is what our training system endeavours to deliver. Multi-device supports means learning can take place in the working environment, spaced repetition is a way of improving long term memory retention while games and challenges increase engagement and interest. While our solution here at Wranx shares a lot in common with the Moments of Need learning model, it is still important to look at each of its five steps to see whether your business or employees could benefit from this method of teaching and tuition.   Learning for the first time The vast majority of organisations will have some sort of training for both new hires and existing members of staff. From acquiring information and developing expertise to knowing how to carry out or perform a new task, there is a range of things an employee can learn about and benefit from. Receiving instruction about a particular subject, skill or responsibility for the first time is the primary Moment of Need. But one of the biggest problems a company faces is determining the most appropriate type of training for that particular objective or individual. But in spite of the methodology, actually demonstrating the benefits associated with learning this new information or behaviour can be highly advantageous.   Learning more After employees have started to receive instruction or tuition and realise the benefits, there is a good chance they will want to acquire further knowledge and develop their learning. Regardless of whether this is from a personal growth perspective or to carry out tasks and duties more efficiently, this is part two of the Moments of Need. However, a certain level of understanding about the individual’s current knowledge base or skill set is required in order to deliver the most appropriate training possible. While exams and surveys can help achieve this, there are more modern and less antiquated ways of discovering employee proficiency. For example, Wranx’s deep-dive reporting function provides detailed information about cohort knowledge retention rates, progression insights and how employees rate against each other.   Remembering and/or applying learning The third Moment of Need is actually remembering and utilising learned concepts in the real world. In certain situations, staff might not be able to remember or apply the information and skills they have recently acquired, which calls for additional support. For example, an employee getting to grips with a new piece of computer software would benefit from having an instruction manual or troubleshooting guide close to hand. In these instances, it is crucial that leaners can access information quickly and conveniently to avoid wasting time. One way to address potential problems or forgetfulness is to develop instantaneous and easy to consume resources or references that can be accessed anywhere, anytime. The rise of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets make this a distinct possibility.   Learning when things go wrong While the fourth Moment of Need also calls for some sort of immediate access to immediate support, it concerns things going wrong rather than an employee forgetting or failing to apply learned information. In this situation, further instruction is usually supplied by a help desk, FAQ webpage, live chat or online form. This spontaneous search for answers to unpredictable and unforeseeable problems might not provide definitive or precise solutions, but the employee will be unknowingly expanding their knowledge base and learning new information. They are bound to explore a number of resources and tools to overcome the issue, which could provide the individual with expertise and skills they wouldn’t have acquired otherwise.   Learning when things change The final Moment of Need occurs when employees must change or adapt the way they carry out their job role. Members of staff may also be required to update their understanding of an already learned concept. One reason this might happen is if a company updates its policies to comply with new industry rules and regulations. While this might sound fairly straightforward, as an employee has covered the subject before, it does throw up some challenges. Individuals have to effectively unlearn an existing notion and then learn a new one, which could be dissimilar and contrasting. One way to address this situation is through periodical quizzes that ensure employees are up-to-date with ongoing changes. This is what Wranx Drills are all about. We ask learners short sharp quizzes of 10 questions a day to increase their understanding of a certain subject. By rating how well they knew an answer as opposed to simply guessing, knowledge is retained much more effectively. Questions that aren’t thoroughly understood will be repeated the next day, while concepts with a solid comprehension will be asked again at some point in the future.   Applying the Moments of Need Identifying the moments and situations when further training or instruction is required can help any organisation prepare for every eventuality. Establishing introductory training or additional tuition is fairly straight forward, but the importance of having some sort of support in place when employees forget information, when things go wrong or when things change is often ignored. But by providing employees with immediate and bite sized resources to call upon as and when required, the need to constantly go back to the classroom is eradicated. On top of that, Wranx’s training solution can also be utilised and made use of when a fitting moment arises. Share this post with your own audience