Product Knowledge Training: What? Why? How?

The success of a business largely depends upon the satisfaction of its customers, and the customers’ satisfaction majorly depends upon two factors. The first factor is the overall quality of the product or service. If the product itself doesn’t meet the customers’ expectations, then the product will have to be reworked.

Assuming that the quality of the product is good, the second factor is how easily and efficiently the customers can adopt the new product or service. Thus, the business not only needs to develop a great product but also needs to make it less complex for its users. Irrespective of how easy the product is to use when the product is in the hands of end-users, they need to be provided necessary training support to ensure that they use the product in the way it was intended to.

Training support is not just for the end-user but also for the sales team who are involved in selling the product. Product knowledge is vital so that the sales team can effectively communicate with the customer on the product’s features and benefits. This will help to convince the customers into availing the service. Therefore, product knowledge is a deep understanding of the product: its features, uses, benefits, etc.

What is Product Knowledge Training?

Irrespective of the complexity of the product, not every user of the product can use it with the same level of effectiveness. Moreover, not each user uses the product for the same purpose. For them to effectively use the product, relevant and appropriate training needs to be imparted to make them well-versed with the product. It will also enable them to use the product in the most desired manner.

The product training can be in the form of Web-Based Training (WBT), Instructor-led Training (ILT), Virtual ILT (VILT), or short video demonstrations. Also, training can be supported by on the job performance support material such as quick reference guides or job aids.

Apposite Learning Solutions has many years of experience in developing learning solutions for companies that need to train their employees on the use of the product(s). We take into consideration their areas of expertise and their requirements from the product. Accordingly, we develop learning solutions considering all such factors.

Our team developed a very effective blended training curriculum for a multinational BPO and business solutions company. This program helped in transitioning their 60,000 employees spread over 20 countries, working across various domains and locations, to an Oracle Financials software application meant to improve overall business processes. To know more, click here.

Apposite Learning Solutions has also successfully delivered various e-learning courses for the sales-teams of various large-scale companies. It has helped them to effectively deal with their customers. One of the instances is where Apposite successfully delivered a training curriculum for one of the largest fertilizers and agro-nutrient companies in India to support their sales team with adequate knowledge of plant biology and also to familiarize them with their products.

Why is Product Knowledge Training important?

Every company bears an inevitable cost in the development of its products and services. Therefore, better the sales team’s knowledge of the product better is the sale of the product. The company invests a lot, both in the monetary terms and the human resource terms, during the development of the product as well as while providing training to the personnel who have to use it. The lack of proper training regarding the product can lead to reduced sales. It may also impact the employees’ performance negatively while they adapt to the product. This directly impacts the company’s returns on investments (ROI).

A few of the many benefits of ‘Product Knowledge Training’ are:

• Increased ‘sales’.
• Better support for the customers.
• Increased product adoption.
• Improved customer satisfaction.
• Builds customers’ trust in the product and services

How do we do this at the Apposite?

At Apposite Learning Solutions, we aim at developing training materials to train the personnel who are in the sales role at the manufacturer’s end as well as the people in the user role at the customer’s end. We develop courses that are easy to use and access.

For example, to train the sales team of one of the largest crop fertilizers and agro-nutrient companies in India, our team created a gamified scenario-based e-learning solution utilizing interactive graphics and animations and that could be played on tablet devices. The solution was tested in low internet bandwidth scenarios so that the salespeople on the move will not have problems in viewing the training module in remote locations. Hence, it was easy to access. To know more, click here.

Our solutions are designed in such a way that people at all levels, hailing from different backgrounds can use the materials. Our team at Apposite developed a learning solution for business transformation where our client, a multinational BPO and business solutions company, wanted to improve overall business processes to leverage PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) and Financials Supply Chain Management (FSCM). The company wanted to create a unified ecosystem across its global locations.

Our team approached various stakeholders and SMEs to understand the processes and technology adoption. We put into use the technique of ‘structured questionnaires to optimally utilize the time with the SMEs. We used a solution-oriented and analytically-driven approach to work with multiple SMEs and stakeholders to understand the processes and technology adoption. We created a blended learning program with classroom training and virtual sessions for intensive learning, e-learning for self-paced learning, and job-aids for just-in-time reference.

All the employees spread across multiple continents were trained and tracked for their learning and were seamlessly transitioned to the new system. We achieved it without causing any kind of obstruction in their daily tasks and processes.

We believe in adopting an impact-driven approach towards finding solutions and translating interesting ideas into effective and engaging products and services.

Our experts are available to support you in your business needs. To get in touch with us, email us at sales@appositelearning.com.