Professional Education

During our recent Sales Shift webinar, which highlighted the ways digital tools are changing sales, several participants asked about the future of mobile devices and tablet PCs in the business realm.  Recent studies show that 19 percent of U.S. adults already own a tablet, and there’s a good chance that these devices could have a significant impact on sales as tablet usage continues to rise.

With this in mind, I thought it would be useful to discuss best practices for sales teams that implement tablets. I recently came across this article and video that gives practical advice for leveraging a tablet during sales calls and trade shows:

The tour bus is ready for yet another busy season of professional college and university events across the country!  These conferences and other gatherings present Blackboard with incredible opportunities to learn about trends in the professional and higher education industries, and also give us the chance to share the many ways Blackboard is having a significant impact on the way adult students collaborate and learn. Below is a list of just some of the events that Blackboard will participate in this summer.  Will we be seeing you at…?

Campus Management Users Conference (CampusInsight) April 26-27 Orlando, FL CampusInsight 2012 will provide those in the professional and career college space with the opportunity to connect with their peers to exchange knowledge on the latest in education technology.  The conference will give practitioners the opportunity to meet and discuss CRM solutions with experts in the field, and will also provide registrants the opportunity to participate in valuable pre-conference training sessions.

In the past, I’ve discussed how online learning technologies can help federal agencies maintain high-quality training in the face of budget cuts and travel mandates.  This continues to be a topic of interest for those of us who work at the intersection of technology and government, especially as the Obama Administration encourages federal agencies to implement mobility, cloud computing, and other IT innovations.

I recently discussed these developments along with my colleague Rajeev Arora, the Vice President of Marketing Strategy for Blackboard Collaborate, as part of an interview with cyberFEDS.  Rajeev noted early on that the professional development experience can be incredibly engaging even without face-to-face instruction.  With today’s digital platforms, interactive learning can now occur online, even on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablet PCs.  This level of early-stage engagement is highly important for federal agencies, which see average attrition rates of about 30% among new employees each year.

Enhance Training with Blackboard Collaborate

Rajeev and I then discussed several key reasons why Blackboard Collaborate is an ideal platform for delivering the engaging online learning that federal agencies need.  

Even though online learning programs are relatively new for many institutions of higher education, Berkeley College has been proudly offering online courses since 1998.  Today, Berkeley Online features over 270 courses and 28 degree programs, which complement the College’s eight on-site locations in New York and New Jersey.  Blackboard began supporting this innovative school nearly a decade ago, and our role in facilitating administrative ease and student engagement continues today.

Blackboard’s partnership with Berkeley College has grown and evolved in a way that reflects the school’s commitment to frequent, open communication.  The school currently leverages Blackboard Learn 9.1 to create a centralized information portal, allowing students the ability to easily view grades, transcript requests, and tuition information online.  The Learn 9.1 platform even provides outlets for course enrollment, tutoring, and professional development for professors- all from one easy-to-navigate, online portal.

With all the discussion we’ve had recently about developments in sales training, I couldn’t help but wonder: can sales style actually be taught? Or is it simply something that comes naturally for certain individuals? Without a doubt, there are some aspects of sales that simply cannot be taught.

Prospective sales representatives must be eager to learn about the environment in which they are selling and should have the desire to foster genuine relationships with clients.  Sales representatives should also have the confidence and motivation it takes to follow through on a sale.  Though these primary abilities can be strengthened through training, they ultimately come from within the individual. From my experience, however, there are many lessons to be learned through an effective sales training program.