Professional Education

For those who haven’t heard about Blackboard Learn for Salesforce, I want to share a video that highlights the ways this solution enhances sales training for businesses of all sizes.  Blackboard and Salesforce are an ideal combination for companies that want to get the most out of training by aligning learning content with individual sales goals, allowing you to see the direct impact that training has on sales performance. Companies that already leverage Blackboard Learn for Salesforce have seen the results of this powerful partnership of learning and sales, including:

• More engaging and enjoyable learning experience
• Increased sales productivity for trainees
• Faster time to deployment of new learning content

Check out the video below to learn more about Blackboard Learn for Salesforce, and visit our website to see how this solution can have a real impact on your business.

Now that the holiday season has begun, we’ve been thinking about all the things we don’t want to take for granted this year: family, friends, and – of course – sales training.  Every day, we get to see the real impact that sales training can have on businesses of all sizes, from improving sales team collaboration to increasing the number and value of sales leads.

With that, here are the top five reasons why we are thankful for sales training this year:

1.  It boosts sales. According to one Blackboard Learn for Salesforce user, sales reps who successfully complete 100% of their assigned training are outperforming those who don’t by an average of 12%.With customizable learning plans, you can measure where individual reps are succeeding and where they need more help so they can get the greatest ROI from their training time.

2.  It develops leaders. One of the most underrated benefits of sales training is its ability to foster leadership among younger employees. Especially when sales training is done on a continual basis, instead of “one-off” training sessions, you can develop high-potential performers as they encounter real-world business problems every day.

Next week, the Human Capital Management Federal (HCMF) Training Event will kick off a three-day series of panels and discussions on the future of federal government training. Our own Paul Terry will be speaking on the “Training And Development Best Practices” panel to discuss topics including social learning and effectively leveraging technology in the face of federal budget cuts.

HCMF is a great forum for agency leaders and human resource professionals to share best practices in HR strategies, talent management, and even innovative recruitment.   I’m particularly excited that this year’s event will cover technology-focused strategies to improve training, such as best practices in cloud computing and social networking.

Are you interested in learning more about HCMF and the Training And Development Best Practices panel?  Here are the details:

I have worked closely with ShoreTel Sky, the leader in unified communications, and have witnessed firsthand the innovative techniques they’ve adopted to improve learning and training throughout their company. From encouraging employees to learn to play an instrument through the School of Rock to offering classes on Jujitsu, they’ve created a flexible environment where employees are eager to learn and become more entrepreneurial in their daily work.

This year, ShoreTel Sky launched Blackboard Learn for Salesforce to effectively connect and measure learning and development programs within Salesforce CRM as an alternative to old-fashioned training with PowerPoint and conference calls.  I encourage you to watch the video below to learn more about ShoreTel Sky’s success and their professional development strategy, as it’s critical to their growth.

How quickly can you tell if a new hire is “getting it” before you need to take action? Should you trust a rookie sales exec with your most important customer? What key indicators are you using to determine early training success?

In our upcoming webinar, you can join Jim Ninivaggi, Service Director, SiriusDecisions, as he provides insights on how organizations are adopting innovative approaches to strategically support new hires and to deliver superior results.  Blackboard will also present best practices for training implementation and ROI measurement.

By participating in this webinar, you will:

• Find out what’s changed in on-boarding and how to improve productivity
• Learn how companies are using various productivity metrics
• Hear about best practices in virtual learning and utilizing social platforms

Interested in learning more about leveraging best practices in onboarding at your organization? Here are the details for our upcoming “Onboarding Best Practices: Ramp Up, Report Out” webinar:

Who: For sales executives/management, learning and development management, and human resources leaders.

What: A live, interactive webinar hosted by Blackboard.

When: Thursday, November 29, 2012 1:00 p.m. EST

Register: http://bit.ly/XJAwr0