by Jim Lundy
(Aragon Research) – One of the most vital, must-do activities in sales is training. Not just training bootcamps, but continuous training. Having covered corporate training for the last 15 years, all of the major learning providers served the needs of the learning and development department but not necessarily the business units.
That said, there has always been a market for sales training content—but what we have noticed is the rise of software providers that offer modern learning tools and in some cases, platforms for sales learning and development. This blog is about the rise of this category.
Modern Learning, Sales Learning, and Development
Earlier this year, Aragon called the shift in the learning market by identifying what we refer to as modern learning, which is all about continuous and just-in-time learning, using technologies such as video. Now as part of our agenda for 2018, we’re calling out the sales learning and development market as a sub-category of corporate learning.
Why, you ask? Well, the number of providers is growing and they offer learning tools that are specifically designed for sales organizations. We have studied this trend for three years and as more vendors come online, Aragon is here to help enterprises understand and evaluate these providers.
One of the characteristics of a great sales organization is that they are always learning. Savvy sales managers assign role plays to their team members and facilitate best practice sharing (i.e., sharing knowledge)—both are keys to success. This is where sales learning tools come in. These tools go beyond just taking a course online by helping sales managers ensure that sales reps are learning every day and that the art of selling is practiced via regular role plays.
Taking a Look at Sales Learning Providers: Allego, Mindtickle, and More
There are many existing and new providers that focus on sales learning and development. Brainshark has been in the market for a long time, but newer players such as Allego have made a surge with a modern, video-based sales learning platform.
The surge of new players who are winning in accounts that have an existing LMS platform in HR is proof that the demand is there. Some of the vendors we will be looking at besides Allego and Brainshark include LearnCore, MindTickle, QStream, Rehearsal VRP, SalesHood, and many more.
The Tech SpectrumTM for Sales Learning: Coming in 2018
Aragon is pleased to announce that we will be publishing a new Tech Spectrum for Sales Learning in Q2 of 2018. This report, which builds off of our six-year Aragon coverage of corporate learning and sales enablement will help enterprises make the right call when it comes to understanding and selecting a sales learning and development platform.
Much more to come on this in 2018!