Why this Project Was Needed:

Grainger, the leading broad-line supplier of maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products serving businesses and institutions worldwide, was seeking a way to get a safety message to customers via our sales force without the training impacting face time. But, how do you train 3,000 plus salespeople to enhance their selling approach and deliver this new message to thousands of customers in a consistent fashion, in a compressed time frame, and with limited time away from selling? The answer was simple—deploy a next-generation blended learning program delivered just-in-time to an on-the-go workforce.

Grainger’s L&D team endeavored to design a learning program leveraging each seller’s omnipresent smartphone and laptop as key access points to the just-in-time training content, participatory activities, and leader-led discussions that comprise the modernized communiqué. The broader strategy also enabled sellers to apply their newfound knowledge using these same tools to improve their actual customer interactions.

Tools/Technologies Used:

Microsoft Office Professional, GoMoLearning’s GoMo2 responsive authoring platform, Articulate Storyline, and OnPoint Digital’s CellCast Solution along with Apple iOS devices.

Audience:

We trained 3,000 sellers for the initial rollout and then we use the content for ongoing training of new sellers as they join the team.

Completion Time:

It took us six months to develop the content with additional time to enable the mobile platform before this even began.

Problems/Challenges:

We had to implement an enterprise mobile learning platform for the sales force while concurrently developing content to teach them key new messaging to increase their sales. We had to work with many business partners on how the overall program was planned, implemented, and supported in the age of myriad mobile challenges like security, authentication, integration, and private app stores.

We will highlight how the basic building blocks—Microsoft Word documents, PowerPoint decks, and some key refocused selling concepts—were combined in fresh new ways to make them easier to consume, understand, and share with customers while working in motion. The added challenge was making it all interesting and engaging instead of just becoming the “proverbial check box” task that needed to be ticked. Finally, leadership needed to play a key role in program delivery and reinforcement as well as monitoring individual and group-level performance while using the mobile learning environment.

Insights/Lessons Learned:

We learned a lot about how to set up a broad program like this for such a large group of people. We were able to take into account our early mobile content and the changes needed for sellers to effectively use it, and how the managers could reinforce it.

Project Link:

Mira will be demonstrating Grainger's mobile-learning platform live during the session.

Recording