Retailers can jump ahead of the competition if they’re able to quickly adapt to the changing landscape, but as we’re all too aware, COVID-19 has presented some of the biggest challenges in decades. With their sell-through on the line, brands need to make it as easy as possible for retailers to adapt to the new normal. The pandemic has left an alarming knowledge gap among front-line sellers, and it needs to be closed quickly. But how can you scale your brand training with all the roadblocks put up by the pandemic? That’s where digital sales enablement steps in.
The problem with brand training post-pandemic
Conducting brand training in person is no longer the most reliable option for brands to transfer passion and knowledge from their organization to the salespeople who will sell units. The fragility of the old way was highlighted during the pandemic when stores closed, travel was restricted, and brand training was stopped in its tracks.
Now that the world has opened back up, there is a lot of work to be done to train retail salespeople to pre-pandemic standards. It’s going to take consistent and clear brand messaging is needed to scale your training across regions, countries, or continents. Unfortunately, sending brand reps out to every site is not a reliable way to achieve that since each store might receive a different quality of training. Even if you could ensure the efficacy of in-person brand training, it would just take too long and cost too much with the amount of traveling required.
The retail space is incredibly competitive right now because digital transformation has been accelerated by years by COVID-19, waking many brands up to the benefits of digitization. A lot have already adopted it, so brands that opt to return to traditional face-to-face training will inevitably be left behind. The alternative, developing online training capability internally, is a lengthy and costly process and isn’t feasible for most organizations. That’s why the focus should be on finding the most value-adding technologies that can be leveraged to give brands a competitive advantage.
How digital brand training software can help
Digital brand training platforms offer an all-in-one solution to help you scale your brand training and get salespeople ready to sell your products. Profit margins are tighter than ever for most consumer brands, and a big benefit of online sales enablement tools is their cost-effectiveness. You don’t need to pay for the travel, accommodation, food, and other costs before brand representatives have even delivered the training. You just get what you pay for.
The lower cost doesn’t come at the expense of training quality either. They use sophisticated tools that allow you to easily create high-quality content for retailers. What’s even better about going the digital route is that the training content can be redelivered and repackaged to maximize knowledge retention. Don’t run a training clinic and hope that the information is remembered once the rep leaves; digital training makes sure that it is.
There’s also no need to wait for the rep to travel around to each store. Digitizing your sales enablement lets you roll out the training to all locations simultaneously. Whether you’re updating a product with more information after launch, releasing a new range of products, or having a full brand refresh, there’s no need to wait.
Time is money
In the more competitive post-pandemic world, “time is money” has never been more true. You need a solution that you can hit the ground running with to make the most of this opportunity and not waste any more time. You won’t regret investing in digital brand training tools.
Reach out to Myagi to find out how we can help you deliver your brand training remotely, optimize your sell-through, and turn retail salespeople into real champions of your brand.