Needing to boost product knowledge for better sales experiences? Here’s what product training is and how to effectively use an LMS for better product knowledge.

Are you creating product training but not sure it’s reaching the right audiences or having the right impact? 

It’s essential for members, customers, partners and so on, to fully understand how your products work, their selling points and their limitations. 

No matter who you’re sharing product training with, it will help arm them to do their job better. 

But creating good training, disseminating it with the right people and getting an understanding of how it’s working can be tricky. 

An LMS could be the solution to your problems. 

Keep reading to learn: 

• What product knowledge is
• What product training is 
• What the impact of product training is
• How an LMS can help you do better product training 
• Key features of our LMS that support extended enterprises 

Let’s get started. 

What is product knowledge?

Product knowledge refers to a deep understanding of a product’s features, benefits, use cases, and value proposition.

In the context of product training, it’s the foundation that empowers employees, especially those in sales, customer service, and marketing, to confidently communicate with customers, tailor solutions to their needs, and handle objections effectively.

Strong product knowledge goes beyond memorising specs; it involves grasping how the product fits into a customer’s world, solving real problems, and delivering value.

When teams are equipped with this insight, they not only boost customer trust and satisfaction but also drive conversions and brand loyalty.

What is product training? 

Product training is a type of educational program designed to teach employees, sales teams, customers, or other stakeholders about a company’s products. 

The goal of product training is to provide comprehensive knowledge and skills related to the features, benefits, usage, and troubleshooting of the products. 

But what does product training generally look like and what are the core goals? 

Keep reading to find out. 

Components of product training

Product training generally follows a similar rinse and repeat format. 

How you want to engage your learners however, is up to you. 

So break the status quo and add interactive elements, gamification, a sense of competition. These are all proven ways to increase learner engagement.

Related: The importance of competition in learning 

Speaking more broadly, product training is generally made up of: 

Product knowledge

Detailed information about the product’s features, specifications, capabilities, and benefits. 

This includes understanding how the product works, its unique selling points, and its competitive advantages.

This is core knowledge that is required. Ideally, learners would know it off by heart, reducing the need to rely on information during sales pitches or walkthroughs. 

Usage instructions

Step-by-step guidance on how to use the product effectively. This can include demonstrations, hands-on practice, and tutorials.

Practical demonstrations are great ways to help people learn. Remember, not everyone learns in the same way, and so including other formats is key to success. 

Troubleshooting and support

Information on common issues and their solutions, as well as how to access customer support services.

This is key for customer service reps as ideally they will be able to problem solve any product issues quickly and easily. This results in a better customer experience, which can lead to better retention, further business and more. 

Sales techniques

You might want to include training for sales teams on how to present the product to potential customers, handle objections, and close sales. 

This might also include competitive analysis to understand how the product stands out in the market.

Customer scenarios

Often, in learning, you’re presented with lots of information but you don’t see any real-life scenarios. 

By providing real-world examples and case studies you can show how the product can solve specific problems or meet particular needs of different customer segments.

Compliance and safety

For certain products, especially those that are highly regulated, training might include compliance with legal standards, safety protocols, and proper handling procedures.

Related: Learn more about compliance in learning

Objectives of product training

Ok, so now we know what core components are involved in product training, but what’s the overall goal of it? 

When it comes to creating product training, or any learning content for that matter, you need to ensure that it is targeted to your core objectives. 

Without that as a north star, your learning will feel confused, and likely lead to low take-up. 

Key objectives of product training can generally be summed up as: 

• Enhanced product knowledge: Ensuring that all stakeholders have a thorough understanding of the product to improve their confidence and effectiveness in using or selling it.
• Increased customer satisfaction: Well-trained customers are more likely to use the product correctly and efficiently, leading to higher satisfaction and lower support costs.
• Boosted sales performance: Equipping sales teams with the knowledge and skills to effectively sell the product and address customer questions and concerns.
• Reduced errors and returns: Proper training helps minimize user errors, reducing the incidence of returns and enhancing overall product reliability.
• Supported product launches: Providing the necessary information and skills to stakeholders during the launch of new products to ensure a successful introduction to the market.

How can you deliver external product training? 

When it comes to creating and delivering product training, there are a number of methods you can look at adopting. 

Or, you might want to mix and match a few different delivery types. 

Generally, you can deliver product training via: 

• In-person workshops: Interactive sessions with hands-on practice and direct interaction with trainers.
• Online courses: Self-paced or instructor-led virtual training modules.
• Webinars and videos: Live or recorded sessions that can be accessed remotely.
• Documentation and manuals: Written guides and reference materials that provide detailed information about the product.
• Simulations and eLearning modules: Interactive software that simulates real-world use of the product.

Effective product training can lead to better product adoption, higher sales, improved customer satisfaction, and overall better performance for the company.

Benefits of strong product knowledge

Product training can have a significant positive impact on various aspects of a business. 

In fact, looking at the retail space, store associates with strong expertise about the products sell 87% more than peers without it.

Here are some other key business impacts:

1. Increased sales and revenue

Well-trained sales teams can more effectively communicate the value of products to customers, handle objections, and close deals, leading to increased sales.

73% of customers say that product knowledge is what they need most from a sales associate.

Plus, knowledgeable sales representatives can identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell additional products or services, increasing the average transaction value.

2. Improved customer satisfaction and retention

Customers who are well-trained in how to use a product are more likely to use it correctly and effectively, leading to higher satisfaction.

Training reduces the likelihood of user errors and frustration, resulting in a more positive customer experience.

Satisfied customers are more likely to remain loyal to the brand and continue purchasing products in the future. In fact, for every 1% rise in customer satisfaction propels a 5% increase in retention rates. 

3. Lower support and service costs

Customers who understand how to use a product correctly are less likely to need assistance, reducing the volume of support inquiries.

When support staff are well-trained, they can resolve issues more quickly and efficiently, lowering the overall cost of customer support.

4. Reduced product returns 

Training helps ensure that customers use products correctly, reducing the likelihood of returns due to perceived defects or user error.

Plus, proper training sets realistic expectations about product performance and capabilities, leading to fewer returns due to unmet expectations.

5. Higher employee productivity and morale

Employees who are well-trained feel more confident in their roles, which can increase job satisfaction and productivity.

And that’s not all. 

Ongoing training helps employees develop new skills and stay updated on product developments, contributing to their professional growth and career progression.

6. Competitive advantage

Companies that invest in thorough product training can differentiate themselves from competitors by offering superior customer support and a better overall customer experience.

Having a reputation for high-quality training and support can enhance your brand image and attract more customers.

7. Faster product adoption and time-to-market

Effective training programs can facilitate quicker and more successful product launches by ensuring that all stakeholders are prepared and knowledgeable.

Training helps customers quickly understand and adopt new products, accelerating market penetration and revenue growth.

As you can see, there are plenty of benefits for investing in good product training from business benefits like reduced costs, increased sales and a stronger competitive position. 

You can create a more knowledgeable and capable workforce, foster better customer relationships, and ultimately achieve greater business success.

All sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? 

How an LMS can help you do product training better

Of course we are biased, but investing in an LMS can help you improve your product training. 

And beyond that, investing in the right LMS is even more crucial. 

First, here are a few reasons why an LMS is so beneficial for product training: 

Centralised learning hub

An LMS is a single platform where all of your training materials, resources and courses live and can be accessed. 

Providing one central hub for all of your learning content makes it easier for trainees to find and engage with the content they need, when they need it most. 

Scalability

An LMS allows you to easily scale your training programs to accommodate a growing number of employees, sales teams, or customers without significant additional effort.

Plus with a tool like BuildEmpire, you can access multi-tenancy options. 

This allows you to create your learning content in one hub, but then share it to multiple platforms that are branded individually. This means you can share content with multiple stakeholders without having to do it multiple times, or change branding to suit. 

Multi-tenancy uses preset branding guidelines to auto-apply colours and styling to your learning content. 

Consistent training experience

Managing your learning content in one hub means that you can ensure that your learning content is accurate and up-to-date. 

You’ll know that trainees aren’t using an out-of-date version of learning as you’ll be able to update and refresh your content directly in your site and disseminate it easily. 

Ease of access

An LMS can be accessed via desktop or via mobile devices (via BuildEmpire), which means that your learners can access content at their own pace and convenience. 

This is especially useful for remote of geographically dispersed teams. 

It also promotes the idea of pushing online learning as rallying large numbers of learners in one location at one time can become a logistical nightmare.

With an LMS, you’re giving your learners the power to manage their own learning. 

Tracking and reporting

While learners are managing their own learning, that doesn’t mean you won’t know who is and isn’t engaging in the content. 

An LMS provides robust tracking and reporting features, allowing you to monitor the progress of trainees, assess their performance, and identify areas where additional support might be needed.

This gives team managers the power to identify team members who are not engaging in learning content and ensure they are upskilled in product knowledge. 

Interactive and engaging content

Learning content can often feel stuffy and boring, especially product training. 

But, if you want to create more engaging content, then an LMS can help you achieve that. 

With an LMS like ours, you’ll be supported to created different content types, including videos, quizzes, simulations, badges and interactive modules, which can make training more engaging and effective.

Certification and compliance

Product training is likely compulsory for your teams. 

As such, with an LMS like ours, you can automate the process of issuing certifications upon course completion, helping ensure that all participants meet the necessary training standards and compliance requirements.

Continuous learning

We all know that learning isn’t done once. 

Ongoing training is essential in order to keep team members confident in their product knowledge, especially if you often add new products, or update existing content. 

An LMS facilitates ongoing education by providing access to updated materials, new courses, and refresher training, ensuring that knowledge remains current and relevant.

🎯 Pro Tip  

There are a few occasions when an LMS for product training is even more essential. For example, in large organisation, a centralised system is crucial. But small organisations benefit too. If you are frequently adding new products or updating existing ones, then you need to be able to update training materials. 

Likewise, global teams or ones that need to prove compliance would likely benefit from hosting product training via an LMS. 

Key features of BuildEmpire that make it useful for product training

So we know that an LMS can significantly enhance product training and stands to support across a variety of business objectives. 

But how exactly can an LMS help? 

BuildEmpire is a leading learning management system, a platinum partner of Totara, that supports a number of extended enterprises that deliver product training. 

So of course, we feel well-versed in what key features are essential to an LMS, because we’ve built our platform to suit that exact need. 

Here are some key features of a BuildEmpire LMS that make it particularly useful for product training:

Course management

Instead of creating dumps of learning content with no structure, you can create courses, modules and lessons for easy navigation. 

Each course can be built up of different multimedia content from videos and PDFs to quizzes and interactive simulations. 

And that’s not all. 

We have some handy little add-ons that encourage further learning. 

With blocks like ‘Next Activity’, where you can push users to continue their learning through preset course activities, to ‘Recommended Learning’ blocks, you can really promote further learning with our platform.

 

User management

Within your LMS, you have access to assign different roles to your users, from learner, instructor and admin. Each of these has different permissions to manage access and responsibilities. 

This can be really useful for setting up your work hierarchies and disseminating content.  

And that’s not all, you can also create and manage groups or cohorts for targeted training sessions. 

So, for example, you could target new starters in the last 3 months with refresher content for existing products. 

Tracking and reporting

As for any training, you will want to know who is engaging with what, and whether they have progressed through the training. 

Our reports are robust and highlight individual and group progress through courses, including completion rates and time spent on each module. 

You can generate reports on quiz scores, results and overall learner performance to identify areas for improvement that need further intervention. 

Assessments and evaluations

For all learning, assessments are critical. 

With a BuildEmpire LMS, you can access different types of assessments (multiple-choice, true/false, short answer) to evaluate understanding.

You can also allow learners to submit assignments or practical tasks for review and feedback.

When users have completed assessments, they can access automate grading for quick feedback and to reduce the administrative burden.

Certifications and badges

When learners complete their training, you can automatically generate and issue certificates upon course completion to validate learning and compliance. 

With Totara, you can access digital badges for milestones or skill achievements to motivate learners. 

We made a tweak too so that learners can see all badges they are currently eligible for, not just the ones they have completed. This encourages them to complete learning. 

Interactive and engaging learning

Gamification is a buzz term at the moment, but it has an impact. 

With BuildEmpire, you can incorporate gamified elements like leaderboards, points, and badges to make learning more engaging and competitive.

And that’s not all. 

Using Totara’s engagement tools, you can facilitate peer-to-peer interaction and discussion through forums or chat features to enhance collaborative learning.

Get started with your product training LMS with BuildEmpire 

Delivering product training is key, but doing it right takes a little time and effort. 

Investing in an LMS with BuildEmpire can feel like a big jump, but we’re here to make it as painless and simple as possible. 

Our project managers will handle the entire process from start to finish. All you need to do is to book a demo to get the process started. 

We’ll show you all of the features you stand to benefit from, and we can show you how our current extended enterprise clients are currently using our platform to deliver product training across their stakeholders. 

Book a demo to see it in action.