Raise your hand if you wanted a puppy growing up.
I mean really wanted a puppy.
Enough to create a 10-minute presentation about how you’re ready for the responsibility of a pet, with slides five through eight detailing how a dog would greatly benefit the entire family’s health and happiness.
You probably put a lot of effort and passion into crafting your argument, too.
Why?
Because you truly believed in it. You saw something that could make your days brighter; something that would do everyone around you a world of good.
Did you end up with that four-legged friend? I hope so.
If not, there's a silver lining: all of that work prepared you for this very moment.
You see how much your company could benefit from a Learning Management System (LMS). How it could help your team grow in knowledge and size, streamline your processes, and save your company time and money.
You just have to build your case for an LMS and confidently present it to management. Here's how:
1. Identify Your Company’s Pain Points
Whether you need an LMS to improve employee onboarding, better organize training materials, or bring your system into the 21st century, you should clearly identify where your company is struggling so management understands what's at stake. Here are some of the most common reasons why an organization needs an LMS:
You need to spend less money on training and onboarding.
You’re losing your competitive edge in your industry.
You need a better organizational system.
Your training is inconsistent.
You want your employees to continuously learn and expand their skills.
You want to become more environmentally friendly by using less paper, travelling less, etc.
Your employees aren't retaining what they've learned.
You want employees to enjoy their training experiences.
You need to improve team collaboration.
You want to give your employees more autonomy.
You need to track and report on employee training progress.
You’re tired of traditional employee training methods.
You want to spend less time on employee training.
You need to increase your employee retention rate.
If You Already Have an LMS...
You may have already solved a few of the aforementioned pain points for your company. You’re training faster, more effectively, and have more time to focus on high-level tasks. But what could be improved?
Like many companies, you might be looking for advanced LMS tech that your current platform can’t offer, such as:
Integration with other systems
Mobile capabilities
Reporting and analytics
Social learning
Ease of use
Visual instructor training/web conferencing
Content management
Testing and assessment
Take Action: Identify three to five of your company’s pain points, along with an example of how each pain point is affecting the company’s success.
2. Find the Right LMS Partner
With hundreds of LMS options on the market, narrowing in on the right platform can feel daunting. Make a list of the must-have features you need in an LMS, determine your budget, and consider your company's goals to ensure you choose an LMS that can scale with them.
Then, book a demo or free trial to make sure the LMS you put forward really is the right choice for your company. Remember: You don't have to build your business case alone! Your LMS provider should also be your partner in the process. At Learning Studio, we'll work alongside you to help you build your case, provide you with valuable resources, and help you overcome objections.
Take Action: Want to feel completely confident in your LMS choice? Get "The 12 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying an LMS" (including a bonus checklist) here.
3. Connect the Dots
To increase management buy-in, make the connection between how your company is struggling and how your chosen LMS can solve their issues. Here’s a breakdown of some of the most common company pain points and how an LMS can improve them:
“Employee training is costing us too much money.”
Between printing costs, travel expenses, facilitator fees, and accommodations, the price of traditional employee training can add up quickly. But with an LMS, those costs can all be reduced—or even completely eliminated.
In fact, when companies use eLearning in their employee training, their revenue per employee is 26% higher.
“Our employees aren’t retaining what they've learned."
Employees retain 25 – 60% more information through online learning compared to traditional training methods. This improved training often helps employees sell their company's services and products better, ultimately increasing productivity and revenue.
“Our training processes and materials aren’t consistent.”
With an LMS, you’ll have one unified platform where you can deliver consistent training experiences across all departments, no matter where your offices or employees are located.
“Training and onboarding take too long.”
Online training is five times faster than traditional training. Not only will your employees learn faster, but training managers will also save time thanks to AI integrations that act as online coaches.
“We’re falling behind our competitors.”
An LMS will help you get your edge back with next-level training tech. Your employees will improve their skills and knowledge, your HR managers will have more time to focus on high-level tasks, and you’ll attract top talent by offering them the learning and development opportunities they crave.
“We can’t retain employees.”
Today’s workers want an employer that invests in their success and future. With an LMS, you can give them the opportunities and support they need to upskill and become more engaged with the company’s goals and mission.
Take Action: Compare your company’s pain points with your top LMS options. Which platform provides the best solutions to your problems?
4. Sell Them on Your New LMS Choice
In your presentation, emphasize your new LMS’s proven track record. Compare their ratings, testimonials, current client list, and team expertise to other LMS options to prove you’ve done your research.
Take Action: Identify any unique benefits your chosen LMS has that others don’t, like helpful integrations, one-on-one support, or a local office.
5. Lay out the Investment and Costs Involved
In 2021, 79% of organizations are shifting more of their budget to online learning, which means investing in an LMS may already be top-of-mind for your management team. Before you present your case to them, though, you’ll want to get a clear idea of the costs involved:
How much do employee training and onboarding currently cost your company?
How much does your company pay for your current LMS? Are you paying for more features than you need?
How much will the new LMS cost your company?
What are their pricing plans?
How much do they charge for support services?
Which team members will be involved in LMS implementation and beyond? Will they be pulled away from their usual work, costing the company money?
What will your company’s return on investment be?
Remember—the return on investment you get from an LMS comes in all shapes and sizes, including improved employee knowledge, increased employee retention, and saved time.
Take Action: Reach out to your new LMS vendor to get a clear cost analysis that you can use in your presentation.
6. Prepare for Objections
On average, 5.4 people are involved in a B2B purchase decision—that’s a lot of people to get on your side. Here are some common objections you might face and the proactive steps you can take to get ahead of them:
The Issue: Time and resources are scarce. The Solution: Speak to your chosen LMS vendor ahead of time and request an approximate timeline, a list of resources needed to launch your LMS, and a list of who needs to be involved. Cross-reference that information with your team's workload and schedule so you can confidently develop a plan of action.
The Issue: Your company already has an LMS. The Solution: Identify your current LMS’s weaknesses and how the new LMS is an improvement. Your new LMS will ideally have cloud-based hosting and AI integrations, so it often helps to emphasize those features. At Learning Studio, we offer done-for-you data migration to easily move your records over from your existing system.
The Issue: They haven't seen a high ROI from the last LMS they purchased. The Solution: Analyze your current LMS to uncover why. Next, identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that you can use to measure and track success. With Learning Studio, you'll have robust reporting tools that will help you measure employee progress as well as course designed around specific learning objectives.
The Issue: Employees will struggle with the new system. The Solution: Find an intuitive LMS platform that’s easy to learn and can be customized with your company’s branding to make employees more comfortable with the new interface. Include a demonstration of the easy-to-use system in your presentation so management can experience it for themselves.
Take Action: Brainstorm a list of possible objections you may face based on your company, leadership team, and goals, along with solutions for each.
5 Tips for Presenting Your LMS Business Case
Sixty-four percent of L&D professionals agree that learning and development has shifted from a “nice to have” to a “need to have” in 2021, which means many management teams already see the value of an LMS.
With the help of your LMS partner, you can create a strong business case. Follow these five tips to make your presentation as effective a possible:
Take a Team Approach Even though you’re presenting your case to management, you’re all on the same team here. Identify your shared goals, roadblocks, and concerns upfront to build a sense of camaraderie and emphasize the importance of reaching a consensus together.
Keep it Simple Corporate jargon can easily slip into presentations and frustrate stakeholders who aren’t familiar with certain terms. Keep the language simple and don’t overload the presentation with an overwhelming amount of text and data.
Talk With Them, Not at Them Give plenty of time for all attendees to ask questions before, during, and after your presentation. Make sure everyone has room to voice their concerns or opinions so you can address them quickly, leaving little room for doubt.
Leverage Your LMS Partnership Your LMS provider will be there to help you advocate for a better way to train. Ask your provider how an LMS can improve a company's success rates and processes, and then use easy-to-understand statistics throughout your presentation to back up your argument.
Prioritize Key Selling Points Start with the most practical benefits of investing in an LMS then move on to more complex or emotional drivers. For example, begin the presentation by explaining how an LMS will reduce costs and drive revenue. Then, go into how the employee experience will improve and how it will give you an edge over the competition.
If You Need an LMS, You Need Custom eLearning Courses
And that's where we come in. At Learning Studio, we use instructional design to create learning courses that reduce training time and costs while increasing learner retention and engagement.