No matter what software you are selling, you will no doubt recognise the benefits of offering some form of after-sales training - if for no other reason than to reduce the volume of support desk calls. But offering an effective Training and Support solution takes this much further, ensuring that your clients achieve successful implementations and showcasing the ongoing benefit of their investment in your software.

Providing valuable Training and Support is more than simply providing classroom training or off-the-shelf learning content. It’s about offering a flexible solution that enables your clients to create a learning programme which meets the needs of their organisation, including the ability to develop customised learning content around your software, but reflecting their processes. By offering a Training and Support solution that can be bundled with your software sale, you open the door to new revenue channels for both software and services.

Here’s five ways that implementing an effective Training and Support solution will drive sales for your business.

1. New Revenue Channel for Software Sales
Offering a Training and Support solution opens the door to new revenue channels for your business. The learning platform itself will provide licence revenue – if you are able to white-label the software platform you choose, then you reap the rewards of both author and user licence sales. If you offer your learning platform as a managed service, then you could see recurring revenue as you sell the licences on a subscription basis.

2. Additional Revenue from Add-On Services
An effective learning solution will require some support if your clients are going to implement it successfully. This means you can customise a range of services to support them within their budget, including installation and configuration, training and support. This opens the door to additional services revenue for the business.

If you choose an experienced learning enablement partner, then you don’t need to invest your own resources in upskilling to then deliver these services. You simply reap the benefits of the additional sales revenue. The right partner will also accelerate your time to market without any risk and requiring only limited investment.

3. New Opportunities with Existing Clients
As you sell your software to new clients you will gain additional revenue from the sale of the learning platform and supporting services. However, it also presents resell and upsell opportunities within your existing client base – you will have another reason to go back to those clients that have already bought your software. Clients who have positive experience of learning and support are usually keen to expand the solution to their other software applications or even non-system or management training.

4. Opportunities in New Markets
Offering a learning solution aligned to your software sales won’t just deliver new revenue from your existing client base. In the longer-term it could also create opportunities in potentially untapped markets and generate new prospects for the business.

5. Increased Customer Satisfaction Leads to Client Advocates
Comprehensive and well-considered training is critical to ensuring your clients know how to use your software and implement it affectively. Unfortunately, this is often the last thing to be considered and assigned the least budget within an implementation project. However, if you offer a tried and tested learning solution to your clients, they have the means to ensure that their users will adopt the new software effectively and they will see the increased efficiencies that your software promised to deliver.

If your clients are satisfied, they will share their experiences. They will probably talk about you either way, so it’s better that they have a good experience to share and become advocates for your business.

For more information about delivering an effective Training and Support solution, download our Guide to Learning Enablement.