Who is this for? This article will be useful to you if you are a company on PartnerStack looking to for best practices on utilizing our partner training feature.
What is partner training?
Through our integrated LMS (Learning Management Software) platform you can easily create and assign training content to your partners. Training enables your partners to best represent and sell your brand. PartnerStack uses SAP Litmos LMS for our partner training feature.
Partner training is enabled depending on your plan. If you are currently not using training for your partners contact your Customer Success Manager for more information.
- For an overview of how to use Litmos and create training for your partners, see our Introduction to partner training support guide
- Be sure to also take advantage of the additional support guides provided by Litmos
Partner training course ownership
We recommend creating your courses from a PartnerStack account using a company-owned email, i.e. training@yourdomain.com, or partnerships@yourdomain.com. This helps prevent course ownership issues during staffing changes.
Once a course has been created, it is not possible to transfer ownership of that course to another teammate in Litmos.
- If the teammate who created your training is departing, please have them update their email on file to a company-owned email so you can continue to access and update your courses.
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If the teammate who created your training has already departed and their account has been deleted, please reach out to support@partnerstack.com for assistance.
- If your teammate's PartnerStack account has already been deleted, the courses they have created will still be active for your partners, however, you will be unable to edit these courses.
Getting started with partner training
Just getting started with partner training? Try starting with courses aimed at onboarding new partners rather than building a full training program all at once. The goal of partner onboarding is to give your partners the essential knowledge they need to start marketing and selling your product.
When building new content, consider the following:
- Your audience: who is the partner who will be taking your training?
- What is in it for your partner: highlight what your partner will get from taking your training and how it will help them succeed.
- Your key objectives: what demonstrable skill or knowledge do you want your partner to walk away with after completing your training?
When first creating your course you'll want to make sure it's not visible to your partners until you're ready to launch.
Until your course is ready to go:
- Do not attach your course to a mapping to ensure partners cannot access it, or
- In your course settings ensure the "active" box is unchecked
- In your top menu bar click "Content", select your desired course, click "Settings" in the top right-hand corner, and deselect the "Active" checkbox
Creating courses for adult learners
Considering your learner and their learning style is important if you want the information to be absorbed properly. Adult learners have unique needs. Repetition of key points, in particular, is an important piece that can be easily added to ensure your learners remember what you want them to.
7 best practices to help engage your learners:
1. Start each course with an introduction:
Starting with an introduction on what your course will cover helps set the stage for your learner and lets them know what they can expect to take away from the course. Adult learners are more engaged when they know what to expect and how it will benefit their immediate, day-to-day life.
2. Create content that draws from relatable scenarios:
Adults learn quickly and remember what they learn when they can turn around and apply that knowledge in their role.
3. Use consistent formatting throughout your modules:
There are a wide variety of interesting ways to display your course content. Once you have decided on how you would like to display your course content, try to keep this consistent throughout your modules. This will make it easier for your learners to know how to navigate through your material.
i.e. If you use flip cards to refresh keywords or callouts to provide definitions do this in each module so learners know what to expect.
4. Include "Assessment" components:
Assessment components keep your learners engaged and to test their understanding. At the end of each module, include a question or two to ensure your learners have absorbed the key points you want them to understand before progressing.
5. Offer immediate feedback
Using the Quiz results component offers learners immediate feedback. This helps your learners understand what they know, and what information they need to refresh.
6. Break up content
Breaking content into smaller chunks keeps learners engaged and helps to avoid cognitive overload. Avoid large paragraphs of text, and use components like Block quotes, callouts and Flip cards to draw attention to key information.
7. Use various media types
Using various media types in each of your modules and courses, especially for content you want to ensure is absorbed, can help you reach a wider audience. Media types can include text for reading, audio to listen to, videos such as webinars to watch, and visuals such as infographics and hotspots.