The Model E-Learning Customer (And Why You Need To Be One)
By Nancy E. Gaither

With THINQ's experience as developer of one of the most widely deployed learning management systems--and the good fortune to work with many model e-learning customers--it offers this outline of the customer-supplier relationship, warts and all, in an attempt to define the model e-learning customer.

Are you the model e-learning customer?

Model e-learning customers are demanding but fair, savvy but open-minded, careful but flexible, motivated but patient, innovative but sensible, with high but reasonable expectations. They ask difficult questions but don't question everything. More important, model e-learning customers expect good service but appreciate the complexity of an enterprise software purchase.

• Be nice but firm. Keep in mind that your supplier is a company full of people. Therefore, operate within the supplier-customer relationship just as you would in any other relationship. As a customer, you have every right to report problems. At the same time, you should avoid an overly critical tone that could alienate your supplier--the very people trying to offer support.
  
  Consider the dynamics of family communication when working with the supplier. It's important to be open, sincere, direct, and constructive. Likewise, try to avoid petty arguments and accusations. Identify the problem you want solved, and be clear about your needs. If the problem is fixed, say thanks and move on. Assuming that your company has made a smart purchase, you can generally rely on the fact that your supplier wants happy clients that will say good things about them to other prospective customers.
  
  
• Don't be a squeaky wheel. The squeaky wheel does get the grease. On the other hand, grease has been known to make people slip and fall. Some e-learning customers have a habit of placing a flurry of calls to their supplier every time the smallest glitch occurs. Rather than getting a fast resolution to the problem, that sort of behavior can build resentment, distract the supplier, and delay service. The customer has the supplier's technical support, senior management, and account manager going in so many directions, it creates a tailspin effect. Only after several conversations to sort out any confusion, can the supplier eventually settle down and focus on solving the problem.
  
  The same principle holds true for customers who cry wolf. Understand that e-learning technology is far more complex than your word processor, especially in enterprise-wide implementations. There are bound to be technical challenges for the same types of good reasons NASA delays rocket launches. If you treat every hiccup as if it were a heart attack, it will be difficult for the supplier to prioritize the most pressing issues, and it may make the supplier numb toward your needs.
  
  
• Surprise your supplier by looking in the mirror. Customers grade suppliers every day. For THINQ, one of the most useful customer exchanges occurred when the learning management system manager at a global aerospace company asked us to grade them as a customer. After the initial shock, we faced the challenge and drew up a report card. This company had a modest-sized staff managing certifications for 186,000 employees by providing 6,000 courses. The project team was consolidating 26 separate learning management systems and 400 informal database and spreadsheet-based systems throughout the company. What's more, this client was pioneering a best practice that every e-learning customer should try: an internal user group consisting of training administrators from across the company that helps prioritize desired system changes and funnel requests to the supplier. The customer's grade: A-plus!
  
  
• Know what you're buying. One important but complex area new e-learning customers need to understand is the relationship between content, such as courses, modules and curriculums, and the technology that helps them work, including LMSs and virtual classroom platforms. Often, content and an LMS are separate purchases. Sometimes, however, content is included with an LMS in a sales price. Confusion arises when customers think they've bought content but have only bought an LMS. Generally, contracts spell this out--read them thoroughly.
  
  
• Take care of your account manager. Many companies with large implementations have an account manager who serves as the main contact. The contact's role is to make sure you have what you need to succeed. Invite him or her to meet your colleagues and get an overview of the organization so he or she can respond to problems appropriately.
  
  For example, one of THINQ's customers holds an open house to let supplier representatives and her colleagues and managers mix, share ideas, generate good will, and set the stage for program improvements. In another example, the U.S. Navy includes account managers in regular planning and troubleshooting meetings as they roll out new initiatives. Simply stated, make the supplier a member of the team in all aspects of the project.
  
  
• Take advantage of user groups. User-group meetings are an opportunity for you to learn how to improve your e-learning program dramatically. "The hidden value of user groups was a revelation to me," says Victoria Macdonald, training manager at BMW of North America. "I came to my first meeting thinking that I'd learn a little more about the LMS I'd chosen and what new features would be available. I had no idea that it would be a great opportunity to build relationships with key supplier contacts, find out who's who in e-learning, and learn the best practices of other prominent clients that I could adopt in my [own] e-learning program." Often, these activities have less to do with commerce and more to do with the spirit of collaboration to meet critical e-learning challenges.
  
  
• Get training. It sounds redundant to recommend training to e-learning professionals, but it's often overlooked. Nearly half of all customer support calls pertain to problems that never would have occurred if the customer had taken full advantage of training. Most suppliers are happy to take these calls and work with customers, but they'd be more happy to see customers succeed at solving their own problems or work without ever experiencing problems.
  
  Training, of course, can't fix everything. Issues crop up in enterprise-scale e-learning deployments, and some of them can take hours or days to fix. Again, we're dealing with sophisticated technology that, by definition, is only as mature as the Internet. As an e-learning customer, you sometimes need to summon some bravery, keep your head, remember to be patient, and--like an astronaut--hurtle yourself into the unknown so others may benefit from your experience.

Customers should strive for this "nice but firm" approach in order to foster good will that translates into great value. Being a model customer, however, is hard to do well because customers understandably feel vulnerable when spending hundreds of thousand dollars on an e-learning initiative. But being a model e-learning customer is worth the effort as it helps secure a strong return on learning investments.

Indeed, in most scenarios, suppliers and customers share many overlapping interests. From the customer's perspective, employees improve performance and business prospers. When that happens, the supplier automatically wins, too. The supplier now has a delighted customer who will be easy to work with and will ultimately help sell other prospective customers. More important, close supplier-customer collaboration yields product breakthroughs from which other customers can benefit.

Why not approach your supplier relationship with the same attitude you want your learners to adopt: by embracing learning. In this case, learning to work with your supplier is a continuous, career-long process. Try these tactics, and the benefits of a productive, collaborative supplier-customer relationship will be yours.

Published: June 2002