Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. (CCE) doesn’t take its association with one of the world’s most recognisable brands as an excuse for complacency. Instead the company considers it a duty to find responsible ways to expand the Soft Drinks category, while growing its own share of the market. To that end, CCE recently spent three years and £2 million researching consumer buying habits and market trends. Its aim was to develop a sustainable strategy for growing Soft Drink sales – and to publish a forward-thinking report for its customers and suppliers titled ‘Open More Business’.
According to Simon Baldry, CCE’s Managing Director: “We believe we've captured the key to unlocking further potential within this category; understanding the shopper and the environments in which they shop. Our goal is to work with our customers to simplify the shopping experience they provide, to ensure it is more engaging for shoppers and more successful for our customer partnerships.”
"If GB's existing consumers bought just one more soft drink every fortnight, then within five years the GB market would grow an extra £1.4 billion."
Great expectations
Aiming for this ambitious goal has led to a shift in what the company expects of its sales force, which is demanding new skills and adaptability to change from its sales people. Traditionally, CCE’s relationship with its independent trade network of neighbourhood stores, fuel forecourt convenience stores, canteens, bars and clubs had been one of trusted supplier of Soft Drink products.
CCE’s ambitious goals demand a different mind-set from sales reps, and a new approach towards customers.
“We’d become something of a handy delivery service for our customers,” explains Helen Beecher, CCE’s European Learning and Development Manager, “Now, we’re taking a consultative role; advising and educating customers on stocking, product placement and ‘category selling’ of food and drink combinations. That demands a different mind-set from our sales reps, and a new approach towards customers.”
Evolving the learning strategy
CCE has always believed that learning new skills and acquiring new knowledge is an essential part of working life, whether through on-the-job training or formal programmes of learning. Traditionally, the majority of CCE’s sales training had been through formal classroom-based courses, with learning then being embedded by sales managers in the field, and backed up by a variety of supporting materials, briefings and guides.
However, during 2009 CCE set out to review its training philosophy, knowing that this would need to evolve if it was to support the company’s 450 sales reps effectively as they made the changes being asked of them. CCE’s conclusion was to put the 70:20:10 principle into practice: to have the majority (70%) of its sales teams’ learning take place on the job, with 20% coming from coaching and feedback from others such as line managers, and 10% from formal learning courses and reading.
We wanted an e-learning platform that would support a flexible approach to creating learning content. Our choice was Mohive eLPS.
Mohive eLPS hits the spot
“As a business we want to grow,” says Helen Beecher, “but we also aim to grow responsibly and effectively by offering, self-paced solutions that can be accessed at the right time. E-learning was inevitably going to be part of the picture, and we wanted an e-learning platform that would support a flexible approach to creating learning content. We wanted something that would allow us to rapidly develop a variety of interactive courses, to back up workshop activities, to distribute varied content online, and to help our people as they learned on the job. Our choice was Mohive eLPS.”
CCE now offers a wider variety of learning opportunities, including self-paced e-learning, job aids and instructor-led courses. In 2010 each CCE employee received, on average, over eight hours of training.
Pilot projects
To pilot Mohive eLPS within the organisation, Helen used the platform to create six e-learning modules. Four of these delivered material on the new selling approaches that CCE was disseminating as part of its ‘Open More Business’ strategy, including content on consulting and working in partnership with retailers. The other two modules dealt with change; one addressing employees going through change, the other targeting line managers planning for change.
Relevance and reusability were key benefits of the rapid e-learning approach. Short modules on sales skills can be created to address specific skills gaps, and these can be used, over and over again, to train new sales staff. Meanwhile, CCE’s change courses are used by individuals any time they go through a transition, and were designed with a practical focus that encourages learners to capture ideas for later action.
Fitting with the business
“I think we’ve developed an approach to course creation that fits with what our business needs,” says Helen. “We want the e-learning modules we create to be part of the wider journey of learning and development at CCE, not to sit ignored on a server somewhere. We also we expect our line managers to take ownership over the development of their team members. So, it was important to build connections between people’s individual development plans and the workshops and e-learning delivered by the L&D department.”
We want the e-learning modules we create to be part of the wider journey of learning and development at CCE, not to sit ignored on a server somewhere.
One way that CCE has achieved this is by adapting existing e-learning modules as a training tool for line managers.
“We found that modules we had created for individual learners were being used by line managers when they led team training sessions. But interactions that work for a single learner, like drag and drop or click to reveal screens, are less engaging for a group. People get bored watching someone else interact! With Mohive we could quickly create new versions of those modules specifically for groups, adapting the approach so it uses more visual builds and then following these up with group discussions, questions and Learning Journal activities. This ‘watch:do:reflect’ model has been very effective for group sessions.”
In fact, Mohive eLPS has proved more than flexible enough to deliver the variety of online courses that CCE needs. Currently, about 35% of the Mohive modules that CCE produces are for team sessions, and deal with changes that affect the entire company. The remaining 65% are individual courses for personal and professional development. The company also plans to record video of its quarterly senior management briefings, and then use the platform to create and distribute these as online modules.
One year on
After a year of using Mohive, CCE has created around 15 courses and has made the platform available to everyone in the L&D team. “One or two of us specialise,” concedes Helen, although she also praises Mohive eLPS for its simplicity. “You don’t need any special level of technical skill to produce a good e-learning course in Mohive, it’s that easy to use. The system isn’t over complicated either, so I can create a 10 or 15-minute course very quickly without getting distracted by unnecessary bells and whistles. In fact, anyone could build a module based on a simple PowerPoint presentation, and then break things up with a few interactive exercises. The system was easy to learn too, and Mohive have been very supportive whenever I’ve come across something I’m not sure how to do.”
With Mohive we’ve got a great way of empowering line managers to take more control and ownership over the learning of their people.
In the near future, CCE will be setting up a team to provide training consultancy and build e-learning courses for the entire company, and will appoint a new Head of Instructional Design to lead it. This is part of a move towards standardised training provision across Europe, that will allow the company to benchmark and streamline its offerings, carry out translations (also enabled by Mohive) and ensure consistent levels of quality.
“When we first started talking about e-learning we got quite various reactions from senior managers,” concludes Helen. “But more and more people are embracing it now they’ve seen what we can do with it. With Mohive we’ve got a great way of empowering line managers to take more control and ownership over the learning of their people. Beyond that, I’m particularly proud of how we’ve created attractive packages, and not just standalone e-learning modules. By finding ways to connect our courses to the bigger picture, by marketing them internally and promoting them on conference calls, we’ve generated interest and stimulated repeat business for our products. And that can be more than half the battle.”