Running a business, regardless of its size, is no easy feat.

But small business owners wear multiple hats to keep operations running, and that can really put the pressure on.

When it comes to training, small business owners are often at a disadvantage because they simply don’t have the budget to invest in substantive training solutions for new hires.

Ineffective training can then result in low levels of productivity, costly errors, and stagnant professional development.

Luckily, a solution for small business owners exists in the form of a learning management system (LMS).

This guide will explore what a learning management system is, the top features to look for when choosing a solution for your small business, and how an LMS-alternative might just provide an even better experience.

Intrigued? Let’s dive in.

What’s an LMS?

A learning management system (LMS) is a web-based technology used by a wide range of industries including businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies to provide training.

An LMS typically includes features that enable administration, reporting, tracking, training, and the delivery of educational programs. Given the various benefits and value that these systems offer, they’ve become a popular tool for small businesses.

LMSs operate through six main concepts:

• Interoperability.
• Accessibility.
• Reusability.
• Durability.
• Maintenance ability.
• Adaptability.

But one of the key features of an LMS is knowledge management (KM).

KM refers to the sharing, gathering, and organizing of knowledge regarding a particular organization or topic. It’s a useful platform for training employees as it enables them to access a wide range of the business’ resources over any device — from organizational history to product information.

By opting for an LMS or LMS-alternative such as Trainual, you can incorporate features that make content delivery, attendance tracking, and compliance management a breeze.

These tools help ensure that your employees make full use of the resources available to them, and are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to perform to the best of their ability.

What value does an LMS (or LMS-alternative) provide for a small business?

It standardizes training.

Using an LMS also means that you can provide standardized training to all employees. Suppose training was to be provided by external individuals or different employees within the business itself —the knowledge they are equipped with, as well as the skills they learn, may vary.

Standardization matters because it means that all employees are equipped with the same amount of knowledge and skill. This acts as a baseline measurement that you can use to identify those employees who put those skills to use and perform versus those who do not.

Using an LMS enables a business to upload the content that they require the employee to be familiar with and make it available to everyone on the team. Being able to access this information at all times is a useful tool in their daily operations.

It can help your team provide better customer service.

In this competitive business world, what matters for small businesses is being able to retain loyal customers and provide quality service. This will provide them with a competitive advantage enabling them to succeed.

One way of retaining customers is to provide them with a high-quality customer experience.

Employees who are well trained will be able to respond better to customer queries and create a positive experience for consumers.

This is important since studies show that 73% of consumers say that a good customer experience is key to creating brand loyalty. LMSs are flexible platforms that can be used to ensure your employees are providing that gold-standard level of service.

It helps keep employees up-to-date about the business.

Employees who use an LMS are updated on product changes and shifts in your business’s culture quicker and easier since they can access the new knowledge immediately through a versatile platform.

This means that employees are likely to feel that they are more prepared for the job and enabled to continuously develop their skills.

It’s important that your employees progress in their field of work as it makes them feel empowered, capable, and knowledgeable. As a result, this will improve their motivation, encouraging them to take initiative and perform more efficiently. All of this leads to a lower turnover rate while preventing poor performance.

Having access to a business playbook that keeps all your policies, SOPs, and procedures in one place can save employees and new hires a lot of time and confusion as they navigate your business and their roles. (If that’s a feature you’re interested in, you can check out more at Trainual.)

It helps businesses adapt to changes in the market.

Skill development is important because employees use their growing knowledge to come up with new ideas and innovations. Coming up with new ideas will allow your business to become a first mover, meaning, you’ll be the first in the market to introduce a new product and service.

This is beneficial since it will allow your brand to gain recognition as the business that first introduced a product, enabling you to establish a solid customer base. As a result, you’ll be in a better position to grow your market share, which can improve your profitability as your overall turnover increases.

What are some things that I should look for in a top-level LMS?

Capacity for customization.

No two employees will learn in the same way. Each one has their strengths and weaknesses, and these should be addressed individually. A generalized training program simply can’t address that, and this can lead to inefficient and ineffective training — and that’s the last thing you want for your small business.

Opting for an LMS or LMS-alternative that allows for total customization gives you the freedom you need to approach your learners as individuals.

Is it user friendly?

The last thing you want is a platform that’s difficult to navigate, has a massive learning curve, and/or is simply broken. This will only discourage employees from learning.

On the front end, your virtual training software needs to meet your employees wherever they are and on whatever device they prefer. Cross-platform capability is a must-have. Also, the interface for your virtual training software should be as welcoming and navigable as possible.

For the back end, you should look for a virtual training LMS with state-of-the-art integrations that allow you to create diverse and robust content. This means you’ll be able to create text, media, and interactive learning capabilities effortlessly.

Learning modalities.

Everyone has a unique learning style. Some prefer video content, some prefer audio, while others are comfortable with text. Therefore, a good LMS will offer a range of learning modalities with diverse training content to fit the needs of your employees.. That could mean quizzes and tests, videos, webinar integration, discussion forums, virtual reality (VR), or hands-on AI training simulations.

Why is an LMS more beneficial than a traditional method of training?

It emphasizes interactivity over manual paperwork.

LMSs offer resources that orthodox methods fail to provide. At Trainual, our LMS-alternative provides you with a platform that your employees can easily access for training tutorials when required. That’ll save them a lot of time since they won’t have to spend hours flipping through books and documents. This enables them to perform efficiently and respond to customer queries immediately. This’ll also help your business build its brand image, which is important for its overall success.

An option that includes interactive elements and different learning modalities will boost engagement and ultimately lead to better retention of the training material.

It measures progress effectively.

Small businesses can use key performance indicators (KPIs) to get a more accurate feel for the root causes of good or bad performance and make informed decisions accordingly. Using tests, managers and other supervisory staff members can make sure that the training has been effective. That’s vital to ensuring that customers are being treated well and that the overall performance of the business improves.

It provides better value for your money.

An LMS can be an extremely cost-effective solution.

If you need to make changes to your employee guidelines and regulations, you avoid having to reprint training manuals. You can simply click on the ‘edit’ button in the LMS and make any number of changes required.

Could your small business benefit from access to a learning management system?

An LMS might be an ideal solution if you want your small business to succeed in a competitive industry.

Trainual’s LMS-alternative takes the core features of a top LMS platform and combines them with a wiki-like knowledge base that can help get your business out of your brain and into your business playbook.

While conventional training methods put a heavy burden on the budgets of small businesses, Trainual allows you to offer synchronous or asynchronous remote training to all your employees while catering to their unique needs (and without having to overspend).

Plus, through its unique business playbook model, you can ensure every policy, SOP, and process is accessible in one central location.

Interested? Join countless other successful small businesses by trying Trainual for free.