Bouygues Telecom takes its learning strategy mobile with Teach on Mars

The corporate mission statement of Bouygues Telecom is ambitious, yet disarmingly simple: “Give our customers the best network, combined with service offers that open up an intense, exciting world of technological possibilities that go beyond boundaries.”

Never afraid to innovate – this is, after all, a company that owes much of its success to its invention of the concept of the mobile phone plan – Bouygues Telecom wondered if it wasn’t possible to offer the same technology-driven opportunities to its own workforce. More specifically, it wanted to equip its in-store sales teams with a compelling new training offer that would be both easily accessible and engaging. Easier said than done, but Bouygues Telecom has risen to its own challenge by investing in a mobile learning solution in partnership with Teach on Mars. And it is already feeling the business benefits on the ground, with a more efficiently trained sales force now better able to serve and satisfy its customers in an ever more competitive marketplace. Sales personnel are now aligned around the vision and values of the company, and fully up to speed on the characteristics and advantages of the latest-generation products and services they have to sell – all of which adds up to a massively enhanced customer experience.

A brief history lesson: the origin of the Méthode de Vente (“Successful Selling”) project

As part of a complete revamp of its sales methodology, Bouygues Telecom undertook a redesign of its training strategy based around a mobile learning approach. What was the rationale behind this decision? It’s December, 2015. Manuel Ancelet, Head of Training for Réseau club Bouygues Telecom, recounts the first steps of his mobile learning journey with Teach on Mars.
“Customer traffic flow in our sales outlets is unpredictable, making it very difficult for our staff to set aside fixed timeslots for learning. We were looking for a training format that would be accessible anytime and anywhere to complement our traditional classroom programmes and boost the impact of our skills development paths. So mobile learning was obviously a natural way to go!”
Thanks to autonomous content management capability, a wide variety of learning activity formats offering end-to-end coverage of the pedagogical cycle and the option to deliver training in parallel through a traditional web-based digital platform, Bouygues Telecom was rapidly convinced that Teach on Mars was the marketplace’s stand-out mobile solution. In March 2016, Bouygues rolled out its inaugural mobile learning application under the name Méthode de vente (“Successful Selling”). One year later, with over a thousand team members already trained via the new solution, Manuel Ancelet takes a moment to reflect upon a successful project, identifying key benefits and possible areas for improvement, as well as offering a glimpse into the future.

A resounding success!

Training managers and learner populations alike have been unanimous in their praise for the new solution. ” The Méthode de Vente mobile learning application has been positively received by everyone involved. And everyone now feels able to step up and play an active role in the training process. On the one hand, our staff are free to complete their learning at the moments they choose, in optimal conditions, without compromising the service they offer the customer. On the other hand, our coaches and regional directors are flourishing in a dual role which sees them facilitating training and gathering vital feedback from the field which is helping us to improve the programme.
The success of Méthode de Vente has exceeded our expectations to such an extent that we have decided to invest in a full-blown Teach on Mars Enterprise solution. It’s a genuine mobile learning portal capable of hosting an unlimited number of training offerings. We call this portal the Académie – and it has given us a whole new level of control over our learning strategy, with improved continuity, enhanced customisation and easier update capability across all our training offerings!”

From simple training to high-touch coaching

“The Académie project has multiple objectives,” explains Manuel Ancelet. “Improved customer satisfaction, more consistent brand image and measurable performance gains in our in-store sales teams are the real business pay-offs of this first Méthode de Vente phase. Our “blended learning” process plays out over a period of two months. Learners absorb the basics using easily accessible and readily assimilated memo cards, then check knowledge acquisition via learning games before practising and applying their new skills through challenges and weekly simulation exercises. The Académie has become a universal digital learning hub, not just for staff learners, but also for our training project managers, who have been transformed into fully-fledged skills development coaches.”

A fast-growing learner population

Bouygues Telecom now plans to train more learners between now and the end of Q2 2017. “Now that we have successfully deployed the solution with our employees, the next challenge is to offer it to our partners,” says Manuel Ancelet.

Looking further ahead – from top-down to bottom-up

Bouygues Telecom’s ultimate goal is to turn its training offer into a living learning ecosystem. The next initiative it plans to launch with the support of Teach on Mars will focus on learner community building, with the aim of empowering every individual learner to play an active role in his or her professional development. “We want to enable learners to react to their learning activities with likes and comments. That will add a social networking component that will build engagement, help new ideas emerge and really bring the learning portal to life,” enthuses Manuel Ancelet. “Beyond that, our next objectives are to build in a learner reward system and an interactive forum within the Académie portal.”

A fully interactive mobile learning platform? It’s been a cherished ambition for the mobile industry for more than twenty years, and it’s now drawing closer every day …

The success of Méthode de Vente has exceeded our expectations to such an extent that we have decided to invest in a full-blown mobile learning portal – the Académie – capable of hosting an unlimited number of training offerings.