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TALKING eLEARNING ROILearn Strategies to Approach Your Leadership or Board to Get Funding for an eLearning Initiative

If you’ve identified an eLearning opportunity and developed a plan to capitalize on it, it’s time to think about how to approach your organization’s board of directors to get the funding you need. Talking eLearning ROI is a multi-faceted process that draws upon a wide range of expertise.

You need:

• a vision of success for your initiative;

• management skills to analyze organizational strengths and weaknesses and determine the objectives and strategies that will guide your initiative;

• accounting skills to crunch the numbers and create a multi-year projection with essential budget forecast information;

• negotiation skills to sift through organizational politics and gain the support of key stakeholders;

• instructional design and eLearning skills to develop plans and prototypes for a new initiative; and

• sales skills to create an elevator pitch that excites the board of directors and helps you secure funding for the project.

Ten Steps

Phase 1 - Analysis

Phase 2 - Projection

Phase 3 - The Pitch

Step 1: Lobby influencers ahead of time

Step 2: Admit what you don’t know

Step 3: Perform a market analysis

Step 4: Perform a SWOT Analysis

Three Phases

Step 5: Target new customers

Step 6: Determine price points and margins

Step 7: Create a multi-year projection

Step 8: Identify stakeholder perspectives

Step 9: Create slide deck and project plan

Step 10: Develop an elevator pitch

Throughout Talking eLearning ROI, we’ll learn about George from the Association of Biomedical Engineers (ABE). His story will provide us with context around each of the ten steps and how they are applied in his role as an eLearning Manager for a large association.

George works as an eLearning manager in the training and development department for the Association of Biomedical Engineers (ABE) – a large professional association with approximately 10,000 active members and annual revenue of $10.2 million. George has a vision for modernizing the training and development so ABE can emerge as the leading provider of professional development and continuing education for biomedical engineers. The majority of educational content produced by ABE comes in the form of live events and seminars. Current online offerings consist of webinar-style recordings of the live events and seminars, and George believes these recordings fail to meet the best practices of instructional design.

A recent drop in attendance figures for live events, webinars, and conference seminars has become a source of concern for several prominent Professional Development Council members. Where some see a threat, George sees an opportunity; investment in a robust LMS, course authoring software, and additional staff will allow ABE to produce unique on-demand eLearning content for the next wave of biomedical engineers. ABE can become the trusted source for cutting-edge content by leveraging the value of association experts and collaborating with corporate partners to produce new products. Several council members believe their is potential new sales with international customers.

Now that we understand what George is trying to achieve, let’s see how the ten step process helped him get the funding he needed to make his vision a reality.

• 10,000 active members

• $10.2M annual revenue

• Live events and seminars dominate PD content offerings

• Very little eLearning content

• Recent dip in live event attendance has board members concerned

Case Study Example

Association of Biomedical Engineers (ABE)

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LOBBY INFLUENCERS AHEAD OF TIME

Lay the groundwork for success ahead of time by approaching key board members and providing them with information and opportunities to provide input at the early stages of your plan—assuming that your supervisor has given you permission to speak directly to board members, of course. This open line of communication offers influencers a legitimate stake in the project from the beginning, so they become invested in getting the initiative approved. Transparency builds trust, and collaboration builds consensus.

PHASE 1: ANALYSIS1Early on in the process, George approached his supervisor about his plan and inquired about which board members his supervisor is well-connected with. He then learned about their expertise and approached two individuals he thought would be great champions of his plan when it all came together, Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Fitzpatrick. He was able to draw on their knowledge and get board members excited about the potential of his idea.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

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2ADMIT WHATYOU

DON’TKNOW

When you need to secure an investment from an executive director or a board of directors for a big picture eLearning initiative, you must have the numbers, marketing plan, technology platform and other other components aligned to back up your creative vision. If you don’t speak to the language of seasoned MBAs and CPAs in the areas of finance, marketing and technoology, find people that do. For example, if you want to sell eLearning ROI for your vision, you need to support your pitch with sensible projections and multi-year estimates that put the financial-minded decision makers at ease. Consider hiring a consultant. Consultants can be found by searching blogs, conference speaker lists and by talking to colleagues.

PHASE 1: ANALYSIS

George’s vision is in place, but he needs help with developing the business plan and navigating the eLearning market before he can present to the board. He seeks out an expert consultant to help develop his vision into a strategic business plan. The board approves the use of money in his department’s budget to hire a consultant, and gives George six months to prepare his presentation. So, what’s next?

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

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PERFORM A MARKET ANALYSIS

The next step is to perform a market analysis. You need to understand the size of the market, relevant trends, growth potential opportunities, market needs, target market groups, and the strategies of competitors.

Use member surveys, interviews of key prospects and customers, and marketing data to identify key needs in the target market. Ask your Professional Development council members for key contacts. Drive decisions based on market demand, rather than solely on board or staff agendas. If you find that members are seeking on-demand professional development training and continuing education credits to maintain professional licenses and certifications, a carefully thought out eLearning initiative can help you penetrate the market. Take stock of the competition to get an idea of how rival associations deliver professional development to members.

Gather as much information as you can so you can make informed decisions on how to build your eLearning business plan. A good market analysis helps you avoid making bad assumptions.

PHASE 1: ANALYSIS 3

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3The expert consultant worked with George to evaluate the (external) environmental factors at play. The consultant identifies the following external factors in her report:

• Industry surveys indicate a significant increase in the acceptance of eLearning among recent graduates of biomedical engineering programs.

• Member surveys and international contacts reveal increased demand for online professional development offerings.

• Attendance for live events in the industry has dropped in each of the last three years, while on-demand purchases have increased over the same time period.

• Several competitors have invested in LMS platforms as a response to the on-demand trends, but they have invested in low-cost, limited functionality solutions that may limit their market penetration.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

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PERFORM A SWOT ANALYSIS

Next, analyze your Strengths, your Weaknesses, the Opportunities available to you, and the Threats you face when mapping out a large eLearning initiative. A SWOT analysis will help you to determine a realistic market position. It will also provide you with a baseline for developing concrete objectives and strategic actions to guide your project.

The basic idea with a SWOT is to gather key stakeholders and staff members with diverse functions and responsibilities within the organization to map out the relationship between internal strengths and weaknesses (physical resources, finances, operational processes, reputation and goodwill, etc.) and external opportunities and threats (industry trends, economic factors, changes in customer demographics, competition, relevant regulation/ legislation, etc.).

The strengths and opportunities you identify become the basis for your strategic objectives, while the weaknesses and threats add urgency to your ultimate call to action. Remember, it’s not enough to come away with a list of strategic objectives. Develop the practical connections between your high-level objectives and the actions you need to take to achieve your goals.

PHASE 1: ANALYSIS4

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4The expert consultant interviews ABE staff members and gathers a multi-functional team to brainstorm on ABE’s educational offerings to identify the (internal) organizational and (external) environmental factors at play. The consultant identifies the following internal factors in her report:

• Excellent collection of association experts aligned with ABE

• High potential for ABE to own hot topics in the industry by working with experts to create on-demand content

• Silo’ed structure of ABE’s learning department is not conducive to converting live training material into effective online learning – the manager of live instructor-led training has no incentive to collaborate with manager of eLearning content to create on-demand replacements.

• Reorganization of the learning department is necessary to leverage expertise.

• Online catalog is outdated and difficult to use. • eCommerce and LMS need to be upgraded and

integrated.• Current webinar offerings do not satisfy best practices

for instructional design (content chunking, learner engagement, check-on-learning activities).

• Investment in content authoring software will improve production quality and allow ABE to meet best practices of instructional design.

CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

S W

O T

• Aligned with key industry experts and instructors

• Positioned well to own hot topics

• Silo’ed structure stifles development of online content

• Online catalog is outdated and difficult to use

• Industry and member surveys show increasing desire for on-demand eLearning

• No clear premium eLearning content provider currently exists in the industry

• Attendance for live events has decreased over the past three years

• Competitors have started to invest in eLearning platforms

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TARGET NEW CUSTOMERS

In Step 5, make choices about your target audiences based on analysis in prior steps. Hopefully, your SWOT or market analysis identified potential new customers. For online education, new markets may include:

Licensing optionsAggregators of educational content

Bulk salesCorporationsMember Organization Affiliates

Micro-credentials“Light certifications”

International markets

Consult with your marketing team on feasibility of reaching your target audiences and a high level marketing plan.

PHASE 2: PROJECTION55

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DETERMINE PRICE POINTS AND MARGINOnce you’ve performed your competitive analysis and identified your target market, it’s time to crunch some numbers. Some guesswork is involved here, as you can play around with the sales volume, product pricing, and profit margin to come up with all sorts of scenarios to present to the board.

The cost to produce and deliver a product includes development costs (internal and external costs, subject matter experts, etc.), administrative costs (hardware, software, support, etc.), delivery costs (LMS licensing, e-commerce costs, etc.), and marketing costs.

Settle on realistic cost estimates before you start playing around with markups and price points. Use your market analysis numbers to estimate demand from members and non-members, and then use your cost estimates to develop viable price points to generate profit.

PHASE 2: PROJECTION 66

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Based on the chosen pricing model and the results of the market analysis, George chooses the following price points for the new eLearning content in the proposal:

Member

Non-Member

Mini-MOOC Introduction Course

Full Certification Program

$20

$30

$750

$900

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6 CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

Member

Non-Member

Flipped Classroom with Live Q&A Webinar

Flipped Classroom with Q&A Webinar Replay

$79

$95

$99

$135

Member

Non-Member

Biomedical Engineer Exam Prep Course – Any One Topic( Self-Paced)

Biomedical Engineer Exam Prep Course – Any One Topic( Live Online + Self-Paced)

$369

$475

$429

$575

Biomedical Engineer Exam Prep Course – Any One Topic( Self-Paced)

Biomedical Engineer Exam Prep Course – Any One Topic( Live Online + Self-Paced)

$999

$1199

$1199

$1499

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The SWOT analysis, business objectives, strategies, market analysis, and price projections must then be converted into a multi-year financial projection for your eLearning initiative. Find a past project that succeeded and use it as a launching point.

• Review an existing successful pro forma to get a starting point

• Ask for an example of a similar proposal• Make sure you understand how the

association budget works (ask the executive director, if necessary)

• When can money be borrowed from the reserves?

• Is it possible to get a grant from your association’s foundation?

In your projections, be prepared to lose money in the first few years or so (you’re making a long-term investment). Identify the break-even date for the initiative, and include graphs and charts that summarize the growth of revenue and net operating income as the plan matures in later years. Show how it pays to capitalize on the opportunity you’ve spotted.

CREATE A MULTI-YEARPROJECTION

PHASE 2: PROJECTION

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7 CASE STUDY EXAMPLE, PART 7

Based on the selected price points, George (with some help from help from a number-cruncher in the office) develops the following multi-year projection for the initiative;

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IDENTIFY STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES

Remember that you are trying to build consensus and agreement among a diverse set of board members. This means that you need to identify factions and key swing votes. Tailor your message—and even the substance of your plan— to get those people on board with your project. Talk to your colleagues: how did they get buy-in from stakeholders?

One simple technique used in sales is to create a matrix of influencers, identify their individual agendas, and then match their agenda to a feature of your pitch.Then, use your matrix to drive your presentation. When you get to the slide that addresses a particular influencer’s agenda, ensure that you are directly tying the feature to the agenda: “This product does not overburden our IT department, because the vendor hosts it.”

PHASE 3: THE PITCH88

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8 CASE STUDY EXAMPLE, PART 8

• Influencer: Dr. Johnson

• Agenda: Driving innovation

• Highlight in Presentation: Badges and micro-credentialing

George knows there are several key board members who can make-or-break his initiative. Everything in his pitch must be presented with a purpose. He gathers information about them and develops a cheat sheet to identify their individual agendas to help him craft a convincing message for the board.

• Influencer: Mr. Harada

• Agenda: Sound finances

• Highlight in Presentation: Strong revenue projections and realistic expense line.

• Influencer: Mrs. Fitzpatrick

• Agenda: Avoiding overburdening IT

• Highlight in Presentation: Vendor-hosted platform

• Influencer: Mr. Brown

• Agenda: Traditional live learning sessions

• Feature: Blended learning and instructor-led content

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9CREATE PRESENTATION AND PROJECT PLAN

You can learn some valuable things from watching Shark Tank, but you can only carry the metaphor so far. Your stakeholders will never be as theatrical as the “sharks,” but you can pick up some relevant questions and answers from the show.

Come in to your pitch with an agenda that includes an elevator pitch, brief project background, strategy and financials.

Do not alternate words with your co-presenter or bring your pets to the pitch to spice things up. Add some visual flair with a slideshow with charts and graphics that covers the main points of your pitch, and bring along a full business plan document to give to board members. Don’t use these elements as a crutch during your presentation. Use them to answer questions and keep the pitch focused on generating buy-in from the board. Keep each slide to a maximum of three minutes and have “back pocket” slides for each if you’re asked to go into more depth.

PHASE 3: THE PITCH

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DEVELOP AN ELEVATOR PITCHIt’s not enough to analyze the market, crunch the numbers, and identify growth opportunities for your association in the eLearning space. You need to develop your elevator pitch – a concise, jargon-free presentation that distills your grand plan into a short speech with a hook designed to spark interest and inspire action from key stakeholders.

There are precious few minutes you will have to get in front of board members and convince them to green light your project. Don’t get bogged down in byzantine numbers or dry details; distill your grand vision of how you can leverage the association’s expertise to capitalize on a golden opportunity.

Believe in your plan. Don’t be afraid to “blue-sky” your estimates in this part of the pitch. Assume the bold actions identified in your plan will lead to bright opportunities. You’re here to explain how you’ve found the perfect prospect for your association. Put your plan in the spotlight.

PHASE 3: THE PITCH 10

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George takes the information developed for the full multi-year projection and business plan and works to distill it into an impactful message. He summarizes the financial plan in a “highlights” document and works to communicate his strategy through a slick presentation.

10 CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

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George laid the groundwork for approval prior to his presentation by working with key stakeholders to develop his plan. He asked Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Fitzpatrick to join in the SWOT analysis step, where they identified the need for a high-end LMS vendor with a proven badging platform for eLearning. He sought out an assistant who works closely with Mr. Harada to help develop the business plan and craft the multi-year projections. Finally, he incorporated examples of blended learning and Mini-MOOC offerings with instructor interactions into his elevator pitch to help convince Mr. Brown to approve the plan. This carefully coordinated effort allowed George to step in front of the board and knock his presentation out of the park. His initiative received unanimous approval from the board, and he was selected to oversee the initiative. Success!

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

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About Web CourseworksWeb Courseworks is a learning technologies and consulting company. We help associations leverage technology and drive highly successful education initiatives that push them to be the leading provider of education in their field.

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