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Leveraging Information and Communication Technology for Sales Training: Two Short Cases
Nike 'Sports Knowledge Underground'
Nike, Inc. (Nike), one of the world’s leading footwear and apparel companies, designed an e-learning program in 2003 for the thousands of sales associates stationed in the stores that sold its products. The interactive web-based training program, called ‘Sports Knowledge Underground’ (SKU), closely resembled a video game, and immediately caught the attention of industry observers. With revenues of US$ 25.33 billion for the year ended May 31, 2013, Nike was the world’s leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel. Its global headquarters were located at Beaverton, Oregon, Portland. It employed more than 40,000 people worldwide. Over the years, Nike had earned a name for itself for its innovative products. But the company also realized that bringing out innovative products alone and advertising them effectively would not suffice; it would also have to ensure that the sales associates at the stores had good product knowledge and were able to pitch the benefits of the products to the customer...... |
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According to Mike Donahue (Donahue), Program Director / E-Learning Manager, Nike, “We knew that we did a great job of advertising and that we could drive people into the stores, but ultimately the person that is talking to the customer is a 16- to 22-year-old kid… We wanted them to have a better dialogue with the consumer.”
In addition to providing training to its employees, the company also made efforts to ensure that each of its employees knew the history and heritage of the company through initiatives such as story telling. “Every company has a history… But we have a little bit more than a history. We have a heritage, something that’s still relevant today. If we connect people to that, chances are that they won’t view Nike as just another place to work,” said Dave Pearson, a training manager at Nike..........
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