Using an in-house team supported by Vuepoint Corporation's services team and the VLS Learning System, Black & Decker's North American Industrial Products Group developed training courses and curriculum to boost sales in support of new product launches. Custom content was rapidly developed using Vuepoint's system. The target audience included Black & Decker's entire US-based sales force, as well as distributors and field specialists. As part of the product launch preparation program, for the trial period accessed, sales increased about 63 percent versus a run rate six weeks prior and six weeks post control period.

During the 18-week period, controllable marketing variables remained the same. Dave Pruitt, Director of Training and Recruiting for Black Decker, says, Our sales results were way up, and all of the other variables were constant, so we confidently attribute our sales boost to the increased knowledge of our sales people, and that of the retail professionals representing our products, while utilizing Vuepoint solutions during our test period.

Having demonstrated a definitive link between training and sales, the Industrial Products Group's internal demand for training programs from their sales and marketing teams is skyrocketing. Their ultimate goal: Develop the best trained personnel, owning the deepest product and brand knowledge in the industry, in order to increase market share and profits.

We are extremely pleased to see the results from this pilot study, says Ara Ohanian, CEO of Vuepoint. First, while common sense indicates that increased knowledge should equal increased sales, it is encouraging to see not only concrete confirmation of this, but the large impact of the sales boost. Secondly, we are in business to help our clients improve their business, so these results are extremely gratifying. Finally, we think this is a harbinger of increasing maturity within our industry, where Vuepoint's ability to develop business cases, produce custom content, and leverage the inherent flexibility of its system, will deliver more effective top-line results than any of our competitors.