About Cash Converters
Cash Converters Southern Africa specializes in the buying and selling of pre-owned goods, as well as providing both secured and unsecured loans. The master license for Sub-Saharan Africa was signed in 1994, and the company now runs a network of close to 90 franchised stores all over South Africa and Namibia, and employs more than 1,100 staff across the group.
We spoke with Bev Slabbert, Training & Development Manager for Cash Converters Southern Africa, about the challenges of training a large workforce, and the success they’ve seen with TalentLMS.
For Cash Converters, employee learning & development has always been a priority. That’s why they had already been using an LMS for six years before switching to TalentLMS. Bev explains that as the company grows, it makes sense to look for tools that improve productivity and efficacy while staying within budget.
The challenge: training that goes hand in hand with business needs
Prior to the expiry of their previous LMS, Bev was investigating different training solutions, with the aim of finding a more cost-effective platform. Teams were scaling and the training needs were rising, and Cash Converters wanted to maintain their training quality without massive cost implications.
“I didn’t want to have a smaller training team and keep an expensive tool.”
Pricing was not the only consideration, though.
Ease-of-use was equally important Bev says. “I used to spend almost my entire day inside our previous system as it was not as intuitive as it could have been.” This was mirrored on the employee side, as the staff experienced technical difficulties, too, and needed ongoing support in order to take a course or complete an assessment.
So, she started reviewing different options in the LMS market. And one of the tools she tried out was TalentLMS.
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Getting to know TalentLMS
Bev explains why TalentLMS had a clear edge from the get-go:
“[TalentLMS] was the only platform that allowed me to create a free account first and see exactly what I’d be getting.”
An additional selling point was that TalentLMS comes with a ready-made course library, TalentLibrary™. Bev was excited she could explore it even though she wasn’t a paying customer yet.
“Despite the fact that I had been with my previous LMS for six years, I would have liked to get a taste of their library before committing to their package. TalentLMS gave me the transparency I needed.”
For Beth and her team, TalentLMS was as intuitive as they had hoped for. Although it’s a visual departure from their previous tool, they quickly became familiar with its playful and modern interface.
So, making the transition to TalentLMS wasn’t a tough decision for Cash Converters.
I didn’t have to convince senior management about TalentLMS. They were sold by the capability offered along with the attractive pricing. And I was sold by TalentLibrary.
BEV SLABBERT | TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
How TalentLibrary adds value to employee training
Bev had always wanted to create courses on soft skills for the Cash Converters network, but, as she says, there’s always something more urgent, business-related that needs to take priority – especially in the highly regulated world within which the business operates. The ready-made courses from TalentLibrary allow her to offer this kind of training, and employees are responding really well.
In fact, two out of the five most popular courses across the company are from TalentLibrary: ‘Customer relationships’ and ‘Celebrating difference and diversity’.
Bev explains why people love the animated videos they find in TalentLibrary courses.
“[For some of our employees], English is not their native language. Animated stories and characters help them follow the training material easily, making learning simple.”
Employees can easily log into the platform and take a course, whether they’re working from home and need a break, or as they commute to work. Course completion rate has increased by 10-15% ever since the implementation of TalentLMS, Bev says.
“I thought there’d be a catch with TalentLMS, but now I know there isn’t. I just couldn’t imagine that I’d find a better training platform without breaking the bank.”
