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Customer Story

How Avatar Fleet Built a Sustainable Revenue Model Using LearnUpon

100%

increase in monthly MRR

95%

customer retention rate

1-2hr

reduction in access to training

With a mission to make the world a safer place, Avatar Fleet is one of the top transportation training companies in the United States.

Looking to propel the business forward, the organization needed a powerful learning solution at the core of this innovative strategy. Choosing LearnUpon for its flexibility, consistency, and ease of use, Avatar Fleet reinvented its business and revenue model to become a leading subscription-based, online training provider.

“LearnUpon transformed our business model. It enables us to have an off-the-shelf product that changed our organization and created a more predictable, sustainable revenue source.”

John Kuder

VP of Marketing and Development at Avatar Management Services

Challenge: An Inflexible Process

In the business world, change is inevitable. For many organizations, this means having to shift processes, rethink strategy, and even reinvent how the entire business works. As a leading transportation training company, Avatar Fleet knew that to stay one step ahead of its competitors, it needed to embrace this change.

Originally, working one-on-one with transportation clients, it developed custom curriculums to solve their individual needs. However, this had its limitations. Not only were sales cycles long, but according to John Kuder, VP of Marketing and Development at Avatar Management Services, “shipping physical products was expensive and keeping things up-to-date was difficult.”

Therefore, in 2018, it was time to pivot direction. Avatar Fleet decided to become a subscription-based training company, selling off-the-shelf courses to a wider audience in an affordable, scalable way. And, at the center, would be a learning solution enabling the business to manage and deliver it all online.

Solution: An Online Learning Platform Enabling A Sustainable Revenue Model

Selecting LearnUpon over the others due to its consistency and reliability, Avatar Fleet has future-proofed the business.

Escaping the constraints of its previous model, it now has 100% of its training online, with LearnUpon helping empower the company to increase its customer base and build a predictable monthly recurring revenue engine.

“Delivering online learning through LearnUpon is the most important part of our business. It’s allowed us to take our off-the-shelf product and bring it to more companies, in an affordable way.”

John Kuder

VP of Marketing and Development at Avatar Management Services

Unique, user-friendly environments for each customer

With a 95% retention rate, a big driver of its success has been the experience LearnUpon provides for Avatar Fleet’s customers. As John explains, “We have a lot of variation in users, so ease of use is huge. Our customers are blown away by LearnUpon’s ease of use.” And, crucially, this user-friendliness starts from the get-go.

When a new customer comes aboard, in just a couple of clicks, Avatar’s team creates a custom portal. “One of the biggest selling points”, says John, it’s a distinct, branded environment where customers can enroll their learners, deliver Avatar’s off-the-shelf courses, and report on the learning that’s been done.

Then, for learners, they simply just have to log in – on desktop or mobile – where they can access and complete lots of different types of training programs, including self-directed, instructor-led, and more.

Driving new business with LearnUpon and HubSpot

Not only is Avatar Fleet using LearnUpon as a place for its customers, but it’s also become a tool to nurture and convert prospects. When a prospect signs up through Avatar’s website, they’re added to LearnUpon, where they can access a 14-day free trial of courses – a high-impact way of closing new business. And, thanks to LearnUpon’s integration with HubSpot, Avatar’s team has automated and scaled the process too.

In the past, user management to LearnUpon was laborious – a prospect would fill out a form, the Sales team would get a notification, and they would manually add them to the LMS. Although the team was speedy (1-2 hours on average to add a prospect), the small gap in time was enough to cause many prospects to lose interest.

Now, with LearnUpon and HubSpot connected, it’s all automated. There’s zero delay for prospects to start testing out Avatar’s courses.

“We love the LearnUpon and HubSpot integration. With the automated sign-up, our rates have improved and it’s increasing sales as people are taking advantage of the free trial.”

John Kuder

VP of Marketing and Development at Avatar Management Services

Up Next: More clients, more portals, more LearnUpon

Although 5+ years into their journey with LearnUpon, John and the Avatar Fleet team are still seeing opportunities to grow. With a large market to target and an ever expanding number of off-the-shelf courses, the plan is to continue to have LearnUpon at the center of this strategy.

“We want to sell what we have and keep growing our subscription product. We want more clients, more portals, and we want to use LearnUpon more as our business grows.”

John Kuder

VP of Marketing and Development at Avatar Management Services