The agriculture business is constantly evolving, and in order to remain relevant and effective, marketing professionals need to keep pace with changes and upskill themselves. While some learning and development should be done on their own time, employers should invest in upskilling their employees so that the company remains competitive and has access to the skills needed for success.

Here are seven ways to upskill your employees in the agriculture industry.  

Use Video-Based Learning 

Video-based tools show employees specific skills in action. A lot of people respond well to video, especially when it is concise. People find the medium engaging, and it is a great way to show things like differences between ineffective and effective selling techniques.  

Use Gamification  

Badges and leaderboards can be very motivating, especially if you have a lot of Millennial employees on your team. Younger people tend to have a natural desire for competition, achievement, status and immediate feedback. Gamification provides instant gratification, instant “standings” and positive feedback for completing tasks and quizzes.  

Embrace Microlearning  

Holding all-day training sessions can be counterproductive. People only retain a small fraction of the information they learn in a full-day session, and they will be stressed out about the work they are not doing while they are subjected to training. Microlearning – short form lessons – can keep sales and marketing pros on track while providing them with less invasive opportunities to learn new skills.  

Invest In Mobile 

Whatever type of training or learning platform(s) you implement, make sure they are mobile-friendly. First, it will allow employees to learn in their spare time. Second, it helps them build mobile skills, which become increasingly more important with each passing year.  

Develop a Mentoring Program  

Mentoring offers employees a great way to upskill while building relationships and building the organization’s succession plan. Two-way, multigenerational mentoring can help with upskilling because younger employees can help teach older employees about emerging tech while they receive career guidance in exchange.  

Hold Lunch-and-Learn Seminars 

Traditional training programs take employees away from their work. But training over lunch is a much less intrusive way to help team members build skills. For sessions that are particularly important, consider catering the lunch to entice people to participate.  

Develop Career Maps 

Career maps help employees see a future with your organization. They also provide a roadmap for keeping skills sharp by giving them the information they need to build skills to take the next step forward.  

Are You Hiring Sales and Marketing Pros for your Ag Business?  

Even if you keep your staff upskilled, you will still find yourself in need of highly skilled new employees. If you are seeking sales and marketing talent for your ag business, contact the expert agriculture recruiters at Morris Bixby today.