Launching a new product is stressful enough. Training your sales and customer teams shouldn’t make it worse. If you’ve got Brainshark in your toolkit, you have a solid platform for getting product knowledge out fast—assuming you know what to do (and what to skip). This guide is for enablement pros, product marketers, or anyone suddenly on the hook for “training” as part of a launch. We’ll walk through what actually works in Brainshark, where people trip up, and how to avoid wasting hours fiddling with features you don’t need.
Step 1: Figure Out What You Actually Need to Train
Before you even open Brainshark, get clear on what people need to know and do. This saves you from turning a simple launch into a 2-hour slog nobody finishes.
- Talk to your audience. Ask a few sales reps or CSMs what’s confusing about the new product. Don’t just guess.
- Define “must know” vs. “nice to know.” Most launches only have 3–5 critical things: positioning, pricing, competitors, key demo points, and how to handle tough questions.
- Decide on your goal. Is this just info sharing, or do you need people to pass a quiz?
Pro tip: Training isn’t a launch party. Skip the fluff and focus on what changes what they do tomorrow.
Step 2: Gather Your Materials (and Don’t Overthink It)
You probably have more than you think: slides, demo videos, a battlecard, or just a killer one-pager. Brainshark eats up all sorts of content, but boring is still boring.
- PowerPoint slides work fine, but keep them short—10 slides is plenty.
- Screen recordings are great for showing new features in action.
- PDFs and docs can be attached, but don’t rely on them as your main event.
What to ignore: Fancy animations, endless “branding” tweaks, or cramming everything into a single deck. People learn best from short, clear, focused content.
Step 3: Build Your Training in Brainshark (The Essentials)
Okay, now open Brainshark and start building. Here’s what actually matters:
3.1. Create a New Presentation
- Click “Create” and then “Presentation.”
- Upload your slides or other media.
- Rearrange or delete any junk slides.
3.2. Add Audio or Video (But Don’t Monologue)
- Recording audio over slides can help, but keep it tight—think 30 seconds per slide.
- If you use video, make sure it’s relevant. No one needs to see you reading slides.
- Don’t stress about studio-quality. Clear and direct wins.
3.3. Use Slide Notes for Key Points
- Use notes to reinforce main ideas or give extra context.
- Bullet points beat giant paragraphs.
3.4. Add Simple Interactivity
- Brainshark lets you add quiz questions and polls. Use these to check understanding, not as a “gotcha.”
- 3–5 questions max. Don’t make it a final exam.
3.5. Attach Extra Resources
- If you have PDFs, price lists, or cheat sheets, attach them to the presentation for easy access.
What to skip: Don’t get lost in customizing themes or transitions. Most people won’t notice, and it eats time.
Step 4: Test It Like a Real User
Before you blast it out to the whole company, test your training. Seriously—don’t skip this.
- Share it with a couple of real users. Ask them to click through and give honest feedback.
- Watch them go through it, if you can. See where they get stuck or bored.
- Fix what’s confusing. If they’re lost, others will be too.
Pro tip: If they’re rolling their eyes at slide 3, you probably need to cut some fluff.
Step 5: Distribute Your Training to the Right People
Now comes the part that makes or breaks your launch: actually getting people to see (and finish) your training.
5.1. Set Up Your Audience
- In Brainshark, you can assign training by team, role, or individual.
- Make sure you’re not sending it to people who don’t need it—nothing kills credibility faster than irrelevant “mandatory” training.
5.2. Send Clear, Direct Invitations
- Use Brainshark’s email feature, or send a link through Slack/Teams.
- Tell people what’s in it for them (“Here’s what’s new, and how it helps you close deals”).
- Give a realistic deadline.
Pro tip: If you can, get a sales leader or exec to vouch for the training. People pay more attention when the request comes from someone they know.
5.3. Remind Them—But Don’t Nag
- One reminder halfway to the deadline is usually enough.
- If people aren’t completing, check if the training is too long or confusing. The problem might not be their motivation.
Step 6: Track Completion and Reinforce What Matters
Brainshark gives you pretty decent tracking tools, but don’t drown in stats.
- Completion reports: See who’s done, who’s started, and who’s ignoring it.
- Quiz scores: Useful for spotting where people are missing key info.
- Follow-up: If a lot of people miss the same question, follow up with a quick explainer or update the training.
What to ignore: Fancy dashboards or trying to tie training to performance right away. Focus on ensuring people got the basics.
Step 7: Gather Feedback and Iterate
No training is perfect on the first try. Get feedback and make tweaks.
- Ask for honest feedback. Was it useful? Too long? Anything missing?
- Watch for recurring questions. If everyone keeps asking the same thing, your training missed it.
- Update and re-share only if needed. Don’t make a habit of constant tweaks, but fix anything major.
Pro tip: Keep a list of what you’d do differently next time. You’ll thank yourself at the next launch.
What Actually Works (And What Doesn’t)
Works well: - Short, focused content that respects people’s time. - Real examples instead of generic product overviews. - Simple quizzes to check understanding.
Doesn’t work: - Hour-long presentations nobody finishes. - Overly polished videos that take weeks to make. - Training that tries to cover every possible scenario—stick to the 80/20.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Here’s the real secret: Good training isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being clear, useful, and easy to access. Brainshark is a decent tool for this when you keep things simple and focus on what people actually need. Don’t get stuck chasing features or making “the perfect deck.” Ship it, learn from feedback, and make the next one even better. That’s how you help teams crush a product launch—without burning yourself out in the process.