How to Sell Corporate Learning Packages as a Startup: A Complete Guide
- LMSPortals
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Breaking into the corporate learning space as a small startup isn’t easy. You're competing with legacy vendors, established learning platforms, and in-house training teams. But that doesn’t mean it's impossible. If you have a strong product that solves a real need, and you're smart about how you approach the market, you can absolutely win business.
This guide will walk you through how to do just that.
1. Know What You’re Selling
Before you try to sell anything, you need total clarity on what your learning package includes. Is it:
Self-paced online modules?
Live virtual instructor-led training?
A blended model?
Custom content for specific industries or departments?
Make it crystal clear how your package works, what problems it solves, and who it’s best suited for. Corporate buyers want specifics. They want to see the structure, outcomes, and ROI.
Action Step:
Create a one-pager that summarizes your learning product, the audience it's built for, outcomes it drives, and case studies or testimonials if available.
2. Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Not every company is your customer. The fastest way to get traction is to focus on companies that are the best fit for what you offer.
Define your ICP by:
Company size
Common challenges
Typical buyers (e.g., HR leaders, L&D managers, team leads)
Start narrow. For example, you might target fast-growing SaaS companies with 100-500 employees that need onboarding programs for remote hires.
Action Step:
Build a list of 50 companies that fit your ICP. Use LinkedIn, Crunchbase, or tools like Apollo or Clay to find relevant contacts.
3. Build a Problem-Focused Pitch
Corporate buyers don’t care about features. They care about solving problems. Your messaging should lead with problems they already know they have.
Bad pitch: "We offer a cutting-edge learning management system with gamification and AI-powered assessments."
Better pitch: "We help remote teams onboard 40% faster by turning tribal knowledge into a repeatable training system."
Focus on outcomes: faster ramp time, better compliance, reduced manager time spent training, etc.
Action Step:
Develop 2-3 pitch variations that are problem-first. Test them with your network or in outreach.
4. Leverage Warm Intros and Social Proof
Cold outreach is tough when you're a no-name startup. What helps? Warm intros and social proof.
Ask your existing network for intros to L&D or HR leaders.
Post insights or short case studies on LinkedIn to build credibility.
Get testimonials from early customers, even if they’re small.
Even one happy client in a similar industry can help open doors.
Action Step:
Reach out to 10 people in your network and ask: "Do you know anyone in HR or L&D who might be open to sharing how they approach [problem you solve]?"
5. Start with Pilots
Large corporate buyers don’t want to roll out an untested program to 10,000 employees. But they will try it with one team or department.
Make it easy to say yes:
Offer a 4-week pilot with clear goals.
Define success metrics upfront.
Keep the implementation light.
If the pilot goes well, upsell from there.
Action Step:
Create a "pilot package" offering with pricing, scope, and success metrics.
6. Price Strategically
Don’t race to the bottom. Your pricing should reflect the value you create. But you do need to be flexible and simple.
Offer:
Flat pricing for small teams
Per-user pricing at scale
Discounts for multi-month commitments
Avoid complex tiers and hidden fees. Buyers don’t have time to decode your model.
Action Step:
Draft three pricing options: small team pilot, mid-size rollout, and full org deployment.
7. Make It Easy to Buy
Corporate buyers are busy. If buying your product requires multiple steps, unclear contracts, or long procurement cycles, you’ll lose them.
Tips:
Have a clear onboarding plan.
Provide a sample contract.
Be responsive and direct.
Help them look good internally by making your solution seem low-risk and high-reward.
Action Step:
Write a 1-page onboarding plan and include it in your pitch deck.
8. Use Tools to Look Bigger Than You Are
Small doesn’t have to look small. Use tools to give the impression of scale:
A polished website with FAQs and product tours
Email sequences for follow-ups
Calendly for booking demos
Loom for async walkthroughs
You can automate a lot without losing the personal touch.
Action Step:
Record a short, high-quality product demo using Loom that you can send after meetings.
9. Focus on One Win at a Time
Don’t try to land a Fortune 500 deal out of the gate. Focus on:
Getting your first pilot
Turning it into a case study
Using that to get another pilot
Momentum compounds. Success stories build trust. After 2-3 successful clients, you’ll have a playbook.
Action Step:
Turn your first successful pilot into a slide deck showing the before/after impact.
10. Keep Listening and Iterating
Your first version won’t be perfect. Listen to feedback from prospects and clients. What are they really struggling with? What language do they use?
Update your messaging, content, and product based on real input. You’ll become more relevant with every conversation.
Action Step:
After every sales call, write down:
What resonated
What confused them
What objections came up
Over time, these notes will help you refine your entire go-to-market strategy.
Final Thoughts
Selling corporate learning packages as a small startup isn’t about acting like a big company. It’s about solving a specific problem better than anyone else and proving that with each deal.
Focus on clarity, outcomes, and relationships. Start small, stay focused, and build from there. If your product drives real results, the sales will follow.
Stay scrappy, stay sharp.
About LMS Portals
At LMS Portals, we provide our clients and partners with a mobile-responsive, SaaS-based, multi-tenant learning management system that allows you to launch a dedicated training environment (a portal) for each of your unique audiences.
The system includes built-in, SCORM-compliant rapid course development software that provides a drag and drop engine to enable most anyone to build engaging courses quickly and easily.
We also offer a complete library of ready-made courses, covering most every aspect of corporate training and employee development.
If you choose to, you can create Learning Paths to deliver courses in a logical progression and add structure to your training program. The system also supports Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) and provides tools for social learning.
Together, these features make LMS Portals the ideal SaaS-based eLearning platform for our clients and our Reseller partners.
Contact us today to get started or visit our Partner Program pages
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