In the coming months we will ask our consultants about their background in learning & development, the Xprtise projects that make them proud and their vision about the biggest challenges in L&D the coming years.  We’d like to introduce the Xprtise team to you, starting with our Chief Sales Officer Gregory Groce. Greg is a proven sales leader and business development executive with more than 20 years in learning and technology industries.

Who? Gregory Groce.
What? Chief Sales Officer at Xprtise since inception.
Where? Xprtise US, Chicago and Philadelphia

“In my opinion the best way to beat competition is to compete against yourself.”

Together with my wife and three children (a girl and two boys) I reside in the Philadelphia area in the United States. My wife is also an entrepreneur in the fashion industry, so we have a true entrepreneurial household. My background is in technology, as I earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and worked for different technology companies in the 90’s. In early 2000 I transitioned to the L&D industries, with a focus on e-learning. Before co-founding and joining Xprtise US, I held a sales leadership position at two start-up organizations, CorpU and Ontuitive, where I was responsible for securing and maintaining the largest enterprise clients. In 2007 I met Alfred Remmits, the CEO of Xprtise, and since that time we’ve worked closely together.

What do you get most energy from? What is your passion?

I really am a ‘people person’. From a personal point of view I love to be together with my wife, kids, family and friends. From a business point of view it’s why I can get along with so many different people and company cultures. I know how to deal with challenging situations. I am also a very competitive person, that started early in my childhoods with school and sports and have continued on with my business endeavors. Not just competing against others or businesses. In my opinion the best way to beat the competition is to compete against yourself.

What makes learning & development interesting business for you?

For me this is about the global landscape; about where we are as a global economy. In this world we have no boundaries, that makes our work so interesting. Let me take a Fortune 500 manufacturer we work with as an example. Everyone knows this global brand of consumer products based in the US, but no one knows that over 75 percent of the employees work outside the US and that their market share is broader overseas. Being global brings clear strategic benefits: the ability to access new customer markets, new suppliers, and new partners. But how employees learn and perform on a global scale is different in every part of the world. The second thing is that everything we do at Xprtise has to do with strategy. We are not selling tools, we are selling a methodology that transforms how employees fundamentally work. We are facing pressing issues in L&D: do organizations have the right people and the right know how to implement the right workplace learning solutions? That excites me.

You are part of the Executive Management team of Xprtise and responsible for leading all sales and marketing related activities. Tell me more…

In my role as CSO I work closely with Fortune 500 companies. Together with the team I help them deliver workplace learning solutions that drive employee performance through an adaptive learning and performance support technology suite. In addition to my sales responsibilities, I am involved in company strategy and product management. Most important part of my role is driving revenue and ‘securing new logos’. Other parts are customer relationship management, investigation of technology such as LinkedIn, Facebook Business and Twitter. And last but not least: building the US team. We are based in Chicago but work closely together, onsite or virtually, with the team in The Netherlands to deliver world-class solutions for our clients.

What kind of clients does the team help?

We are primarily dealing with companies that have globally distributed work forces. A perfect example is a Fortune 500 auto manufacturer. In North America they support 13,000+ services centers. This is one of North America’s largest manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks. We are currently exploring ways to significantly reduce error associated with parts tied to warranty claims through our algorithmic based technology. Another example is our work with a Fortune 500 consumer goods manufacturer. We are supporting the operators working on the plant floor, providing contextually relevant support so they can successful ensure no dips in efficiency take place during product changeovers within the line. The third one is for a Fortune 500 global health insurance company. They are tasked with standing up a new business in the Middle East that involves over 100,000 customers throughout the region. They are using algorithmic methods where there most critical information they need to know is made permanent through spaced repetition of content. The business measures are tied to net promoter scores and customer satisfaction. They are looking to potentially adopt this on a global-scale for all call center employees.

What, in your view, makes Xprtise unique to work with?

The benefits of working in a small company is that we know our colleagues personally, we have an open culture and most important: we are all aligned in making the company as a successful one. Critical factors are clear communication, honesty and directness. Unique to Xprtise is the methodology we use. With our methodology we focus on providing an engaging, inspiring learning experience that is appropriate to every stage in the learning journey at the moment of need and is always tied to important business measures we are trying to solve for. 

Which Xprtise project are you most proud of?

We are successfully supporting a global transformation initiative for a Gartner magic quadrant leader in technology and security industry. Our methodology was adopted to support their global customer base. They are using AskDelphi to support a mindset shift of automation. The project has quickly gained the attention of the executive team, including the CEO. At the moment we are currently expanded the footprint of the program and the analytics we are capturing are reviewed with the executive team on a weekly basis.

What do you think are the biggest challenges in L&D the coming years?

Learning leaders need to make more of an effort to align themselves with key business stakeholders. Technologies like AI, virtual reality, machine-based, workflow-centric allow learning an opportunity to make this a reality. We now have an opportunity more than ever to show how we can link learning to performance.

Want to know more about Gregory Groce? Check his LinkedIn profile or send an email to: g.groce@xprtise.com.