Is Training Rebounding?

Is business getting better for training professionals? Here in South Florida, the buzz is getting louder. "We need ISDs!" We need Technical Writers!" In the past, when companies felt that the upturn was about 6 months away, that's when they:

• scrapped old business practices,
• streamlined with new practices and technology,
• trained their existing staff on the new stuff, and
• built tools to use for new employee training.

So, smart companies are investing in training.

Now is the time to let your clients know about this simple method so that they will have a leg up on the competition when demand picks up.

How to sell training

We examine ouselves to determine if our message is getting across to our prospects.

We so-called training professionals like to think we have an edge over a manager who finds herself (or himself) facing a team of depressed and nervous people. What we have that they don't have is insight and objectivity.

We have the luxury of observing. We have the luxury of listening. We have the opportunity to take what we see and hear and convert it into beneficial action.

If you had seven seconds (14 words) to explain the benefit you offer to your client, what would it sound like? This simple phrase is your mission, it defines why you do what you do.

Now, use no more than four words for a tag line. Ours is "Accelerate success!"

Finally, the next time you are talking with a prospect and they ask you to describe who you are and what you do, just repeat the tag line first and then your mission. Then ask, "What challenges may I help you solve today?"