Should Your Training Company Offer Both In-Company and Open Courses?

Man delivering in company training-251373-edited

In our 2018 training industry survey, we found that over 70% of training businesses provide in-house courses with that focus expected to increase by 67% in the next 12 months. So, should you look to offer in-company courses or stick to open training?

In-house or in-company training refers to the delivery of training at a client’s premises or at a venue of their choice. This allows for a more tailored experience for learners and can be more cost effective for the organisation requiring training.

Many organisations offer both in-house and open courses. So, should you expand your offering?

The benefits of adding in-company training to your course catalogue

Benefits of offering in-company training:

  • Value added service - You can provide tailored content that is specific to the organisation
  • Client satisfaction – Clients receive a personalised one-to-one service
  • Increased willingness to learn - Candidates can train in their usual working environment
  • Faster return on investment - Staff can immediately put new skills to use proving ROI faster
  • Value for money - Companies can train more learners at one time which is a more cost effective solution
  • Recommendations - Organisations are more likely to provide recommendations than individual learners
  • Repeat bookings - In-company courses are likely to result in repeat bookings or the delivery to another department
  • Additional revenue stream – offering both in-house and open courses doubles revenue opportunities

Should Your Training Company Offer In-Company Courses?

When a training need comes up, employers are faced with the choice of sending the employee on an external training course or delivering a training session in-house.

However, businesses usually don’t have the required expertise internally which is where in-company training providers come in.

So, how can training providers leverage this? Here’s a three-step guide:

1. Determine resource requirements

As a training provider, you presumably already have the knowledge, expertise and team to deliver courses. But, is this compatible with the types of training that employers are looking to hire in external trainers to provide? Common in-company training includes sales, management and customer service.

If not and you’re interested in offering in-house training then it may be time to consider upskilling your current trainers or hiring the required resource. Read this post for tips on how to successfully hire trainers.

2. Test the market

Do some research online to see how many other training providers are offering similar types of training in-house. Is it a highly competitive market? Is no-one else offering this service? If not, why not? Is there no a demand?

The next step you can take is to speak with delegates who have previously been on your open-courses. Or, better still, their employer. Would they be interested in an a more personalised in-company alternative?

3. Establish a system to provide a professional service

Once you have covered the basics and are ready to embark on your new service offering, it’s time to work out how you will manage your training operations:

  1. You could start with a spreadsheet but that doesn’t scale.
  2. You could source a range of free tools but that gets messy.
  3. You could use a dedicated training management system that encompasses all of the areas you need to manage in order to provider a professional service and scale your business. And, better still one platform can manage both your in-company and open courses.

Recommended read: 7 reasons why you need a training management system for in-company training courses

6 Areas Training Software Can Improve Your n-company courses

  1. Simplify resource management
  2. Track and manage opportunities
  3. Improve client experience
  4. Streamline invoicing and finance
  5. Automate your communications
  6. Provide growth insights

1. Simplify resource management

One big headache for training companies can be managing trainer diaries, organising equipment and tracking where resources are at any given time.

2. Easily track and manage opportunities 

For in-house courses, it’s extremely rare that you’ll just take a onetime booking. It’s often a protracted affair, so you need a sure-fire way to track every stage of the process.

Repeat bookings are also very common once a company has found their supplier of choice so nurturing a relationship from the outset is imperative.

3. Improve client experience 

In a people first business like training, relationship building, and client experience are everything.

With a training management system you can offer value added services such as learner portals and manager access. You can provide post-course information to your client’s employees including documentation, videos and SCORM-compliant eLearning.

Manager Access allows your clients to log into their own portal to monitor their learners’ performance, track course completions and to run reports.

4. Streamline invoicing and finance 

With a robust system in place you can provide multiple payment options to clients.

Invoices can either be automatically produced once a course booking has been confirmed or they can be generated as and when required.

You can also offer credit and debit card support through multiple payment gateways.

You can have all of this linked to you website so all your client needs to do is click a few buttons to secure their next session.

Behind the scenes, if you’re using Sage or Xero, you’ll be able to pass information to those platforms, making payment processing hassle-free.  

5. Automate your communications 

Whether you’re confirming a client’s booking, keeping trainers up-to-date, or relaying venue information, automated communications means everyone knows what they need to know, precisely when they need to know it.

6. Provide growth insights

Whether it’s course profitability, business development, compliance tracking, budgeting or forecasting, our training management system offers all the reporting tools you need to ensure every business decision you make is informed.

With a fully-customisable dashboard, you can see those fundamental course details in one central location – and in real-time too. This means you’re able to easily assess the training you deliver on the metrics that matter most. 

We’ve explored 6 reasons how using software designed for training companies can benefit your in-company training. To find out number 7, download 7 reasons why you need a training management system for in-company training courses. 

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