No Class

I cringe when a client calls wanting to enroll in the next class. It’s not that I don’t like teaching open enrollment classes, I just don’t like wasting a client’s time teaching concepts I know they either won’t remember, or can’t put to good use. You know how it works, and chances are you’ve been there: The boss pays for you to attend a 3 day class, you thought you learned a lot (you told the boss you did); you remember very little, and you don’t have time to use the software when you get back to the office.

Consider this: We all know the cost of attending a class includes the Opportunity Cost (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost) associated with the class (or do we?): The salary the boss pays you to be out for 3 days, the cost of not having a billable professional for 3 full days, and the cost of travel/class.

Do the math: If you figure a 3 day class at your local vendor is $1000, the PE has an annual salary of $70k, and he or she is billable at $100/hr., then the real cost of the class is around $4,000, with typically few tangible results. It was tough to take notes, you don’t remember a thing, you’re behind at the office, but hey, you got a certificate! Is there a better answer? Absolutely.

Don’t blindly enroll your team in class without: 1. Assessing the needs of the firm, and 2. Assessing the experience of the instructor. A Needs Assessment is designed to help you focus your training and/or implementation initiative(s) on core productivity needs, develop a strong understanding of the capabilities of your personnel, and design a strategy that fosters your competitive edge well into the future. And in many cases, they don’t cost a thing. You need to know what tools you can put to good use before you can realistically invest in the future of the firm.

The days of purchasing software upgrades, subscription services, and training just because are long gone. Hopefully you’ve learned 3 things: 1. New tools don’t work if no one can use them, 2. Training doesn’t work unless you can immediately apply what you learned, and 3. Whomever trains you ought to be able to shoot from the hip. If the instructor uses a textbook, chances are, you’ll learn how to push buttons. The mark of a good instructor is one that can teach you to learn, and can do so with your data.

I received an email today asking for a training quote. I quoted a 3-day retainer plus travel expenses. Seemed honest enough. I received a response, “I need to know how much per person.” I thought to myself, “give me a room full, the price ought to be the same.” Next question, “What courseware will you be using?” My response, “I’ll design a class for you, and use your project data to teach. This way you can remain somewhat billable as you learn. In lieu of a book, we’ll create a sub-domain for you on our servers, provide you with secure access, and post tutorials dedicated to your methods and your workflows as needed. No expiration date. I’ll provide access to our Technical Suite online at no charge for 1 year. The Technical Suite stores all of our text and video tutorials, as well as live instructor lead workshops & webcasts. We charge $695/yr. for this service as an alternative to training, but I’m offering access to you free of charge with training. New tutorials are added daily.”

Keep in mind this was for a municipality. I received a response that they would need an outline. They sent me one a software vendor had forwarded to them and it included (remember, this is a municipality – county government):

Residential Grading
Intersections, Knuckles & Cul-de-sacs
Corridor Modeling

I’m confident the County doesn’t do much grading. I’m confident they work with GIS data, survey data, build terrain models, do things related to property ownership, boundary and zoning issues, work with appraisal districts, etc… So in a nut-shell, the reseller billed per student, brought their own training materials, and used a pre-determined outline – you know, the way we’ve always done it. Does it make sense? Absolutely not. I didn’t say anything for fear of sounding argumentative. But if you’re looking for software training, shouldn’t you expect to use your examples and your projects as a foundation for learning? Shouldn’t you expect the instructor to have at least some experience in teaching & in your line of work so they can customize the class for you? Shouldn’t you be able to buy 3 full days of time so that if there’s any time left at the end, the instructor can help you learn more as necessary – you know – like a retainer? In my simple mind, it just makes sense.

In an effort to sell boxes of software, vendors have historically offered training and technical support almost as an afterthought. But if your line of work is selling boxes of software, it’s hard to keep your technical experts profitable and busy. In that case, they become overhead. So in order to reduce the cost of a sale, resellers don’t pay technical “experts” well, they typically rely on books written by others as way of teaching diverse audiences (so they don’t have to design classes), and they would much rather you come to their offices. It’s much less expensive for them, and their instructors can fill in for technical support when they get a break.

Next time your firm needs “Training,” try asking for this instead:

Custom Training
You design the class with an SME (Subject Matter Expert).
You want the SME to teach the class.
You want some written documentation, and some video tutorials because your employees (adults in general) learn in different ways.
You want a web site dedicated to you for discussion and mentoring as you begin new projects.
You want the SME to add new tutorials for you as necessary.
You want the class held at your office using your systems to more closely mirror – reality.
You want to learn new methods using your project data, and your files.
You don’t want to pay more than $1500 per day. If your reseller charges over $1,800 per day (which is common) for training, they use their books, their datasets, and their offices – what do you get? Not much. Really.

Don’t settle for the “way we’ve always done it” when it comes to educating your team. You have the right to ask for more, and pay less.

Looking for in-depth workshops, tutorials, and documentation? Check out our client portal. Registration is required, but our Technology Suiteis a high powered self help library – an affordable alternative to customized, localized training, when time and money matter.