Simply Business Coaching

The Funny Thing about Free Training

Following on from my post earlier this week on what I thought about free consultations, I thought I'd share a conversation I had with a client recently about how funny (peculiar) people can be when they book onto free training events.  Here are some of our shared musings:

• They book quickly to reserve a place, even if they have no intention of coming along.
• They don't read the emails which ask what they most want to learn (and then say the training didn't meet expectations on the feedback form)
• They attend 'advanced' workshops and expect to be taught the basics (and then say the training didn't meet expectations on the feedback form)
• They complain about the strangest things - parking facilities, other delegates, the room temperature, the refreshments ..... (and then say the training didn't meet expectations on the feedback form)
• If it's raining/snowing/sunny on the day, they decide not to turn up (and then ask when you're running the next one!)

I wonder how these same delegates would behave if they were required to pay to attend....

What's your experience of offering free training events?  Please share by commenting below, and if you enjoyed reading this post, a re-tweet would be lovely!

How do you communicate with your clients?

I was working with some clients recently, explaining how to get started with email marketing campaigns and introducing them to social networking.  Because I’m constantly immersed in these topics, it’s easy to forget that they may be completely new to many people!  A recent blog post from Seth Godin explains this well.

The meetings also reminded me of other useful business lessons which I’d like to share with you here.

• People like to receive information in different ways.  Some like to just have a broad outline, others prefer to know the smallest detail.  By adapting your presentation to suit them once you find out their preference, you will help them to learn.
• Keep your message simple.  If you try to appear too clever, use jargon and long words, especially in your marketing materials, you’ll intimidate and put off the very people you want to attract. 
• Don’t try to cover too many points in each meeting.  People need time to absorb, process and try out what they learn.  Too much at a time will simply lead to overwhelm and reluctance to continue.
• Establish expectations at the outset, and write them down.  I do this with my coaching clients and students.  You need to understand what people want to achieve or learn so you can pick up straight away if they have misunderstood the training content or coaching process.  You can also use those expectations to keep you on track during meetings or workshops and, of course, to check that you have delivered what they wanted.
• Don’t take what you know for granted.  Just because you know your products or services upside down and back to front, it doesn’t follow that everyone else does.  Your knowledge, expertise and experience are what make you special, and they are the reasons why people are prepared to pay you to either teach them or do the work for them. 

How will this information affect how you communicate with your clients?

Amateur videos and paying for value

 Although I said that Nicola didn’t seem to have made very detailed plans before holding her Wealth-A-Thon last Saturday, she had prepared the ground ahead of time in terms of running a competition for a free place in the Money Gym’s Gold program (worth £4.5K).  Entrants had to make and submit a video story, telling a little about themselves and why they should win the place.  Considering that most of them had never been on either end of a video camera before, the entries were brilliant and, as they were played during the course of the show, viewers were able to vote on the entry of their choice.

A few times during the lead-up to announcing the winner, Nicola shared that when she’s given away free places before, hardly anyone has stayed the course and finished the program.  What a waste.  And unfortunately it bears out my own experiences.  For example, when I work with Southern Entrepreneurs, their training courses are of a high standard and free to members.  Popular topics get booked up very quickly, numbers being restricted by the size of the conference room.  Come the day of the course however, it isn’t unusual for there to be several no-shows, which is such a shame when we’ve had to turn people away.

I realise there’s a great difference between a half-day training and the Money Gym’s 12 month Gold membership in terms of cost – but the principle is the same.  When people don’t have to pay, they just don’t seem to attach the same commitment.  When they do pay, they’re much more likely to want to get their money’s worth – and work hard to get every penny’s worth!