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Why most training courses don’t work and what you can do about it

Guest post by: Kathleen Gage

Article Overview: Recommendations to apply to virtually any training you take.

Why most training courses don’t work and what you can do about it

Have you ever talked to someone who took a training course and complained because the course “just didn’t work”? Or maybe you took a class, but didn’t feel you got much out of it. Was it that the course was no good or maybe you had some part in why you got so little value out of the money and time invested?

I contend there are always two sides to the story. Primary reasons why training courses, whether they be teleseminars, webinars or events where trainer and participants are all in the same room, don’t work are varied. From nearly 15 years as a professional speaker and trainer I have concluded the following reasons.

One, the trainer may not be skilled at material delivery. Two, the material was not a good match for the participants. Three, participants put no effort into achieving an outcome beyond sitting in the training; they didn’t do any of the recommended follow up work.

As someone who takes my work seriously, yet has an incredible amount of fun at what I do, it’s always exciting to me when participants in my courses apply the information they learned and they gain great benefit from the material.

Conversely, it is extremely frustrating when a participant gets little, if any result. In my early years as a trainer I took this personally. Now I know that it may have nothing to do with me, but rather someone took the training hoping to “get it” through osmosis or with very little effort on their part.

I pride myself on the material I develop; delivery of material; and quality of training time. When I promote my training courses I do all I can to let people know that the results they get are based on their level of commitment. I cringe when I see promotional material claiming someone can gain X result with little, if any, effort. This happens frequently in the world of Internet Marketing. People are led to believe they can go from making nothing to making tens of thousands of dollars a month in record time and with limited effort. The reality is, success at anything takes time, effort and energy.

Let’s assume the trainer is skilled, the material a great match for the participant and yet, some participants gets no results while others get incredible outcomes. More times than not those who see no result have likely not applied themselves 100%. It never ceases to amaze me how some people seem to think they can get results through osmosis. And when they don’t, one of the first things they do is blame the material or the trainer. Not only has this happened to me, it has happened to many of my colleagues who are very skilled at what they do.

On the other hand, when I have someone say how valuable the training was and they are getting amazing results, I know it is because they did what they had to do to apply the information.
The next time you take a training course do yourself and the trainer a favor; be 100% to the course material, the trainer, application of the information, and most of all, to yourself.

Here are some simple recommendations that can make all the difference in the world on your outcome.

1. Write down specific goals you have for the training. Goals about your business or online presence. Make them realistic.

2. Print out the learning guides and place them in a dedicated 3-ring binder. Take plenty of notes and refer to the information more than once.

3. Give 100% to the training calls. Do not have any outside distractions. The more present you are the more you will get out of the training.

4. Have fun and be open-minded.

You can apply these recommendations to virtually any training you take. After all, if you are investing your time, money and effort, why not get as much of a return on your investment as possible?

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Article Tags: authors, book marketing, internet marketing, making money on the internet, online business, online marketing
Referred by: http://www.sandcconsulting.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - My answer to the question is both time and focus. I would love to be in a position to work full time from home but am not even close to that at present. I deliver training courses for various clients mostly in the private sector relating to Health and Safety, Food Hygiene and occasionally deliver basic computing courses to older people in the community. These activities pay the bills but as with other members I find myself burning the candle at both ends trying to find the time to focus on the IM things that are essential if I am to progress. reqards, Mal
Re: Free Online Learning - Hey Mal, Looks like a pretty cool resource. Definitely worth looking into as their courses are free. I like David's idea... if we could get approved for our own training programs that would be a great way to build our trust and get people interested in what we have to offer. Of course, you would need a complete interactive course built around the training. Not sure what all exactly that would entail, but maybe it's worth looking into.
Re: help wanted in u.k. - Hi Brendan, Do you offer training courses in which you train boxers and martial artists using your invention? DH
What skills are needed to open a franchise? - I'm not a franchising expert by any means, but it would appear as if many franchisors require at least one owner to work at his/her business. So my question is: What skills are needed to open a franchise? And more importantly, how many franchise owners actually take the time to get the proper training/education required? Do they simply attend a few college courses on sales, retail or business management, etc? And does this actually make a difference in a franchise's success rate?
Training - Louis: Some regulated industries mandate that you attend training. However, even then, finding time to meet those requirements becomes an issue. This may explain the growth of tele-seminars. To answer your questions though, ROI is very important and everyone needs to sell or market no matter what they do. The best tip I ever got on training is not to pitch training as training b/c even big companies have limited budgets for training but training rebranded as "sales support." It makes the ROI argument that much more appealing. Hope that helps. Good luck.


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