As a self-employed trainer, speaker, or coach, you essentially embody all the departments that can usually be found in a company. This means you are the sales department, the marketing office, and the administration. For many trainers, this situation makes the job in continuing education interesting. From this situation arises a constant process of learning and development.
Perhaps you have heard of the Inner Team Method.
Symbolically, a person takes on various roles for themselves, emphasizing different perspectives. You can think of your one-person trainer business similarly. There is a lively exchange between the marketing department and sales. There are differing opinions on upcoming investments between accounting and product development. There are different voices; customer service wants more time to re-establish contact with existing clients. At the same time, administration points out an upcoming trade fair appointment. Then product development knocks and asks for ideas and a project plan for a new offer that you want to sell.
Selling Training – What Your Inner Sales Department Advises
The sales department will generally play the lead role in this internal orchestra. Rightly so, because new orders come through sales. Whether with existing customers or newly acquired contacts. Most orders (and probably the best ones) come about when someone recommends you or you personally establish the contact. It is very rare that you find yourself in conversation with a personnel developer or managing director without any prior contact or acquaintance. Your sales and marketing have been successful. With your existing offers, you will be able to handle many orders. On the other hand, refreshing your offering gives you new opportunities and better margins. This is where your inner product developer comes into play.
Positioning Online Support in Sales Conversations as a New Offer
Suppose you want to introduce your online support for the first time in a sales conversation. The sales professional is aware that the way offers are packaged plays a very significant role in clarifying orders. For this reason, the chosen terms in the conversation should be carefully selected and not used as empty phrases. The customer is not interested in the fact that it is a new concept (as TrainerLotse puts it). They are interested in how this concept (whether old or new) achieves what the customer wants. The added value is at the center. Therefore, good questions during order clarification are: “What should be achieved? What should happen?” What should happen in the phases before, during, and after the training? What problems do you solve as a trainer, coach, or consultant for the customer? These questions can be discussed very well without using the word “concept.”
We have collected the 7 best arguments to convince your customers of the added value of your online support. Included are the topics:
How does blended learning increase the implementation of what has been learned?
Why can the time spent in person be better utilized?
How are downtimes reduced?
What influence does it have on the desire for further education?
What can I learn about the progress of learning?
Why does blended learning raise awareness for greater training transfer?
How do I deal with different learning speeds?
All presented in a short, understandable form. For example, like this:
You can download all arguments compiled as a PDF here:
Take the arguments as a cheat sheet with you. Show them to your colleague. Sharing is expressly encouraged!
How would you proceed in sales and during order clarification? If you want to know how other trainers operate, take a look at the posts under the keyword "Selling". Write to us about the experiences you have gathered.
