Konstantin Ristl (blink.it) and Wolfgang Schneiderheinze (menschenspiegel) discuss the benefits and creation of online support. Wolfgang presents the process for his online support. This part of the interview series focuses on the development of the training portfolio and how he presents the online support to his clients.
The central questions of the interview are:
How is the online support offered in sales?
How is the portfolio developed?
Why do clients repeatedly book the offer?
What points of contact are effective in long-term online support?
You can view all the answers here (Duration: about 4 minutes):
Here’s a brief summary of what type of online support it is: Wolfgang Schneiderheinze offers tools in his online support that he presents in the in-person training. These are, for example, videos explaining individual training methods. Additionally, all participants receive a weekly assignment. This assignment also reaches the participants as a short video message. The participants initially refresh the content independently of the trainer. Through comments and in a subsequent phone coaching, any open questions regarding the practical transfer are clarified. More about the introduction can be found in part 1 (also 4 minutes). In part 2 of the interview, Wolfgang shows how he switched over and how he markets his online support as an offer, and in part 3 the interview revolves around the role of videos in his training.
Selling the Online Support
In the fourth interview, Wolfgang describes how he offers the online support in the sales conversation and how he presents the training portfolio. How does the sale proceed? Wolfgang has the advantage that he only negotiates the daily rate for the in-person part, whereas he offers his online support for a flat fee per participant. This flat fee is generally lower than the daily rate. Depending on the scope and wishes of the client, he can however make this offer more comprehensive. The twist: some content overlaps among several clients and can thus be reused. Therefore, the client pays in total less than for two pure in-person days, but receives more content – while Wolfgang primarily earns from the delivered content, but not from personal presence. In this way, Wolfgang also manages more groups while spending less time on-site.
To convince his clients, he demonstrates the content of his online support directly in the sales conversation and achieves several goals:
**He explains the methods and the role these methods play in training.
The client can see and test the content directly.
He can optionally add client-specific content.
This way, the client understands the overall concept of the online support and is more open to further measures, such as a phone coaching. It is important to present the usefulness and effect of the individual measures. Training participants practice and learn with the online support and exchange ideas with the trainer. Detailed questions and concerns of individual training participants are clarified in the phone coaching. The trainer can find out with the participant where the challenges lie and support training transfer with this measure. A great thing about Wolfgang's online supports: he brings in the executives and team leaders. The supervisors are significantly involved in the training transfer. First, the executives are added to the online support. This gives them an overview of the content and methods that are being learned. To increase commitment, Wolfgang has the executives make a short statement in front of the camera. In this statement, the executive describes why the training content is important and how management will support the training transfer. Wolfgang records the footage on-site. He uses his iPad, an external microphone, and a small light source for this.
“How do I develop my training portfolio?” – this is a question many trainers ask themselves. “Where should one start? There are so many possibilities.” – a helpful approach: KISS = “Keep it Short and Simple.” Not reinventing the wheel and creating a bunch of content for all possible methods and tools. In a training, typically 6-10 methods are the focus. It’s better to convey a small selection of methods instead of presenting a large selection. Once the training participants master these methods, new ones can be added. This also goes faster because the prior knowledge is present. With this approach, you secure follow-up orders when you offer your training portfolio this way. Once the foundations are established, specialized tools are added. The contact with the client remains, and the client has already received feedback on the event with the evaluation results from the first session.
What does a continuous online support from Wolfgang look like?
Wolfgang makes initial contact with the participants through the online support before the first in-person appointment. He introduces himself in short video messages and informs his participants about what will happen in the training. The first learning content to prepare for the in-person appointment is given to the participants online. The in-person training then takes place live. Here, Wolfgang does not give long lectures but starts directly with the exercises because the content was learned in advance. After the in-person appointment, Wolfgang offers helpful exercises (“homework”). If a participant has questions, they can either clarify this independently within the training group or Wolfgang steps in with his advice. After 3 months, phone coaching follows. Here, Wolfgang is interested in feedback on the methods and what specific concerns the participants have regarding the implementation of the exercises. If a participant wants to refresh their knowledge, they have continuous access to the online support. It is important for Wolfgang that his participants achieve the training goals and master the skills after the training. Therefore, he offers his clients short follow-up seminars. About 6-9 months of contact occurs via the online support before the follow-up seminar. In this preparatory phase, Wolfgang provides information and exercises for skill development. He experiences that participants come to the follow-up seminar curious and with fresh ideas. Ultimately, at that point, the participants have already invested time and effort into developing their skills.
We thank Wolfgang for this great 4-part interview! If you want to learn more about him, just visit www.menschenspiegel.de
Are you now also eager to create your own online support or do you already have a topic in mind? Then start right away! Or do you have a story that you want to share with us? Then contact us at info@blink.it
