Learning is a process, and especially trainers want to continuously develop not only others but also themselves. One goal is to reach new customer groups: This helps you gain higher visibility and higher income. How and with which factors you achieve new customer groups will be explained in this article.
Seven Advantages of Blended Learning
Yes, blended learning is an obvious trend in the education sector. No, that alone is not a reason to expand your existing on-site training with e-learning. However, the great attention to blended learning is not without reason. This method of linking face-to-face learning and e-learning has at least seven advantages. That is the real reason why blended learning is not a quickly fading shooting star in the firmament of everyday learning.
These 7 Advantages of Blended Learning Compared to Traditional Face-to-Face Learning:
You gain new customer groups
You gain a unique selling proposition
You gain a new source of income
You gain in measurability
You gain in flexibility
You gain in reuse
You gain in media diversity
In this article, I want to highlight the advantage of new customer groups and answer the following questions: To what extent do you gain new customer groups with blended learning? Which customer groups are they? And how can you leverage this advantage for yourself?
Three Factors for New Customer Groups with Blended Learning
The transition from traditional face-to-face learning to blended learning is a process that takes time. Those who bring patience and clear goals will be handsomely rewarded: New customer groups bring you greater visibility and higher income.
Three Factors Lead to New Customer Groups:
A greater reach through online courses
The digitalization as a horse of the Trojan for business training
A higher number of participants
Important: While blended learning does lead you to new customer groups, especially at the beginning you should make your new method known to benefit from this advantage. Consider the new selling points of your training, and you will long-term convince more customers!
I will go into more detail on the three success factors mentioned. While reading, think directly about your own training and how these factors can personally help you gain more customer groups.
Blended Learning Gives You a Greater Reach
The first success factor relates to a greater reach: Through the e-learning component, you generally reach more participants, as they no longer have to be at a specific place at a specific time.
On the one hand, you convince personnel developers from companies that have branches spread across the country – perhaps even with departments outside Germany. This allows you to extend your online support to participants who did not attend the on-site training.
On the other hand, you convince personnel developers by the fact that participants have to give less working time with blended learning: Shorten your face-to-face training and move preparatory and follow-up content (for which you do not necessarily need to be on-site as an expert) to your online support.
Convince your customers of blended learning: Employees and managers in distant branches can also participate in training through online courses.
With These Arguments You Convince Customers of the Advantage of Greater Reach:
Free inclusion of employees in branches in the online course
Less loss of working time in training through blended learning
Digitalization as the Horse of the Trojan for Your Training
The second factor refers to the buzzword digitalization. Perhaps you can no longer stand this term, but in many companies it is the key to approving new methods. While some leadership positions still have a negative attitude towards change, the term digitalization has gained broad acceptance. After all, no one wants to appear outdated.
For professional development, the factor of digitalization has two effects:
First, companies improve their image through blended learning – both externally and internally! Training is an area that affects the internal structure of a company and is used for positive outward representation.
Second, companies benefit when their employees independently and digitally continue their education: In addition to the actual training content, soft skills are promoted, which have a positive impact on work. For instance, if you offer communication training, your participants learn valuable skills such as time management, digital management, or agile working through blended learning.
Companies benefit from digital training in the form of a better image and improved soft skills of employees.
This is How You Convince Customers of the Advantage of Digitalization:
Improvement of their image – internally and externally
Employees and managers learn digital skills incidentally
Blended Learning Gives You a Higher Number of Participants
The third factor for new customer groups with blended learning relates to a higher number of participants compared to traditional face-to-face learning. Not only can, as mentioned in the first factor, employees from branches participate in training – the online medium is fundamentally designed for virtually unlimited participants.
At on-site events that take place face-to-face, the number of participants is limited by the physical constraints of the room. Additionally, any face-to-face training becomes chaotic and confusing once a certain number of participants is reached. The real advantage of face-to-face – personal attention – is eliminated with too many participants.
Online, however, it does not matter for the learning effect whether there are 3, 30, or 300 participants enrolled. So, rather than three individual face-to-face events, each limited to 10 participants, you can offer an online course where all can work together and asynchronously – just as they wish.
And one more reason for a higher number of participants in blended learning: You can train much more heterogeneous groups online and thus cover a much wider spectrum simultaneously. For on-site training, you may have to divide employees into different advanced groups. In an online course, you can cover all content and leave it to each individual to skip lessons or focus on them intensively.
In e-learning, virtually unlimited participants can learn independently and connect with each other.
This is How You Convince Customers of the Advantage of Higher Participant Numbers:
An online course for unlimited participants means consistent costs for the company and less work for you
Employees connect online who otherwise have little contact
Utilize the Advantage of New Customer Groups with Blended Learning
Have you mentally applied the advantages while reading to your own training? I advise you to write down all arguments and be optimally prepared for the next sales conversation. With blended learning, you gain a set of new selling points for your training – you just need to have them ready.
Tip: Complement your personal arguments for blended learning by looking at this infographic. You will learn how to convince your customers, what effect you achieve with the participant, and what added value this has for you personally. Good luck selling your blended learning!
