Traveling a lot as a trainer, coach, or speaker not only has advantages: much dead time and high travel costs can evolve into nerve-wracking problems over time. We explain how you can easily maintain personal contact and effective training with online support – and travel less in the process.
When “traveling a lot” becomes a challenge
As a trainer, coach, or speaker, personal contact is always at the forefront. Whether with clients or participants – when you stand by other people as a consultant and companion for a change, you are constantly on the move.
Seeing new cities, gathering different impressions, and meeting many people is naturally a big part of the appeal. You expand your horizons and have a varied daily life.
Problem: Loss of time
For this, you often sit in the car, at train stations, or airports: traffic jams, delays, check-in, and the travel time itself can quickly block an entire day. Add to that overnight stays in (not always pleasant) hotels. Many trainers and coaches who have been traveling a lot for their job for a longer time feel that travel becomes a necessity over time. A lot of time is lost that could be used elsewhere. For example, for acquiring new clients, developing new trainings, or enjoying beautiful hours with family or friends. Surely, something comes to mind that you would do with more free time.
Problem: Travel costs
Aside from the many dead hours, the costs of traveling are not to be underestimated:
Either you have to deduct your travel and accommodation costs from your daily rate, which means a significant loss.
Or your client pays more in advance to offset the costs.
In any case, lower travel costs would be a significant plus: In the first case, you keep more of your hard-earned money. In the second case, your client is happy about lower costs and feels even better about booking you as a trainer or coach.
Facts and figures: According to the “Continuing Education Scene Study 2016”, trainers conducted an average of 52 training days a year. Freelancers even an average of 71 days per year. Assuming that for each training day you add ½ workday for travel to and ½ day for travel back, that makes 104 days on average. And for freelancers even 142 days. The average trainer is thus on the road for a third to even half of the year!
Hans-Martin from blink.it knows what the challenge for many trainers is: not having to travel so much, saving time and money – and still providing sustainable support.
So how can you shorten your travel times while still actively helping others reach their goals with your trainings, coaching, or presentations?
2 Ways to Save Travel Time
Traveling less would have enormous benefits for you. This can be summarized in the simple formula:
Less travel time + lower travel costs = more free time + lower expenses
Basically, there are two ways to achieve this: arrange fewer appointments – or find a new structure.
Option 1: Reduce Appointments
Perhaps you are considering reducing your training days or declining offers because they are too far away? Or have you even turned down clients because of the travel involved?
Reducing appointments is the most obvious and simplest solution – but ultimately, it is not a good solution: After all, you want to attract more clients, convince more participants of your offerings, and ultimately make a living from your training! If you have to restrict yourself, you face the risk of losing clients and valuable income. This option is therefore simple but does not move you forward and can be dangerous.
Turning down clients is thus not an option in the long run. But: What should a good solution look like? You would need to find a way to travel less while
still earning at least as much money.
continuing to excite clients with your content.
providing participants with just as thorough and intense personal support.
Sounds impossible? But it isn’t! A new digital structure for your training can make this possible.
Option 2: Provide Training Online
If you combine your in-person training with online support, this solution can work for you. Unlike pure e-learning, you don’t lose personal contact with your clients; on the contrary, you make your presence even more valuable and effective!
On-site, you get to know clients and participants, and they get to know you. All content and exercises that require personal face-to-face support remain in your seminar or coaching. You can shorten your on-site times and simultaneously intensify your contact with your participants.
Online, you simultaneously offer additional impulses for your participants: supplementary learning materials, individual exercises, tips for transferring what they’ve learned into their daily work – such content is ideal for the preparation and follow-up of your in-person appointments. Participants can work on short learning units at home or on the go, prepare at their own pace, and reinforce the new knowledge over an extended period. And for that, you don’t have to be present all the time.
Online support doesn’t spring from nothing. You will need to invest some time initially to gather and create content. But once created, you can reuse that content repeatedly and not start from scratch with each new client. Create once – use for a long time: That way, you quickly recover the small time investment.
This combination of in-person training and online support is called “Blended Learning” and has been a trend in the continuing education scene for several years that enjoys great popularity. The main reason is the many advantages for trainers and the varied models you can adapt for every form of training.
Conclusion: Being Present On-site and Online
With Blended Learning, the combination of in-person and online learning, you can restructure your training or coaching while meeting all the requirements for a good solution (see above):
Client Retention: You won’t lose any clients or income. On the contrary: with digital support, you even have 7 new selling points to attract new clients.
Sustainability: In addition to the live appointment, you offer comprehensive online support that particularly helps in reinforcing what was learned after the training. This supports the sustainability of the training (and thus the benefit for the client).
Intensive Support: You don't provide less support for your participants, but even double: online, you offer additional learning content for preparation and transfer into daily life. And on-site, your seminars become more intensive and tailored to the participants.
Tip: Online support opens up a whole new variety of methods. Particularly effective here is the incorporation of self-made video messages, with which you can strengthen the personal connection for your participants. You are always present without being physically there!
Online support encourages participants to continue working on your training, even when you are not there. You can even accompany multiple trainings simultaneously. This way, you reduce your seminars or coaching sessions, spend less time at train stations, in the car, or at the airport – without disadvantages for yourself, your clients, or your participants.
Save money and use your time in a completely new way! You can achieve just that with online support for your training. Download our free guide for trainers now and get started with expert tips and practical examples!
