As a trainer, coach, or speaker, traveling a lot has its advantages, but it also comes with drawbacks: a lot of wasted time and high travel costs can become nerve-wracking problems over time. We explain how you can easily combine personal contact with effective training through online support—while needing to travel less.
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 others as an advisor and companion for change, you are constantly on the move.
Seeing new cities, collecting various impressions, and meeting many people is, of course, a big part of the allure. You broaden your horizons and experience a varied day-to-day life.
Problem: Loss of time
For this, you often find yourself in cars, at train stations, or airports: traffic jams, delays, check-ins, and the travel time itself can quickly block an entire day. Added to this are overnight stays in (not always pleasant) hotels. Many trainers and coaches who have been traveling a lot for their jobs for a while feel that traveling eventually becomes a necessity. A lot of time is lost that could be used elsewhere, for example, to acquire new clients, develop new training programs, or enjoy nice hours with family or friends. Surely you can think of something you would do with more free time.
Problem: Travel costs
Aside from all the wasted time, travel costs should not be underestimated:
Either you have to deduct your costs for travel and accommodation 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 advantage: 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.
Numbers, Data, Facts: According to the “Continuing Education Scene Study 2016,” trainers conducted an average of 52 training days per year. Freelancers even an average of 71 days per year. Let’s assume that for each training day, there is an additional ½ working day for travel to and from the venue, that makes 104 days on average. And for freelancers even 142 days. The average trainer is thus on the road for one-third to even half of the year!
Hans-Martin from blink.it knows what the challenge for many trainers is: not having to travel as much, saving time and money—and still providing sustainable support.
So how can you shorten your travel times while continuing to actively help others achieve their goals with your training, coaching, or lectures?
2 Ways to Save Travel Time
Traveling less would therefore have enormous advantages for you. This can be summarized with a simple formula:
Less travel time + less travel costs = more free time + fewer expenses
Basically, there are two ways to achieve this: schedule fewer appointments—or find a new structure.
Option 1: Reduce Appointments
Perhaps you are considering reducing your training days or turning down offers because they are too far away? Or have you even declined clients due to travel distance?
Reducing appointments is the most obvious and easiest solution—but in the end, it is not a good solution: after all, you want to win more clients, convince more participants of your expertise, and make a living from your training in the long run! If you have to limit yourself, you risk losing clients and valuable income. This option is therefore simple but does not move you forward and can become dangerous.
Turning down clients is not an option in the long run. But: What would a good solution look like? You would need to find a way to travel less while still
earning at least the same amount of money.
exciting clients just as much with you and your content.
offering participants equally good and intensive personal support.
Sounds impossible? But it isn’t! A new digital structure for your training can make this possible.
Option 2: Support Training Online
If you combine your in-person training with online support, you can achieve exactly this solution. Unlike pure e-learning, you do not 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 in-person times while simultaneously intensifying your contact with your participants.
Online, you offer additional impulses for your participants: additional learning materials, individual exercises, tips for transferring the learned knowledge into everyday work—this content is ideal for preparing and following up your on-site appointments. Participants can work on short learning units at home or on the go, prepare at their own pace, and solidify the new knowledge over a longer period. And for this, you do not have to be physically present all the time.
An online support system, of course, does not come from nowhere. You need to invest some time initially to collect and create content. But once created, you can use the content repeatedly and don’t have to start from scratch with every new client. Create once—use for a long time: with this, you quickly regain your 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, enjoyed great popularity. The reason for this is mainly the many advantages for trainers and the different models you can adapt for any form of training.
Conclusion: Be Present Online and On-Site
With Blended Learning, the combination of in-person and online learning, you can restructure your training or coaching while meeting all the criteria for a good solution (see above):
Client retention: You do not lose clients or income. On the contrary: with a digital support system, you even have 7 new selling points to win more clients for yourself.
Sustainability: In addition to the live appointment, you offer online all-around support that helps particularly in reinforcing learning after the training. This supports the sustainability of the training (and thus the benefits for the client).
Intensive Support: You do not support your participants less, but rather double: Online, you provide additional learning content for preparation and transfer into everyday life. And on-site, your seminars are tailored more intensively and individually to the participants.
Tip: An online support system opens up a whole new variety of methods for you. Particularly effective here is the inclusion of self-made video messages, with which you can strengthen personal connections for your participants even more. You are always present without being physically there!
The online support encourages participants to continue working on your training even when you are not there. You can even accompany multiple trainings at the same time. This way, you reduce your seminars or coaching, spend less time at train stations, in cars, or at airports—without disadvantages for you, your clients, or participants.
Save money and entirely rethink how you use your time! You can achieve this with an online support system for your training. Download our free guide for trainers now and get started with expert tips and practical examples right away!
