Beth has written a few blog articles on how she has made our client’s experience with us worthwhile, so I thought I’d write about how we make our training worthwhile for our clients.
I’ve been involved in client training for almost a year and have learned the following tips. After reading these you may think “Well, duh, I already knew that” and if so, GREAT!, but I think they are good reminders of how we can continue to make our client’s experiences with us great ones.
Training Tips
- Gear your training towards each client’s needs
- Repeat, repeat, repeat
- Have good training materials
- Learn from previous training sessions
I incorporated these tips in a training session. I started off expecting to train a client on everything in his CMS – how to add links, pictures, content, menu items, etc., but about 15 minutes in the client stopped me. He only wanted to learn how to add or delete an employee’s picture on their team page! So, I showed him just that – and then repeated it a few times so that he grasped it. In the end the training only lasted 45 minutes instead of the 2 hours it normally takes! This experience was a wake-up call for me. I need to stop assuming that each training session is going to the be the same – each client is different and has different needs and the training should reflect that.
Unfortunately, since I hadn’t geared the session for what the client really wanted, I wasn’t able to give him the necessary training materials he needed. Now, I find out what the client wants to do ahead of time and gear the training material that way. I can’t tell you enough how good materials have really helped our clients. We give them a step-by-step printed page, and they are able to use this as a first resource or just a refresher on successfully completing basic functions.
Training Results
- Decrease in support calls and emails
- Less frustration or questions about the basic functions of their content management system
- Confident clients who know they can do it on their own
Each training session I learn something new about how to make the next one even better. Maybe I explained a specific step a little differently, and the client seemed to understand it better – I can use that the next time. It makes for a better experience for both me and the client and that is our Worthwhile goal!
If you want to learn more about training and how to make it worthwhile for your clients, check out Bob Pike’s website. I was able to attend one of his Train-the-Trainer sessions and learned a lot from him.
