It is all very well to be a talented trainer who proposes well-designed and comprehensive e-learning courses, but it is not enough nowadays to secure a good level of sales. The level of supply is such that in order to stand out, you need to get yourself known, build a community and entice your prospects to purchase your training. Here are some tips for getting your offer off the ground.
Occupy space on the web
Paying attention to your online presence is essential nowadays and even more so if you are positioned in the e-learning market. From your website (which must project a professional image) to social media (which enables you to exchange with your learners, future learners and with companies interested in your training), you must not only use certain tools but you must update them regularly.
On your website, share content connected to your training profession. This could be blog articles, in which you talk about your expertise, your view of the profession and your reflections on current teaching methods, tools and practices. It could also include videos or podcasts on the same themes. The important thing is to post content with the regularity of a Swiss clock! You can also make your voice heard in specialized media through opinion pieces, columns or by being interviewed.
Working on your online presence does take time and it may be several months before you see the results, but if you work on it properly, you will gain in terms of visibility and credibility. Plus it will enable you to interact with professionals in your field (always enriching!) and with people liable to purchase your e-learning courses.
In a more general sense, occupying space by working on your online presence will reassure your future clients with regard to your experience, the quality of your training offer and the skills of your trainers, which you must not hesitate to promote. This way, you encourage people to place their trust in you and purchase your training.
Develop your network
The training profession is very competitive but that is no reason to avoid your colleagues for fear of having to reveal your professional secrets or the keys to your success and seeing them get the better of you. Taking part in and even organizing meetups, conferences and networking events opens the door to continuous improvement, by keeping you informed of new and practical innovations in the training industry.
It also makes you stand out as a significant player both for colleagues and competitors as well as for future clients. In effect, your participation in an event can be shared on social media both by yourself and by the organizers of the event.
Lastly, the aim of these events is also to facilitate exchanges between professionals and encourage them to share new knowledge, tools and trends within the profession. They also, therefore, provide the opportunity to meet potential partners: graphic designers, motion designers, video producers, trainers, etc.
Consider free gifts
Asking future learners or companies to commit to purchasing training based simply on the training programme carries a certain degree of risk. Both for you, who risk not generating enough sales, and for the clients, who cannot be sure they are investing in a course that fully meets their requirements.
A free e-learning course or a free module from your flagship course offered to prospective clients will reassure them as to the quality of your work. You will give them a taste of what awaits them in terms of quality and, if you offer a module, in terms of the content.
Enabling your clients to avoid taking a blind leap of faith by giving them some training free of charge will avoid potential disappointment (with the resulting negative feedback) and, if the product matches their expectations, will help you to stand out from the competition.
Cultivate links with your learners and future learners
We can’t emphasize enough the importance nowadays of cultivating links with your clients and prospects and even of building a community around your training offer bringing together former clients, current clients and prospects via the same channel. At the very least, this serves to maintain contact and, if possible, to boost your sales.
You have a number of possible options. You can create a newsletter in which you pass on your content to an identified audience interested in what you have to share. If you are not comfortable with the newsletter format, there is nothing wrong with emailing your former clients from time to time to share with them resources, content or information, etc. While not their primary purpose, a newsletter or email will also enable you communicate regarding a new skill or training course you offer.
Lastly, you can create and manage a Facebook group, either private to enable clients and former clients to communicate with each other, or open to all to discuss subjects linked to training and thus capture new leads. This will enable you both to create and maintain contact with the members and to add a human touch to the relationship between your targets and your training company.
