How to select, choose & buy training from an external provider June 22, 2018

How to select, choose & buy training from an external provider

External training providers are individual trainers or specialist training companies that are external and not linked to your organisation; these trainers will be brought in to educate and develop your workforce and to impart new skills.

External training should be run through a registered training organisation. Training is typically at the organisation's premises in a classroom setting. You can also hire external training providers to conduct in-house training at your business, or offer your staff online training through an external organisation.

But how do you know that you’ve chosen a good provider?

We've put together some tips below to help you pick a good external training provider for your organisation looking for courses London.

Define your training needs

- The first step in any training expenditure should be to define your training needs. Without defining your needs at the beginning, you can’t effectively shop for the most cost effective training provider later, for example, who needs training? What training is needed for the target group?

Check their track record

- An external training provider’s track record is a good indicator of their compatibility with your business. Have they worked with an organisation like yours in the past? Contact that company and find out how the training went. You should also consider checking the credentials of their trainers; look for relevant experience and customer references. Any provider worth your time will understand why this information is important and will happily share it.

Do they customise their content?

- Customisation is key to effective learning unless participants have the ability to connect the learning to their day-to-day, and practice in a safe environment before going out into the real world. How can we expect them to perform any better after training has taken place? When selecting, insist that any training provider you select customises core elements of their training program like case studies, role plays, examples and terminology.

Ask about support

- Most training courses don’t end as soon as the instructor stops talking. You want there to be a period following the training where your staff receive regular support to ensure they have truly achieved the learning objectives. A good external training provider will have clearly defined support terms and offer add-on packages to ensure that your staff are comfortable after the training.

Do they measure progress?

- What’s the point of training if not to get better? Would a professional athlete or musician even dream of embarking on a training program without putting in place some kind of measurement process? Top-ranked training providers don’t simply suggest you measure progress over time, they insist on it. They understand that the true value they deliver isn’t in how great their training is, it’s in how great the results are.

What is the budget for this project?

- Be realistic. If you are buying anything outside very basic skills training (software applications, health & safety etc) realistically the trainer/ designer needs to earn a living. So if they don’t charge you for any design or customisation you should expect to pay upwards of £1000 per day (this needs to cover the design phase) If you are paying for design, then expect to pay £600+. If anyone charges less, then they are not operating a sustainable business model. Walk away.

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