I’ve been in the business of providing training solutions to clients for about 12 years now. Over the course of that time span, some behaviors have become second nature to me, and I really don’t give them a lot of thought. My personal organization and time management are two examples. We’ll come back to these in a moment.
One day about a year ago, as I was going through a typical afternoon, my phone rang. I answered it, “Hi, this is Rob, how can I help you?”.
The woman on the other end said (I swear, verbatim), “Um… wow, you actually answered your phone!”
I figured it was someone who already knew me joking around, so I joked back, “Yeah, that’s what I do when it rings, I’m funny like that.”
Turns out, this person was a random call-in from a web lead who apparently had been trying to reach a live person for the past 2 hours. I wasn’t the first person she had called (far from it, and I guess I need to work on my web presence), but I was the first person to answer the phone. She had spent the last 2 hours in a voicemail/automated attendant hell.
Now, as professional salespeople, there’s not much we can do about automated attendants, but we can do a few things about our voicemail and phone behavior.
When I started on my first day at a technology training firm those 12 years ago, my sales manager had a routine that the entire sales group had to follow. From 8:30 til 11:00am, our phones were on “do not disturb” (inbound calls went straight to voicemail) and we were to focus on outbound calling only. This was so that we could maximize our outbound effort, and not be distracted by anyone calling in. His philosophy: if it’s important, they’ll leave a message.
The remainder of the day was for returning calls, follow up calls & emails, client visits, and all of the other activities that make up “selling”.
I personally have a big problem with blocking out time to that extreme, as it relates to the situation I described above. For me, it comes down to customer service. My customers need to know that when they have a question, I’ll be there to answer it. My company is relatively small, and I don’t want inbound callers deciding to reach out to a larger firm instead. Even in a larger firm with a bigger sales force, you don’t want the person who should have bought from you buying from another salesperson instead.
In my position, I have to wear many hats, so good time management skills are important to ensure I can get through my day. However, time management ALWAYS takes a back seat to good customer service, and that begins with answering the phone.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Computer Classrooms - To Rent, or Not To Rent?
When working with a client to put together a private training course, the question often arises about training space. Most large companies have their own training classrooms, so they of course prefer to leverage their own internal resources; however, circumstances can arise when it may be necessary. For example, training rooms get booked by others in the company, or the room’s computer hardware is inadequate to meet the requirements for a particular training course.
There are a number of reasons that companies are reluctant to use outside training space; in my personal experience, the chief reason among them is, “we need people to be available for coverage or to deal with a problem.” Apart from a unique circumstance like a catastrophic system failure, this is a BIG mistake. You are running the training event to deal with some sort of issue, be it performance, efficiency, or simply that a task cannot be performed at all until training occurs. If you’ve asked yourself the question “What are the consequences of NOT performing this training?” (and you always should), then you understand why it’s necessary. Keep the students in the classroom. And please do not let this be a reason for NOT moving the class off-site.
Another reason companies opt to keep a class in house is budget. They prefer to reserve their training budgets for training resources like instructors & courseware, and would rather not pay the extra overhead for an outside classroom. However, under certain circumstances, budget may be a reason IN FAVOR of going to an outside facility. Sounds counter-intuitive, but consider this scenario:
You need to train the entire Finance department of 200 people on the latest version of SAP. You do your due diligence, find an excellent FI/CO training vendor, courseware, etc. However, your training room at your site only holds 10 people. If you rented an off-site room, you could train 16 at once. You’ve just reduced your training requirement from 20 courses to 13! Weigh the expense on a per-student basis, and you may actually come out AHEAD by renting an outside classroom.
Don’t take my word for it – run the numbers for yourself. (of course, I’m happy to help if you’d like). Your situation is always unique, and you are your own best judge of your training requirements.
Comments on this blog are read and responded to, so don’t be shy!
There are a number of reasons that companies are reluctant to use outside training space; in my personal experience, the chief reason among them is, “we need people to be available for coverage or to deal with a problem.” Apart from a unique circumstance like a catastrophic system failure, this is a BIG mistake. You are running the training event to deal with some sort of issue, be it performance, efficiency, or simply that a task cannot be performed at all until training occurs. If you’ve asked yourself the question “What are the consequences of NOT performing this training?” (and you always should), then you understand why it’s necessary. Keep the students in the classroom. And please do not let this be a reason for NOT moving the class off-site.
Another reason companies opt to keep a class in house is budget. They prefer to reserve their training budgets for training resources like instructors & courseware, and would rather not pay the extra overhead for an outside classroom. However, under certain circumstances, budget may be a reason IN FAVOR of going to an outside facility. Sounds counter-intuitive, but consider this scenario:
You need to train the entire Finance department of 200 people on the latest version of SAP. You do your due diligence, find an excellent FI/CO training vendor, courseware, etc. However, your training room at your site only holds 10 people. If you rented an off-site room, you could train 16 at once. You’ve just reduced your training requirement from 20 courses to 13! Weigh the expense on a per-student basis, and you may actually come out AHEAD by renting an outside classroom.
Don’t take my word for it – run the numbers for yourself. (of course, I’m happy to help if you’d like). Your situation is always unique, and you are your own best judge of your training requirements.
Comments on this blog are read and responded to, so don’t be shy!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Best Practices in Training Procurement, Part IV - Final Thoughts
Company Culture & Change Management
I heard a very sad story from a colleague a few years back. He was in talks with an auto manufacturer (one of the Big Three) about a large training purchase that involved a mix of instructor-led public and private training, as well as some e-learning. However, the client was concerned about e-learning, because they had purchased a huge package (over $5 million) from an e-learning vendor the year before, but they only had 5% utilization. The company essentially flushed away 4.75 million dollars with absolutely nothing to show for it.
It turns out the company did several things wrong. The first is that the company didn’t consider whether e-learning was a good fit for their culture. Another is that the end-user population had never had e-learning before, and didn’t receive a proper introduction. Finally, there was no change management plan to set expectations for usage.
Change Management MUST accompany any large cultural shift, whether it is a new training methodology, or a customized upgrade described in our scenario above.
The Value of Your Time
Training managers are pulled in many different directions. In a smaller organization, training is probably an additional duty, and your primary role may be in HR, IT, etc. In a larger organization, you may be part of a training team, but the company is always looking for ways to do more with less. (Do either of these situations sound familiar?) Either way, your time is precious. Following a methodology will save you time and frustration. Lean on your vendors as well. If you need information you don’t have, make sure you get it.
Several online tools exist that can simplify your research process. TrainingIntelligence.com is a fantastic search engine for instructor-led courses. Bersin and Associates has a number of comprehensive studies on a large variety of training topics.
The Importance of Feedback
You should be getting regular feedback on the progress of training. Feedback is important for a number of reasons, depending on the depth of your training need.
In the case of John Smith and his pivot tables, detailed feedback may lead you to qualify or disqualify a vendor from future opportunities.
For our Project Management scenario, regular feedback will allow you to tweak the curriculum for future courses to improve the experience for other courses.
And in the case of our custom upgrade, ongoing feedback will ensure that the curriculum is being developed to your specifications, and ensure that the trainers are delivering a quality experience for your organization’s end users.
Summary
In today’s complex environment of various training delivery methods, a procurement methodology will help ensure that your dollars, as well as your time, are spent as effectively as possible. By defining your need, researching available delivery methods, and matching your need to the correct product for your company and corporate culture, you can meet your company’s training needs head-on, with the right solutions in place.
I heard a very sad story from a colleague a few years back. He was in talks with an auto manufacturer (one of the Big Three) about a large training purchase that involved a mix of instructor-led public and private training, as well as some e-learning. However, the client was concerned about e-learning, because they had purchased a huge package (over $5 million) from an e-learning vendor the year before, but they only had 5% utilization. The company essentially flushed away 4.75 million dollars with absolutely nothing to show for it.
It turns out the company did several things wrong. The first is that the company didn’t consider whether e-learning was a good fit for their culture. Another is that the end-user population had never had e-learning before, and didn’t receive a proper introduction. Finally, there was no change management plan to set expectations for usage.
Change Management MUST accompany any large cultural shift, whether it is a new training methodology, or a customized upgrade described in our scenario above.
The Value of Your Time
Training managers are pulled in many different directions. In a smaller organization, training is probably an additional duty, and your primary role may be in HR, IT, etc. In a larger organization, you may be part of a training team, but the company is always looking for ways to do more with less. (Do either of these situations sound familiar?) Either way, your time is precious. Following a methodology will save you time and frustration. Lean on your vendors as well. If you need information you don’t have, make sure you get it.
Several online tools exist that can simplify your research process. TrainingIntelligence.com is a fantastic search engine for instructor-led courses. Bersin and Associates has a number of comprehensive studies on a large variety of training topics.
The Importance of Feedback
You should be getting regular feedback on the progress of training. Feedback is important for a number of reasons, depending on the depth of your training need.
In the case of John Smith and his pivot tables, detailed feedback may lead you to qualify or disqualify a vendor from future opportunities.
For our Project Management scenario, regular feedback will allow you to tweak the curriculum for future courses to improve the experience for other courses.
And in the case of our custom upgrade, ongoing feedback will ensure that the curriculum is being developed to your specifications, and ensure that the trainers are delivering a quality experience for your organization’s end users.
Summary
In today’s complex environment of various training delivery methods, a procurement methodology will help ensure that your dollars, as well as your time, are spent as effectively as possible. By defining your need, researching available delivery methods, and matching your need to the correct product for your company and corporate culture, you can meet your company’s training needs head-on, with the right solutions in place.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
To RFP, or not to RFP…
Many organizations issue a request for proposal (RFP) with the express intent of procuring their need at the lowest price possible. While price is definitely important, it is more important to get VALUE for the money spent. There are many reasons to go through the formal RFP process, the most notable being ethics and compliance. If your organization requires you to issue an RFP, ensure your requirements are well defined (per our initial step discussed earlier). Allow a long period for questions & answers, and give yourself the opportunity to interview the vendors in person to get a better feel for their capabilities and qualifications. Given enough time, anyone can draft a well-written proposal; it’s another thing to articulate that same response in person. Most RFP’s define a scoring system by which the organization will select a vendor; for example, 30% of the score will be based on price, 25% on vendor qualifications, 25% based on curriculum, etc. For the most part, such systems are unrealistic, as they attempt to quantify very subjective criteria in the name of being impartial. Whatever criteria you use, ensure that your RFP process enables effective procurement, rather than inhibiting it.
Match the Product
Once you’ve defined your need, it’s time to match it to a vendor’s solution. Assuming you can’t meet the need with company internal resources, you should have a general idea of which vendor most closely meets your need. If a public training course is the best option, then it’s simply a matter of finding a class date that works for the student. If private training is better suited for you, then arrange conference calls with the trainer(s) to qualify them, and ensure they can focus on your specific needs. Again, it never hurts to ask for references.
Custom needs
Private training for your department or company should always be customized for your environment. You’re all from the same organization – why not make sure the course is tailored to your specific need? This may involve nothing more than going through an outline with an instructor and adding or removing topics, or it could involve some company-specific examples that require the instructor to create additional content. If it’s the first scenario, you shouldn’t pay extra for it. The second scenario may involve some costs for preparation time, but ROI is generally worthwhile.
In the 4th and final part of this series, we'll dicuss some final thoughts such as company culture, feedback, and the value of your time.
Many organizations issue a request for proposal (RFP) with the express intent of procuring their need at the lowest price possible. While price is definitely important, it is more important to get VALUE for the money spent. There are many reasons to go through the formal RFP process, the most notable being ethics and compliance. If your organization requires you to issue an RFP, ensure your requirements are well defined (per our initial step discussed earlier). Allow a long period for questions & answers, and give yourself the opportunity to interview the vendors in person to get a better feel for their capabilities and qualifications. Given enough time, anyone can draft a well-written proposal; it’s another thing to articulate that same response in person. Most RFP’s define a scoring system by which the organization will select a vendor; for example, 30% of the score will be based on price, 25% on vendor qualifications, 25% based on curriculum, etc. For the most part, such systems are unrealistic, as they attempt to quantify very subjective criteria in the name of being impartial. Whatever criteria you use, ensure that your RFP process enables effective procurement, rather than inhibiting it.
Match the Product
Once you’ve defined your need, it’s time to match it to a vendor’s solution. Assuming you can’t meet the need with company internal resources, you should have a general idea of which vendor most closely meets your need. If a public training course is the best option, then it’s simply a matter of finding a class date that works for the student. If private training is better suited for you, then arrange conference calls with the trainer(s) to qualify them, and ensure they can focus on your specific needs. Again, it never hurts to ask for references.
Custom needs
Private training for your department or company should always be customized for your environment. You’re all from the same organization – why not make sure the course is tailored to your specific need? This may involve nothing more than going through an outline with an instructor and adding or removing topics, or it could involve some company-specific examples that require the instructor to create additional content. If it’s the first scenario, you shouldn’t pay extra for it. The second scenario may involve some costs for preparation time, but ROI is generally worthwhile.
In the 4th and final part of this series, we'll dicuss some final thoughts such as company culture, feedback, and the value of your time.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Best Practices in Training Procurement, Part II - Learning What's Out There
Learn What’s Out There
As we discussed earlier, there’s no shortage of training vendors that want your business. So how do we narrow them down? Well, it depends on the scope of the need. Keep in mind, not every vendor can meet every training need.
In the case of John Smith and his pivot tables, a public course will probably do the job. In fact, chances are you already have a go-to vendor for this type of thing, and it’s a matter of selecting the scheduled course or e-learning module that meets John’s need.
For the IT department adopting a new methodology, it’s a little more in depth. A need this comprehensive deserves a little research. You may already have a go-to vendor, but that doesn’t mean they are the most qualified. Do your homework - get the curriculum, and set up interviews with instructors, if possible. Your ultimate goal here is to narrow down the field to three vendors with whom you’ll set up a final selection process.
In our third scenario, your process is quite a bit different. You probably won’t be working off of standard curriculum; you’ll more likely need to develop a unique curriculum for the custom upgrade. In this case, there may not be a slew of vendors for you to interview; you may be talking with one or two specialized firms, or the training department for the software manufacturer (for which you will likely pay a lot more). References are critical here, as well as samples of previous work. The vendor will be getting deep into your business processes. If your company requires a background check in order for a contractor to touch your systems, identify the people and perform the background check before they start.
In Part III of this series, "Matching the Product", we'll discuss pairing the correct product for your need, and whether or not an RFP is the appropriate procurement method.
As we discussed earlier, there’s no shortage of training vendors that want your business. So how do we narrow them down? Well, it depends on the scope of the need. Keep in mind, not every vendor can meet every training need.
In the case of John Smith and his pivot tables, a public course will probably do the job. In fact, chances are you already have a go-to vendor for this type of thing, and it’s a matter of selecting the scheduled course or e-learning module that meets John’s need.
For the IT department adopting a new methodology, it’s a little more in depth. A need this comprehensive deserves a little research. You may already have a go-to vendor, but that doesn’t mean they are the most qualified. Do your homework - get the curriculum, and set up interviews with instructors, if possible. Your ultimate goal here is to narrow down the field to three vendors with whom you’ll set up a final selection process.
In our third scenario, your process is quite a bit different. You probably won’t be working off of standard curriculum; you’ll more likely need to develop a unique curriculum for the custom upgrade. In this case, there may not be a slew of vendors for you to interview; you may be talking with one or two specialized firms, or the training department for the software manufacturer (for which you will likely pay a lot more). References are critical here, as well as samples of previous work. The vendor will be getting deep into your business processes. If your company requires a background check in order for a contractor to touch your systems, identify the people and perform the background check before they start.
In Part III of this series, "Matching the Product", we'll discuss pairing the correct product for your need, and whether or not an RFP is the appropriate procurement method.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Best Practices in Training Procurement, Part I - Defining the Need
This is the first of a 4-part series on Best Practices in Training Procurement.
Overview
Classroom training. E-learning. Blended learning. Synchronous vs. asynchronous distance learning. Self-study. The training world is becoming increasingly complex, with new products & services being created every day. How do we know we’re making the right purchase to meet our training need? In today’s economy, we need to be certain that our limited training budgets are being utilized with maximum benefit to the organization.
Every training organization in the world wants your money. Many will do whatever they have to do, and promise whatever they need to promise, in order to get your business, and some will claim capabilities that they do not yet have in order to win your business. Training vendors likely mail you catalogs every day, and send regular emails featuring the special of the week, or the latest and greatest curriculum. The trainer that deserves your business is the one that fully understands your need, and is interested in maximizing the benefit that your organization is looking for. How do you as the training buyer make sure that happens? Well, that’s a complicated question with a more complicated answer.
When you buy a physical product, you can take it out of the box right away, follow the instructions, and verify that it works. If it’s defective, you can return it for a new product or your money back. Training is much more ambiguous, since ROI won’t be fully realized until long after the training is completed and your dollars have been spent. If you follow a defined procurement plan, you will have much better odds of getting the training that exactly meets your organization’s needs.
Define the Need
How extensive is the training need? To what extent does it impact the organization as a whole? It’s critical to your success as a training manager to diagnose before you prescribe. In other words, you need to fully understand the problem before you implement a solution.
If John Smith in Finance needs to learn more effective pivot tables in Excel 2007 to produce a particular report, then your need is very well defined the moment you learn of it.
Say your IT department is adopting a formal Project Management methodology as a new practice. A little more exploration will ensure the correct training solution is implemented. What type of process are they moving over from? Why are they adopting a new methodology? Who in the IT department already has project management experience? To what extent does the entire department need training, and does anyone need to be certified? Is there a timeline for everyone to be trained? More exploration is required before you can fully understand the need.
However, if the entire Finance department is performing a major systems upgrade with customization to meet new government regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley, then you have quite a bit of homework to do. You’ll want to be involved with the people performing the upgrade. You’ll want to interview as many people as possible do determine the impact on their daily tasks. It’s important to understand the desired result from management, but it is equally important to understand the impact on the end-user, and what they would like to achieve as well. You’ll also want to understand the output of the changed processes, and how that may impact other parts of the company. What resources internal to the company already exist that could serve as training resources?
By fully defining the training need, you will be better equipped to begin searching for the proper solution.
In the next segment, "Learn What's Out There", we'll begin to explore the available resources, and how to qualify them.
Overview
Classroom training. E-learning. Blended learning. Synchronous vs. asynchronous distance learning. Self-study. The training world is becoming increasingly complex, with new products & services being created every day. How do we know we’re making the right purchase to meet our training need? In today’s economy, we need to be certain that our limited training budgets are being utilized with maximum benefit to the organization.
Every training organization in the world wants your money. Many will do whatever they have to do, and promise whatever they need to promise, in order to get your business, and some will claim capabilities that they do not yet have in order to win your business. Training vendors likely mail you catalogs every day, and send regular emails featuring the special of the week, or the latest and greatest curriculum. The trainer that deserves your business is the one that fully understands your need, and is interested in maximizing the benefit that your organization is looking for. How do you as the training buyer make sure that happens? Well, that’s a complicated question with a more complicated answer.
When you buy a physical product, you can take it out of the box right away, follow the instructions, and verify that it works. If it’s defective, you can return it for a new product or your money back. Training is much more ambiguous, since ROI won’t be fully realized until long after the training is completed and your dollars have been spent. If you follow a defined procurement plan, you will have much better odds of getting the training that exactly meets your organization’s needs.
Define the Need
How extensive is the training need? To what extent does it impact the organization as a whole? It’s critical to your success as a training manager to diagnose before you prescribe. In other words, you need to fully understand the problem before you implement a solution.
If John Smith in Finance needs to learn more effective pivot tables in Excel 2007 to produce a particular report, then your need is very well defined the moment you learn of it.
Say your IT department is adopting a formal Project Management methodology as a new practice. A little more exploration will ensure the correct training solution is implemented. What type of process are they moving over from? Why are they adopting a new methodology? Who in the IT department already has project management experience? To what extent does the entire department need training, and does anyone need to be certified? Is there a timeline for everyone to be trained? More exploration is required before you can fully understand the need.
However, if the entire Finance department is performing a major systems upgrade with customization to meet new government regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley, then you have quite a bit of homework to do. You’ll want to be involved with the people performing the upgrade. You’ll want to interview as many people as possible do determine the impact on their daily tasks. It’s important to understand the desired result from management, but it is equally important to understand the impact on the end-user, and what they would like to achieve as well. You’ll also want to understand the output of the changed processes, and how that may impact other parts of the company. What resources internal to the company already exist that could serve as training resources?
By fully defining the training need, you will be better equipped to begin searching for the proper solution.
In the next segment, "Learn What's Out There", we'll begin to explore the available resources, and how to qualify them.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Car Sales Tactics with Terry Bradshaw
Today’s post is a bit of a departure from the usual posts about technology training and best practices, to tell a story of an experience I had last week with a producer for a TV show called “Profile with Terry Bradshaw”.
I’ve been in the business of selling training for over 10 years. In that time, I’ve seen many different methodologies and sales tactics. There are two practices in particular that I feel are unethical, and should never be used by any legitimate salesperson: the Bait and Switch, and the Takeaway Close.
The Bait and Switch a tactic where the salesperson offers a particular product at a discount (or free) to get the prospect’s interest, and after assessing their level of interest, pulls the discount to offer a higher priced product. Personally, I also consider a salesperson to be pulling a “Bait and Switch” when they fail to disclose fees for goods or services up front. I’ve seen this personally with vacuum cleaner sales people when they send a college kid door to door offering a “free room cleaning” to demonstrate the features of a vacuum, only to have the salesperson walk into your home and try to intimidate you into buying a vacuum cleaner or they won’t leave. Oh, and they don’t clean an entire room, either.
The Takeaway Close is used when a prospect is not completely committed to the sale, and the act of “taking away” the product or service instills a fear of loss in the prospect, forcing them to make a decision. I’ve seen this at car dealerships when negotiating the price of a car, and in order to “meet your price” the salesperson removes a feature that you indicated you wanted.
More on these tactics later.
We were contacted last week by a representative from the TV show “Profiles With Terry Bradshaw”. I took a look at the website for the show, and found that it is a program that considers small business success to be vital to our nation’s growth, and that Terry Bradshaw profiles “Fascinating business stories to hear first-hand candid insights from entrepreneurs of various industries.” According to the person who contacted us, Terry Bradshaw was running a series on the importance of business training in the current economy, and their research team had thought that our company’s story would be interesting to profile on the show.
As a small business, that level of exposure certainly appealed to us. After all we have just launched the world’s most comprehensive and user-friendly training search engine, boasting over 140,000 scheduled courses across the U.S. and Canada, and it levels the playing field, portraying small local training companies side-by-side with technical training giants such as Global Knowledge and New Horizons. Our story certainly seemed compelling to us, and we were thrilled that Terry Bradshaw might want to interview us on TV!
We set up an appointment with an associate producer, who called me the next business day to interview, and gain more insight into our story to make sure we were a good fit. During this interview, he did quite a bit to pump up my ego with congratulatory statements, and we set an appointment with a “senior producer” to flesh out the details and make sure all of their questions were answered.
Then, after all of that was set up, the associate producer told me that there would be some fees involved. “OK”, I said guardedly, “What kinds of fees are we talking about?” This was news to me, as we hadn’t had ANY discussion of fees up to this point.
Turns out, the costs involved are for production and editing, to get the clip ready for airtime. The fee for this “service” would be $24,800. I asked how much air time the final interview would be, and he said it would be about 5 minutes.
Um, excuse me? You build up this experience, play off of our emotions and hopes as a small business looking for exposure, and then whack us with a $25k price tag? I said that there was no way we have that kind of budget for a single 5-minute TV spot with limited visibility, and thanks but no thanks. He asked if we should cancel the appointment with the senior producer, and I said “absolutely, please cancel.”
Now, after talking with our PR person, it turns out that this sort of TV arrangement is very common. The TV shows aren’t owned by a particular network, so to float the cost of the show, they charge the people appearing, and the show is shopped out to different networks, who are looking to fill airtime. They don’t make much money from the networks, so they need to charge the people appearing.
Fine, but disclose that up front! This is where the bait and switch comes in: offering a televised interview with a major media icon and sports figure, where he will voice over our story and tell it in a really compelling way, and the team will even shoot on location. We’re not in the TV business – we don’t know how the business works, so failing to disclose those fees up front DEFINITELY qualifies as a bait and switch in my mind.
As a last ditch effort, the associate producer used the “Takeaway Close”, asking if he should cancel the meeting with the executive producer. Sir, when I said “there’s no way we have the budget” I meant it.
Terry Bradshaw, by all accounts, is ridiculously successful and charismatic. He’s one of those people where everything he touches turns to gold. He’s had an incredible career as a sports figure, motivational speaker, TV analyst and announcer, actor, and author. We found it more than a little disappointing to find that a media organization with this amazing person at the front would use these kinds of sales tactics on the small businesses that are critical to our economy, and our nation’s growth. It’s a betrayal of the very reason the program exists.
Terry, you may want to reconsider your choice of business model and organizational structure.
I’ve been in the business of selling training for over 10 years. In that time, I’ve seen many different methodologies and sales tactics. There are two practices in particular that I feel are unethical, and should never be used by any legitimate salesperson: the Bait and Switch, and the Takeaway Close.
The Bait and Switch a tactic where the salesperson offers a particular product at a discount (or free) to get the prospect’s interest, and after assessing their level of interest, pulls the discount to offer a higher priced product. Personally, I also consider a salesperson to be pulling a “Bait and Switch” when they fail to disclose fees for goods or services up front. I’ve seen this personally with vacuum cleaner sales people when they send a college kid door to door offering a “free room cleaning” to demonstrate the features of a vacuum, only to have the salesperson walk into your home and try to intimidate you into buying a vacuum cleaner or they won’t leave. Oh, and they don’t clean an entire room, either.
The Takeaway Close is used when a prospect is not completely committed to the sale, and the act of “taking away” the product or service instills a fear of loss in the prospect, forcing them to make a decision. I’ve seen this at car dealerships when negotiating the price of a car, and in order to “meet your price” the salesperson removes a feature that you indicated you wanted.
More on these tactics later.
We were contacted last week by a representative from the TV show “Profiles With Terry Bradshaw”. I took a look at the website for the show, and found that it is a program that considers small business success to be vital to our nation’s growth, and that Terry Bradshaw profiles “Fascinating business stories to hear first-hand candid insights from entrepreneurs of various industries.” According to the person who contacted us, Terry Bradshaw was running a series on the importance of business training in the current economy, and their research team had thought that our company’s story would be interesting to profile on the show.
As a small business, that level of exposure certainly appealed to us. After all we have just launched the world’s most comprehensive and user-friendly training search engine, boasting over 140,000 scheduled courses across the U.S. and Canada, and it levels the playing field, portraying small local training companies side-by-side with technical training giants such as Global Knowledge and New Horizons. Our story certainly seemed compelling to us, and we were thrilled that Terry Bradshaw might want to interview us on TV!
We set up an appointment with an associate producer, who called me the next business day to interview, and gain more insight into our story to make sure we were a good fit. During this interview, he did quite a bit to pump up my ego with congratulatory statements, and we set an appointment with a “senior producer” to flesh out the details and make sure all of their questions were answered.
Then, after all of that was set up, the associate producer told me that there would be some fees involved. “OK”, I said guardedly, “What kinds of fees are we talking about?” This was news to me, as we hadn’t had ANY discussion of fees up to this point.
Turns out, the costs involved are for production and editing, to get the clip ready for airtime. The fee for this “service” would be $24,800. I asked how much air time the final interview would be, and he said it would be about 5 minutes.
Um, excuse me? You build up this experience, play off of our emotions and hopes as a small business looking for exposure, and then whack us with a $25k price tag? I said that there was no way we have that kind of budget for a single 5-minute TV spot with limited visibility, and thanks but no thanks. He asked if we should cancel the appointment with the senior producer, and I said “absolutely, please cancel.”
Now, after talking with our PR person, it turns out that this sort of TV arrangement is very common. The TV shows aren’t owned by a particular network, so to float the cost of the show, they charge the people appearing, and the show is shopped out to different networks, who are looking to fill airtime. They don’t make much money from the networks, so they need to charge the people appearing.
Fine, but disclose that up front! This is where the bait and switch comes in: offering a televised interview with a major media icon and sports figure, where he will voice over our story and tell it in a really compelling way, and the team will even shoot on location. We’re not in the TV business – we don’t know how the business works, so failing to disclose those fees up front DEFINITELY qualifies as a bait and switch in my mind.
As a last ditch effort, the associate producer used the “Takeaway Close”, asking if he should cancel the meeting with the executive producer. Sir, when I said “there’s no way we have the budget” I meant it.
Terry Bradshaw, by all accounts, is ridiculously successful and charismatic. He’s one of those people where everything he touches turns to gold. He’s had an incredible career as a sports figure, motivational speaker, TV analyst and announcer, actor, and author. We found it more than a little disappointing to find that a media organization with this amazing person at the front would use these kinds of sales tactics on the small businesses that are critical to our economy, and our nation’s growth. It’s a betrayal of the very reason the program exists.
Terry, you may want to reconsider your choice of business model and organizational structure.
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