Home / Reports and Surveys / Why you should never be too poor or too busy to train By Marc Holland, Managing Director PTP Training & Marketing

Why you should never be too poor or too busy to train By Marc Holland, Managing Director PTP Training & Marketing

Of what value is training? A recent survey among HR professionals carried out by PTP Training & Marketing - one of the UK's fastest growing and most successful training organisations in the UK - shows the key benefit of training is 'increased motivation' of staff followed by 'improved confidence', 'improved skills' and 'positive impact on business'. All admirable qualities, which - there's no denying - we like to see in our staff in large quantities and clearly point to a need for healthy investment in training!

However despite the convincing indicators for putting training high up on the staff agenda, many HR manager say not enough training is happening in our workplaces - and the potential for having motivated, skilled and top performing workers is not being fulfilled as it should. In fact our survey revealed that the average training allocation per member of staff - for an average employee - is just one to three days per year. A few companies manage to do better than this with just under 30% offering between four and six days and one in ten completely buck the trend by generously give more than 10 days training per year.

It is not surprising that HR managers are disappointed at this level of training provision and almost a third admit that it is inadequate for improved personal performance. However if HR managers are falling down on their aim to achieve more training days per employee per year they are more than making progress when it comes to providing training across the board. Gone are the days when training was strictly the privilege of the management hierarchy, almost 60% of companies claim they provide training for nine out of ten staff. So having put the importance of training in some kind of context and highlighted the cry from many HR managers to significantly up the training time - the big question is what steps are you taking to benefit from the excellent quality training programmes that are available to you and your staff?

With literally hundreds of training programmes on offer to companies at top venues spread across the UK - and this is just the PTP offering! - there are no excuses not to take a look at what is on the market. Whether you want to know how to 'close a sale and deal with objections', 'win more business by telephone', 'empower and delegate', 'manage conflict' or learn a hundred and one other skills - it is there on your doorstep - and at under £300 per one day programme per delegate provides outstanding value for money.

For example if you attended a one day programme held by PTP on 'Closing the Sale and dealing with objections' you would come out at the end of the day armed with: á 20+ types of closing a deal strategies á A greater understanding in how to handle objections positively á A greater understanding of a customer's motivation á An ability to overcome a customer's objection to say a price á A better insight into generally discussing and resolving a customer's issues Alternatively you may opt for 'Winning more business on the telephone' and benefit from: á Acquiring greater confidence in making outgoing calls in a professional manner á Gaining the ability to overcome objections effectively á Further developing an individual style á Learning better follow-up call techniques.

PTP specialises in small group training with a maximum of ten and an average number of six delegates per group. This means each programmes is highly interactive and stimulating allowing great individual attention. Each delegate takes home their own action plan to form an effective link between the workshop and the place of work. Unfortunately with some training programmes the learning ends at the training venue gates and fails to make any real impact once back in the office. We ensure that the action programme really does mean action and is the continuation of the learning experience! It's perhaps no surprise that as trainers we should proclaim training as an essential part of staff development. But it is perhaps our impressive client list, which can do this job for us more succinctly.

PTP currently works with 20% of FTSE 100 companies. Names include 3M, Conoco, Hewlett Packard, Hilton International, Ikea, Marks & Spencer, Northern Rock, Siemens, Walker and many more. The company has also a wealth of experience in working with clients within Financial Services. A typical sample of training programmes for this group include: á Closing the sale and dealing with Objections + Generating New Business by Telephone for UBS AG á Introduction to Management and Supervisory Skills for Lloyds TSB á Generating New Business by Telephone for the Institute of Chartered Accountants á Finance for Non-Finance Mangers for Northern Rock á Several programmes including Sales and Customer Care Courses for World Investor Link Europe I hope we've counteracted the argument that training is expensive by showing that for just £295 you can be one of a small group in a highly practical, informative and enjoyable day long training programme.

To counteract the 'too busy' syndrome PTP has developed a system called U-Choose - a fully flexible service meaning training is completely accessible to people wherever they are in the UK and whenever they want to train. A programme of your choice can be booked at a local training venue on a day convenient to you - it's as easy as that! And it takes away the headache of trying to co-ordinate the right programme with the right venue on the right date. At last an end to typical training booking frustrations such as courses being cancelled because of low numbers or delegates having to travel long distances to the training venue. Also you only need to book a minimum of two places to guarantee any programme running. So now you can appreciate that you're neither too busy nor too poor - contact PTP today on freephone 0800 975 6787 or visit the web site at www.ptp.co.uk . -ends-

Send-to-Friend     Sitemap