When you begin creating a training program, you should already have the end user in mind. If your goal is to promote learning, the steps that you might take include modularizing your content for accessibility, baking in adaptability to different skill levels, and designing your course for use on various modalities, from tablets to smartphones.
But the one part of the equation that you may be missing is this: selling training. What problem will your course solve for companies? Why is your content the best training that a company could deploy for its employees?
Former high school math teacher Rob Percival earned more than a million dollars in revenue from his online coding course because he understood the unique strengths of his course content and used that in his advertising. For example, instead of promoting his course as simply a way to “learn a new skill,” he describes how learning this new skill can change your life.
When building and selling your training, it is essential that you consider the factors that differentiate you from your competition. Here, we discuss how you can make your course’s marketability part of your training development philosophy. In the early stages, you’re not just thinking about course design; you’re also thinking about how you’re going to sell and grow your business.
Build ROI into your course’s DNA.
When you’re selling your course, you want to be able to clearly identify what learners should take away from it. What skills will they acquire? What competencies will they develop?
Make sure you identify these clear outcomes and goals before you even begin designing the course. Common goals are engagement, completion rates, and success rates or a combination of all three. As you develop your materials, build toward these goals.
Later, when you’re ready to sell the course, you’ll have specific skills that you can describe to companies that may want to buy it and examples of how learners will develop those skills throughout the course.
Create content to engage learners.
After you decide what you intend your learners to take from your course, start developing content that will engage them. Key features of course design include:
- Describing learning outcomes and how students will achieve them
- Breaking down content into modules and assignments
- Writing content that’s short and incorporates white space
- Incorporating multimedia, like videos, photos, and graphics
If you focus on developing content that’s compelling to learners, you already have the crucial features to sell to companies. Be sure to highlight appealing content and provide examples of what skills learners can develop via your course.
Market your course by offering compelling customization options.
Certain companies may hesitate to purchase content because they feel like it is one size fits all. They may want to add additional modules, brand the course, add various completion requirements, etc.
Firmwater LMS offers various custom options to clients, including branding, logos, colors, and domain. If you design your course in a modular way, you can build versions of the course on the Firmwater LMS for specific audiences. The LMS lets you take content created using authoring tools, videos, and PDFs and assemble these pieces into a course. Promoting this customization capability can help differentiate your course offering from similar ones.
Develop sneak peeks that you can share with companies.
It is difficult to assess the value and effectiveness of a course until you have experienced it, which can be challenging to do when you’re aiming to sell that course to companies. That’s why sneak peeks of what to expect in the course itself can be so effective.
These provide a glimpse into your instructional methods and the takeaways from your course. Consider making a video overview that describes significant competencies and how learners will acquire them. Alternatively, you could share a particularly effective lesson that you think highlights your engagement style.
Ask for endorsements from your current learners to build engagement.
Training courses are more appealing to potential buyers if you share testimonials from satisfied learners. If your course is new, you may need to have a few test learners take the course for free so you can get their testimonials.
Next, share learners’ thoughts about the most compelling parts of your course on your website and social media channels. When companies are considering purchasing a training course, your testimonials are among the most persuasive selling tools that you can offer.
Advertise instant course access from your online store.
An LMS with a Shopify integration is another way to promote your online course content. Shopify gives you the tools to sell your single course or even bundled courses directly to companies or individuals, without forcing them to wait for a course start date after the purchase. Companies can instantly purchase seats in the course for however many employees they would like.
Once an LMS account is created by the purchaser, they can return to the store and make more purchases, which will be under the same account in the LMS. This makes return purchases easy. Consider using completion emails to direct users back to the Shopify store with a discount code. Additionally, you can offer discounts for higher volume purchases.
B2B purchasers also have the flexibility to invite other users to take the course via email and have oversight over course access, due dates, certificates, and reports. They can print out paper invites with registration QR codes, which can be used in tandem with in-person events.
This low hurdle to course deployment is an appealing facet to emphasize for companies because it will save them time and get their employees in training as soon as possible.
Create completion certificates or other rewards that companies can offer their employees.
Companies may want to offer completion certificates to employees who finish certain courses. These can be used for various purposes, from ensuring that employees are trained in particular ways to considering employees with specific certifications for promotion. Completion certificates also offer a sense of accomplishment and proof of completion to external authorities.
Firmwater LMS enables training providers and their clients to create customized completion certificates. If companies are seeking this kind of validation, it can be an incentive for them to choose you.
Selling training: Marketing your course to companies
If you only think about selling training once it’s complete, you may be missing out on factors that could make your course more valuable. Marketability is about more than selling; it’s about differentiation, compelling content, and simplicity. Developing a plan for all stages of your course, from development to selling, is the best way to ensure that it is ready to be sold when you’ve completed it.
Here at Firmwater, we don’t just sell an LMS for training providers. We partner with our clients, giving them the tools and insights they need to implement the best practices in e-learning course development, growth, and delivery. We care too much about our customers’ businesses to have them wade through forums and chatbots for help.
Ready to use an LMS that’s designed for the way YOU work, with a team dedicated to YOUR needs? Book a no-obligation consultation directly with our team today!