July 2002 Track Selling Times Focus on the Professional
 Focus on the Professional -
"Roger McClung"
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(From April 2001 Track Selling Times)
Roger McClung is Vice President of Consulting Services at BreakAway Consulting based in Redmond, Wash. BreakAway helps companies achieve their productivity and profit goals through leadership training and delivery of custom training programs. For more information please visit www.breakawayconsult.com.
1. What is the primary role of a training and development consultant?
Without question, it's to help a company. A consultant can do this in several ways. First, he or she can provide a fresh, objective view of the company and issues that need to be addressed. Second, he or she can help determine a client's real needs. And third, the consultant can develop an action plan to meet those needs.
2. How can an organization measure a consultant's value or ROI?
The first thing to understand about measuring the ROI of training is that you must have clearly defined goals. These goals must be agreed upon and highly measurable. Once in place, there are four primary ways to evaluate the quality of the training:
- Participant's reactions.
This is a measure of the participant's perceived value of the training and is often done via written evaluation. These are often called 'smile sheets', because they are a very subjective measure of training and tend more towards the positive side (people tend to dislike giving bad news).
- Knowledge testing.
This measures the amount of knowledge transferred during training and can be obtained with pre and post (training) tests. Most companies don't take this approach far enough, in that, they test immediately after the training - which is really just a test of short-term memory. In addition, the companies should also test after an extended period of time to see if the knowledge has "stuck."
- Actual behavior change.
Management can simply observe whether employees are exercising the desired behaviors and avoiding the undesirable ones.
- Results achieved.
This is a longer-term measurement of the quality of training that analyzes how the training is affecting the company's bottom line (e.g. decreased costs, increased production, lower turnover, etc.).
3. What are the most important criteria to consider when selecting a consultant?
*Experience and expertise. Does the consultant have professional experience in the area of the company's need? Does he or she demonstrate knowledge and understanding? Does he or she understand the company's project, needs, goals, etc.?
*Demonstrable quality. Can the consultant demonstrate a level of quality service - i.e. references, product demos, collateral? Reference checks are probably the best means of accomplishing this. When checking references, the client should speak with other companies that have had similar experiences. The client should also realize, that how a consultant sells is an indication of how they will solve the client's problems. Does he or she take the time up front to understand the client, the goals/objectives, the issues the client faces, the impact of those issues, etc.?
*Communication skills. How well does the consultant communicate (listening, speaking, writing)? The client should look for examples of each, since the consultant will use each method.
*Price. This is always a factor. Can the consultant meet the needs and expectations at a price that will allow ROI within a reasonable time frame? Remember, people buy value not price, and the old adage "you get what you pay for" is usually true.
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