Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2016 - 59

3| Talk about solutions and benefits, not features.
No one is focusing on whether your training
is blended or that people enjoy the donuts.
Your internal customers want to know how
you're going to help solve their problems.
When you rely on features, you're not
speaking your customers' language, and
they will not take you seriously, or worse,
avoid doing anything with you. Focus on the
unique benefits and solutions that address
their problems and leads to results.

emotional hot buttons, like scarcity and
hard-to-resist deals. Create a sense of
urgency around your internal buyer's needs.
Plant a seed to create a subconscious drive
to take action immediately. Tell them that
the longer they put off the training the
more delay they will see in achieving their
performance expectations. Don't lie to your
customers or make deceiving offers, but
rather, offer them a small incentive for taking
the leap and trialing the training effort.

4| Add value by showing multiple uses.

8| Offer guarantees and assurances.

The only thing better than having a really
useful product or service is having one that's
useful in lots of ways. The best infomercials
not only show the obvious benefits but
also demonstrate other ways you can use
the product. There is a primary reason why
your training exists but there are also many
secondary benefits too. Show the additional
creative ways the business can benefit from
working with you or how they can repurpose/
repackage their training investment.

5| Don't just say it. Show it!
Infomercials are great at showing all the
ways a product works. Training doesn't.
Describing your training effort is always
helpful, but people are visual. We love
examples and seeing things in action.
Explain why investing in your proposal is
awesome, and then show why it's awesome.
Conducting a pilot test to mitigate risk
or using control groups are examples of
showing why your training works.

6| Tell stories.
Storytelling is more engaging than selling,
and it helps people remember you.
People want to feel like they're having a
conversation with friends, not defending
themselves against a pushy sales pitch. Talk
to some of your internal customers, and find
out exactly how your efforts helped them
in the past. Craft a compelling, but truthful,
story. Then, tap into your potential buyers'
business needs and performance pain
points by telling these past success stories
and showing how they could benefit too.

7| Use scarcity or promotions to get people in the door.
As humans, we suffer from loss aversion,
which means we're much more sensitive
to losses than to gains. Part of the reason
infomercials are so successful is they use

People love feeling confident and reassured.
Guarantees can be a powerful way to
prove your confidence in your business
and convince them to act. Hearing an
infomercial phrase like, "Guaranteed or your
money back" may not be something that
you will use but saying something like "If
you're not fully satisfied, we want to hear
about it" reduces the risk for your customers
and makes them feel more comfortable
trusting you. Just make sure you deliver on
your promises.

9| Give your customers quick buying options.
All of your customers have different decision
modes. Some make decisions quickly, while
others need time to scour through the
details and ruminate before making choices.
For those competitive and spontaneous
decision styles, give them obvious calls to
action and easy ways to take the next step.

EXPLAIN WHY
INVESTING IN
YOUR PROPOSAL
IS AWESOME,
AND THEN SHOW
WHY IT'S AWESOME.

Although infomercials are primarily used
for B2C products, you can apply the same
principles to the internal clients that pay
for your training efforts. There are definitely
downfalls to infomercials. But the next time
you see an enticing infomercial, study it
closely. Look past the cheesiness and seek
out the reason why it compels you to watch
it and, possibly, act on it. You just may find
some helpful tips that could transform your
next training initiative and change how your
internal clients view training overall.

Ajay M. Pangarkar, CTDP, CPA, CMA, and Teresa
Kirkwood, CTDP are founders of CentralKnowledge.com
and LearningSourceonline.com. They are renowned
employee performance management experts and
three-time authors most recently publishing, "The
Trainer's Balanced Scorecard." Email Ajay and Teresa.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - FALL20 1 6 I WWW.TRAININGI NDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2016