Our training director hasn't noticed a slow down in business yet - although those signing up for training are more cautious, he reports. He signs off in 2008 on a positive note, looking ahead to new projects and working practices.
Well what a few weeks it has been – we are not seeing evidence of the slow down just yet, but some of our competitors are. We are working very hard with a number of funding agencies to help small business and have seen an increase in our one day offering take up, I'm very pleased with this but it has meant that we have had to adjust our sales and marketing strategy to make it happen. I've also noticed that decisions are being made a little more cautiously at the moment, and more of the decisions are made by a committee - a little worrying because as we all know a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Still, we will offer to provide high value and remain optimistic for the next six months, providing we are mindful and anticipate the market then we will be fine.
The trainers are coping admirably, their workloads have not reduced and the quality of their support to delegates just gets better and better. The feedback, despite a couple of little hiccups, remains very positive and our new metric-based feedback system supports the verbal and written feedback we are getting. I have four trainers working within the team and I have to say the integration and team working is a joy to behold, they support, challenge and build on each others ideas without any preciousness.
Green working is high on the agenda over the next few months so we have been looking at WebEx (I am not being sponsored for this), but it looks a great package and having recently held a couple of client briefings, the appetite appears to be there. We looked at it about two years ago, but the pricing was not attractive and the usability was an issue. Now we have started using it internally and already noticed a difference in our approach to client and product management as well as an increase in the diversity of our ideas and approaches, and a reduction in travel costs and time.
Tenders are still on the agenda, after our recent successes the quality of out tenders is ever-increasing, as is the hit-rate. About two years ago, I was told it takes two years to get the hang of it – it does! I think it also helps that we have recognised that it is paramount to spend the requisite amount of time on them and that you cannot treat them as an add-on!
Interestingly we have also been approached for some international work over the last week – the USA and China – it couldn't be more different, but I will keep you all informed as to how that progresses.
