Part III: Accelerated Training
Last time, we talked about the value of being accessible and discoverable to your target market, and how videos can make that a reality much faster than with any other medium. But video is not only a powerful tool to reach your target market, it is also a highly effective training tool.
Flexible and Accelerated Training
If you run an organization with more than a few employees, you know what a headache it can be to get everybody trained on what they are supposed to be doing. Every employee enters a position with a unique skillset, so it can be difficult to adequately equip each individual for the job within a live group training session. Countless hours are often wasted going over areas that are remedial and/or irrelevant to some, but essential to others.
Creating training videos for your employees largely solves these issues. You can create a series of videos – preferably in small bites of about 20 minutes or so each – that cover each of the essential areas employees need to be trained on. Some might need to watch a video two or three times before they adequately understand the subject matter. And that’s fine. Each employee can learn at their own their own pace without worrying about slowing the down rest of the team.
Targeted Training Videos
Over time, trainers are typically able to identify certain areas where new employees typically struggle. Through the use of video, they can create tutorials to specifically address these common weak spots. This allows them to delve deeper into skills-based training sessions, providing employees the type of one-on-one instruction they would otherwise not receive in a large group session — where a trainer typically just repeats the same messages over and over again, and there is rarely any significant individual improvement.
Training is Not Just for Employees
Some industries market products that are sometimes a bit complicated to use. But we all know how boring it is to read the accompanying manual. That’s why many customers never bother to read it at all, opting instead to roll the dice and just try to figure it out on their own. Video changes all that. Through the use of video tutorials, customers are able to see exactly what they are supposed to do, which greatly increases the chances of utilizing the product safely. And since watching a video is far more entertaining than reading a manual, the customer experience is greatly enhanced as well.
Training videos can be useful for the customers of service providers as well. For example, if you are a plumber or general contractor, you could produce a series of tutorials on how to do basic jobs, like changing a furnace filter, unclogging a drain, fixing a garbage disposal, or something similar. Sometimes, they will be able to do the job themselves. But when they encounter a job that is beyond their comfort zone, guess who they’re gonna call to fix it?
Training videos, whether for employees or customers, are a great tool to both make your organization run more smoothly, and to establish greater credibility in your market. And the great thing is – you only need to create these videos once. After they are created, they can provide accelerated training for years to come.