Finding the Right Training Company 

Part 1: Knowing Your Needs and Your Options 

Over the past 30 years, the training industry has seen tremendous, exponential growth. There has also been considerable specialization—based on technology, industry, the type of training, etc. Because of that growth and specialization, it can be difficult to identify the right type of training company to suit your needs. This is especially true given that many needs do not perfectly match the various options in the marketplace or that the challenge of understanding the market can become a research project all of its own. 

To be sure, there is an inevitable chicken-and-egg problem when it comes to where to begin. You need to have some understanding of what you might need before you begin looking. On the other hand, many needs will require additional analysis, often with the help of an expert. Some of your potential options for a training vendor partner will be eager to help you with that analysis and training consulting, but that will require a foundation of trust.  

Choosing the wrong training solution can have serious consequences. It not only wastes your budget, but you won’t be able to show measurable outcomes and you diminish the trust of your learner audience and leader stakeholders. To avoid this, here are a few simple steps that you can take to make your research a little more structured and to safeguard yourself against the wrong solution.  

Step 1: Hypothesize your needs (but don’t finalize) 

• What are the business needs (identified by you or stakeholders)?
• Who is the target audience?   
  • How many learners do you anticipate now or over time?  
  • Where do these learners work? Remote, on-site, in the field?  
  • What resources are available for training delivery (classrooms, tech)?  
  • What do learners need (from their perspective)? 
• What will change as a result of the training (how will that be measured)? 
• What are the constraints and possible blockers?  

The pitfall with this step is to attempt to finalize your training needs and to delay your research in order to do additional analysis. If you can resist this impulse, you’ll benefit from having access to additional information and expertise as the process plays out. You need to understand the basics of the business need—what is the request and why now—because there are specialized training companies and training consultants to take care of different types of needs. You’ll need to have a good understanding of your learning audience because you need a high-level target in terms of scale. All solutions do not scale up or down. A leadership training solution for 5 leaders and one for 5,000 or 50,000 leaders is very unlikely to be the same solution.  

Step 2: Conduct Preliminary Research into Potential Vendors  

• Begin compiling a list of selection criteria (but don’t finalize) 
  • Delivery formats 
  • Custom content development or commercially available, subscription content  
  • Cost variables 
  • Technology requirements 
• Review directories from professional associations and industry analysts 
• Look for recommendations and online reviews 
• Top at industry lists of top providers by category 
• Seek recommendations from trusted peers 

Again, the risk is to set out with fixed selection criteria before learning what the options are and before doing a quick survey of the landscape. The purpose of preliminary research is for you to learn and anticipate what you think will be valuable and to let those options help you refine your criteria.  

There are a number of professional associations and industry analysts that can help you to validate the legitimacy and the specific value of certain training companies and training consulting firms. At AllenComm, we primarily recommend Training Industry, eLearning Industry, SHRM, and Brandon Hall. Each of these organizations offers different tools to help you in your research. For example, the analysts at Training Industry have been researching the market for over a decade and have published a landscape diagram that visually represents all of the key companies in the various segments of the training and L&D market. This diagram is worth checking out simply to appreciate the wide range of options available and to look at the high-level categorizations–learning technologies, specific learning services, and topical focus areas.  

If you’re not an insider, it can be a little tricky to figure out the various learning services. The default behavior is to jump to a topical area of focus. You should resist this impulse. Research by topic is much easier if you’ve already determined that you’re in the market for commercial or stock content, but, if you haven’t made that determination, it’s better to stay broad during this preliminary research.  

Of even more value than Training Industry’s landscape diagram are their lists of Top 20 Training Companies and their vendor directory. AllenComm, for example, appears on the lists of Top 20 Training Companies for Learning Services, Staffing, Content Development, and Experiential Learning Technologies.  

Similar information is available through other industry organizations. At eLearning Industry, they publish their Top Lists to feature award-winning providers, and they have a vendor directory that includes client reviews. AllenComm, for example, has 56 reviews in our listing on eLearning Industry.  

As you conduct your preliminary research, you should take notes on the services and features that you think will be most relevant. Your goal at this stage isn’t to create a shortlist of training companies or training consultants; it’s to refine your selection criteria, which will make it much easier when the time comes to create that shortlist.  

What’s Next?  

Once you’ve been through these two steps, gaining a preliminary understanding of both your needs and the types of training companies and training consulting services that are available, you’ll feel more confident in creating your shortlist, evaluating your prospective vendors, and making your final decision. Part 2 of our proposed series on Finding the Right Training Company will focus on creating your shortlist. Regardless of where you are in your search, perhaps the best advice is to be both systematic in your approach and open to learning new options as you go through the process.