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The saying is true that a business is only as good as the employees who work for it. Even for small businesses who only have 2 to 5 workers, you want every person on your team doing their best for each consumer who wants to purchase your products and services.

Yet take a moment to think about your employees. Are they really doing the best for your clients and customers? Could they do better? What may they be lacking in their skills and experience that is impacting business productivity?

Not every employee will have the same skill set as the others due to their varied backgrounds. Only through employee training can you ensure every person who will represent your business will do so at the highest level of quality that they can provide. Unfortunately, the costs of training can quickly become a burdensome expense on your accounting ledgers.

When it comes to your small business, you have to examine your budget to determine the right training resources to implement: seminars, in-house consultant training, mentoring, video materials, e-learning, college classes, one-on-one tutoring, or group workshops. Invest in the best comprehensive training that you can afford, and you will see the results that you desire.

Building your dream team of employees can be done while cutting down on the training expenses as you can use the following tips:

  1. Plan ahead by evaluating your employees’ skills and education. Decide whether you need to invest in group workshops or individual training sessions. Keep in mind that not every employee may need training, or the same type of training, based on their job position. Only focus and plan on the training resources that will give the most benefits.
  2. Speak with vendors to see if they will provide in-house training at reduced costs. A vendor may see this training option as a benefit for their own business because your employees will be better equipped to promote the vendor’s products and services.
  3. E-learning tools and resources are growing for companies. The employee can learn at their own pace, and have access to the resources when they have additional questions.
  4. You may not have the money to send all your employees to training seminars. Instead, let one or two employees receive the training as they can return to the company and teach the others the knowledge they learned.

Avoid the pitfalls of inferior employee training. Many places will only go through the motions of orientation and then let the employees figure out the rest on their own through trial and error. Yet during this time, the employees muddle their way through work, which causes a negative experience for frustrated customers who will no longer purchase products or services through your business.

Other companies will use the least expensive trainers and resources available. But this situation can cause the employees to have incomplete work knowledge that hampers business operations. Then the business will have to reinvest in additional training methods, doubling their operational costs.

The provision of training to subscribers of Big Red Cloud’s accounting software has always been a key priority as we have long recognized that having suitably trained employees in your accounts department is a critical factor in maintaining a sustainable and profitable business.

 

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)