I run into an amazing number of people who tell me their financial institutions have “limited budgets” for training. One person told me they didn’t spend any money on training at all! Of course at that same place, I watched a senior Teller with a new hire at the same window and a CSR opening a new account without cross-selling. And I know they have an error rate that they evidently find acceptable, because they don’t factor the customer discontent caused by some of those errors. So, all of a sudden the institution that doesn’t spend any money for training really means they don’t have a clue how much they spend on training.

The fact is… you spend money on training no matter what you do. The only issue is whether you get VALUE for the money you spend. Training is not the “touchy/feely” soft skill approach quantitative thinkers often portray it to be.

In recent weeks, I’ve observed:

Justify your training expense NOT in outflow, but in the money it saves. Regardless of whether you were trying to re-tool a new live class, add online training such as BankTrainingOnline™, or revamp Teller training, always start with what the training or lack of training costs now!

Investigating these hidden training costs is a difficult challenge because there will be much speculation and lack of hard data. But, if you understate the costs associated with error rates, turnover, absenteeism, multiple people doing the same job, and customer issues, etc., you’ll often find that even these “lowball” estimates far exceed the cost of your new, revamped program.

Training is never free, but you need to make the most of what you spend!

Jay Bowden
President, TRC Interactive