On Being a Training Consultant

Hello Bingjie,

There are a dime a dozen of training consultants out there, most of whom have got great knowledge, but don't know how to be a training consultant.

From my perspective, you need a couple of things

1. A great presence/charisma

This can make a difference between whether you earn $500 a day compared with $10,000 a day. Because I run the Presentation Dynamics program, it helps to tune you up to become better in your skills to create charisma and presence. There is an upcoming program if you like, plus a continuous improvement program follow-up for those who are serious about developing themselves as speakers. I've also had people ask me for personal coaching on the matter, but that's another story.

2. Systemic Thinking skills

As a consultant, you have to make sure your skills in thinking and problem solving meet the mark. My influence comes from Systemic NLP (Robert Dilts) as well as The Fifth Discipline (Peter Senge). The process can be complex. What's more you have to deliver your thinking clearly without confusing your clients.

3. Sales and Marketing skills

If you don’t know how to plan your sales and marketing thrust effectively, you’ll never make it as a training consultant. This is your life blood, and if you don’t have it, you’ll need someone to guide you in this respect or have a partner who can do this. To be honest, most trainers are expected to be able to present and sell their ideas too.

So the first step in starting off as a trainer is to know what your sales and marketing plan is, create expertise through the problem-solving process, and then deliver an unforgettable presentation with power and presence.

It took me about 12 years to develop this, but I have trainers who have been able to do this in much less.

Hope this helps!

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Huang Bingjie
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 10:05 PM
To: Stuart Tan
custom my question: Hi Stuart!

I've been working as an engineering executive for a little more than a year, after I graduated with a B.A degree in engineering from NTU. I've now decided to work towards helping others help themselves as a trainer/consultant, but I don't know how. Can you give me some advice on this? Thanks!

submit: Get Answer