Choosing the right external training consultant can really improve your staff and your business, but get it wrong and you could end up wasting time and money. It is vitally important that you choose a training consultant who has the skills and experience required to complete a successful training project that delivers for your people and gives value for money to your organisation.

Before starting to choose a training consultant, managers should work out what kind of training your staff requires, and what your human resource development goals are. Do you require a short training programme to bring a few key staff members up to speed, or are you more interested in having a complete skills audit of your organisation to help it fulfill its potential. Taking the time to look at your requirements and compile a detailed training brief is vital to ensure you choose the correct consultant to meet your organisation's training needs.

You can then draw up a list of potential training consultants that appear to have the potential to meet the requirements as outlined in your brief. A certain amount of research is required here, just looking up the Golden Pages and starting at ‘A’ is not best practice. This website contains a very useful directory of Irish and international training consultants which is a great place to start your search.  You can find basic information about each consultancy here, as well as contact details should you require more material before you make your decision.

There are a number of criteria that can be used to decide between the competing trainers and consultants. Each training consultancy will have their own particular strengths, weaknesses and areas of expertise. If you have a good idea of the skills and experience you are looking for in advance you can use this criteria to whittle down the options, and come up with a shortlist of organisations to approach with your brief. It is a good idea not to hire the first training consultant you talk to. Even if you have a particular person or company in mind, meet with a couple of others anyway, you never know what good ideas they might have, even if you eventually go with your original choice.

The expertise that a training consultant has can be divided into three distinct subsets. First of all do they have the analytical skills to decide what training your people actually need, secondly do they have specific knowledge about the latest skills requirements in your particular business sector, and thirdly do they have the training skills to successfully and efficiently impart this knowledge to your staff. These are three distinct categories, and a potential training consultant should be able to demonstrate to you that they can tick each relevant box.

It is very important that a training consultant, who is going to implement a staff development programme in your organisation, has a thorough knowledge of your organisation's particular area or business sector. The best way to demonstrate this is to have a proven track record of successfully implementing similar training projects in the past (although exact experience of an identical project is not always possible). Many training consultants will provide references, who you can call up or email and quiz. It is worth remembering that just because a consultant has worked with a ‘big-boy’ such as Microsoft or the ESB does not necessarily mean they will fit with your organisation. In many cases experience working with companies closer to your size, sector and shape is an advantage.

Cost is an important consideration in all business decisions and considerations of cost definitely apply when choosing an external training consultant. The costs of hiring a training consultant can vary greatly, depending on factors such as duration, experience, workload, skillset etc. Many training consultants will charge a daily rate, which can be negotiated depending on the size and duration of the relationship. Some consultants use the ‘1% rule’, which says that a daily rate will be approximately 1% of their projected annual salary. This will then vary depending on the skills and experience of the individual consultant. Other training consultants tend to charge a flat fee for an entire project. When agreeing costs make sure to include an agreement on who is going to pick up the bill for expenses such as telephone, travel, accommodation, food, materials etc.

While cost is important, the majority of training consultants will argue that value for money is even more so. Ask potential consultants to provide a structure built into the training programme that allows you to measure the benefits that your organisation will gain by its implementation. Some benefits (e.g. increased productivity, better retention rates) are quite easily measured when you put in place the right measurements. Only by taking the total ROI (return on investment) into consideration can you really decide which programme or consultant offers the best value for money.