the e-learner


A question of trust I


A meeting of minds with clients goes a long way to creating great learning Xxxxxxxx


t’s hard to know what to expect when we meet a client or potential client for the first time. With every client comes a different experience and different expectations, from a short health and safety course to a full 3D simulation. The main thing to glean from the initial meeting


is how firm their expectations are. Some companies have an idea of how they want the whole thing to look and feel, whereas others have a very basic idea with dated content and simply say they want to be “wowed”. We have to be prepared for any eventuality, and have ideas and options ready to talk them through.


Sometimes we have to win over a potential client on a personal level before even getting into their requirements, as some people don’t like change or aren’t entirely convinced by e-learning. In these cases, not only do we have to have a good enough


pitch to win the work, but a good enough pitch to win people over to the benefits of e-learning. We have to explain that e-learning isn’t all the same, it can be exciting, interactive and engaging. It can be fun. Winning over these types of clients is a crucial part of the process. We have to break the ice, show them we’re not trying to sell them glorified PowerPoint slides, and give them some confidence in us. That’s when the real pitch comes: what can we do for them? From strong guidance for clients who aren’t sure


what direction to go in, to creative suggestions for clients who have content ready, we’re the experts in the field and are asking for their trust. We need to understand that what works for one


client doesn’t always work for another. We have to make sure we offer the best guidance we can for each individual case. Often from a client’s point of view, making decisions is scary, and making decisions about something that isn’t your day job is a risk people don’t want to take lightly. Lack of time comes into it as well – who has the time to read raw content or script drafts or look at screen designs, when they can just make comments on the near-finished product? Although sometimes in these instances we have


to be firm, the main responsibility for an e-learning company in an initial meeting is to listen to the client’s needs. What does their business want to do differently? Who is the audience? Have they done


much e-learning before? What has worked and what hasn’t? What specifically needs to be done differently by the end user?


One of the main challenges with meeting clients for the first time is putting their fears to rest by understanding them and assuring them we want to make the right decisions for the project. We have to clarify what content is essential, and what the key messages need to be from the very beginning in order to fully understand what the client wants from their e-learning. What it all comes back to is simple: listening. Listening carefully to clients’ requirements and then asking the relevant questions can save so much time in terms of back and forth conversations and missed information. Simply listening carefully to their needs and suggesting options based on what they discuss means we can come back with a proposal to fit all their requirements. The right questions really get to the heart of what the client wants from the project and who the project is aimed at. As much as we want to impress with our knowledge and show case studies of previous work, the most impressive and important thing we can do is to simply listen, and from there we can give guidance on where we can take the project.


Rachel Wright is a trainee scriptwriter at Mind Click @ the _e_learner


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