Training Brokers - by Julie Ankers

People seem to understand what a training company does, but are confused about the role of the training broker. What is a training broker? And how can they help increase the effectiveness of your training budget?

Essentially training brokers match client training needs to a suitable training provider. Literally! The role of a training bureau is to work closely with clients, understand their training needs and match their requirements to one of the range of training consultants they represent. In other words, from the hundreds of training providers in the market, a training bureau identifies interviews and sources a training provider that matches the culture and business objectives for a client.

Using a training bureau enables a Learning and Development Manager to use their time and energy to do what they are best at, managing the delivery of an effective training strategy for the organisation, without the "headache" of managing
external providers.

So does using a training broker increase the cost of providing training? Well actually no…in fact, a training bureau can make sourcing and providing well matched training courses to business objectives cheaper! The fee quoted by the training broker to the client should be the same as if the client went directly to the consultant.

How does this work? Essentially, the consultant pays a commission to the training broker for finding him or her work. The broker can be considered as the marketing arm of a trainer's business.

It has been suggested that the consultants with the higher fees (i.e. a higher broker commission) will therefore get all the work. In reality, a reputable training broker is more interested in ongoing relationship values and matching the correct trainer to the culture and objectives of the client. After all, training brokers like all other businesses know that it is six times more expensive to find a new client than source new business from an existing, happy client.

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