Why Train?

In a 2007 Learning Skills Council survey of over a thousand owners/managers:

61% said they were put off training by lack of time
49% said the expense deterred them

Training does consume time and, it does cost money, even if only in lost working time.

If those are two reasons not to train, here are ten great ones for why you should:

10 Reasons to Train
	Your Training
1	Develop specialist skills	What do you need to learn: IT and web skills, finance, marketing, staff management, supply management?
2	Learn how to lead and motivate	How do you get people to deliver their best and be as productive as possible?
3	Communicate	How good are you verbally, in writing or in front of an audience? From basic literacy to advance presentation, there are hundreds of ways to train to be a more effective communicator.
4	Comply with the law	How well do you sleep? Learning how to deal efficiently with regulations and red tape can money and stress.
5	Grow	The main limiter on a small business' growth is the business owner themselves. Lack of knowledge, skills or management ability hold you back, and lack of business acumen or poor financial control means many SMEs are not nearly as profitable as they should be.
6	Take control	Many SMEs report they are reactive rather than proactive, and don't feel they are behind the rudder of their business.
7	Win more customers	Whether you need sales training, international customer training or advertising and marketing training, winning more and better customers goes to the heart of what every business owner wants to do.
8	Become more efficient	You can't train to make more hours in the day, but you can train to make more of them.
9	Innovate	Bringing something unique to your business offering sets you apart from the rest. Learning and expanding your industry knowledge helps you to develop new ideas, products and services, that give your business that competitive edge.
10	Enjoy running your business	Gaining confidence gives you a huge boost. Learn skills, take control, become more productive, see the results and get back to really enjoying running your business.
... and one for luck!	Get out there and do something different	Running a business can be a 7 day a week job. But all work and no play makes SME owners boring! Take time out to do something different, meet new people and gain a new perspective.

Your staff

Training your staff is just as vital - to your business and to their lives. Here are ten good reasons why you should train your staff:

10 Reasons to Train Your Staff
	Training for Your Staff
1	Development	No-one wants to spend their lives standing still, stuck in the same place. Everyone gets a boost from learning something new, improving, growing and knowing that they are making something of themselves.
2	Better prospects	Many leisure and hospitality staff have few skills and fewer prospects - training is the only way to open up a brighter future.
3	Confidence	Staff who know they are doing a good job are more confident and happier .
4	Productivity	Well trained, confident staff get through more work, better.
5	Customer satisfaction	Well trained, confident, productive staff give far better customer satisfaction - and the positive atmosphere communicates itself to customers.
6	More profit	Higher customer satisfaction can justify higher prices and/or attract more customers. This coupled with lower costs (through more productivity and efficiency) means higher profits.
7	A better or wider product offering	More skilled staff means you can offer better, wider or just more products and services than before - giving you a bigger scope for growing turnover.
8	A better pool of workers to draw from	If every employer invested some training in their staff, the overall pool of workers would be better qualified and more capable - meaning they hit the ground running when they come to work for you.
9	A more attractive industry	The more training, development and career prospects there are in the hospitality industry the more attractive it becomes to the brighter, higher flyers.
10	Better quality of life	Your full time workers spend more time with you at work than they do with their partners! Training helps them to spend that time more productively, more confidently and with more satisfaction.

Good news all the way

It isn't hard to see that training is linked to more quality, productivity and growth for your business, and greater satisfaction and confidence for you and your staff. The returns of good training far outweigh any short term drawbacks.

If you're interested in exploring what training can do for you, the next step is to find the training options that work best for you and your staff.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to train, and one of them will be right for your needs: on and off the job, during or outside working hours, at home, at work, at a centre, on or offline, in a group or by yourself.

The other good news is that specialist, independent, government-backed skills brokers can come to your workplace and help you identify, free of charge, what your training needs are and how to best go about meeting them. In our region there are five specialist Tourism Skills Brokers.

And the other, other good news is that some training is partly or fully funded.

There's no bad news.