This month, 3R spoke to Louise Church, Sales & Marketing Director of OlasIT Software Training & Development. OlasIT offers a wide range of IT training services, to suit small, medium and large organisations and individual users. The training covers all the popular desktop applications from basic level to advanced level. In addition, as the only Authorised SAP Training centre in Ireland, they offer specialised courses for SAP Enterprise software.

More and more we find that training is becoming part of a structured individual career development strategy within an organisation.

Louise, tell me what made you set up Olas IT?

In the eighties, my business partner, Monica Flood and I were working for a general consulting practice in Dublin providing IT consulting mainly in the area of mini-computers. We recognised a need for IT training and consulting in the area of the emerging PC market.

Tell me about the people who attend your training courses, how do they realise they need training?

The initiative to attend our training courses usually comes from the top with our clients. We may have been involved with our client on a ‘Training Needs Analysis’ due to the implementation of a new system or a general upgrade of existing systems. More and more we find that training is becoming part of a structured individual career development strategy within an organisation.

OK, so now they know how to use Microsoft Word – how will that help them in their job?

As you know each one of us tends to be increasingly busy during the day. Therefore, any opportunity to increase one’s productivity greatly enhances the job satisfaction. Our courses are specifically geared towards gaining the maximum business benefit from efficient use of desktop products. We work with our customers on projects relating specifically to their business areas, giving tips and tricks that can be applied in order to gain higher standards of output and efficiency.

From an employer’s point of view, how do they measure the value on that – how can they justify the budget?

We place great importance on our after training service such as telephone and email support. Our customers love our innovative ‘on site walk abouts’, which are invaluable for seeing how the users are applying their newly acquired skills on the job. We also provide pre and post training skills assessment for our customers. These services are very attractive to the employer to ensure an appropriate return on investment from training.

The skills assessment and ‘walk abouts’ criteria, are discussed and agreed with the employer prior to training. Upon completion, our clients receive a full report, from which they are easily able to assess the value of the training.

So what about the other folks back in the office, do they see the benefits the guys who have been trained got – do they now need to get trained with you?

We are very happy that we have a very large referral business, which is testament to the quality of our training courses and the increased productivity of participants who have experienced training and support with us. We have found that our after training support gives us the edge, the untrained see the trained getting help quickly when required. This encourages them to request training from Olas IT.

Who do you regularly tell about your training courses, is it the department heads or the guys struggling with spreadsheets?

We e-shot our client base on a quarterly basis with the schedule of courses. Between this we keep them updated by email and phone on new developments, initiatives and courses.

What piece of sales advice that you have learnt at the coal face, would you like to pass on to other Business Owners?

Continue to believe in yourself and never drop your standards. Consistency in your service is key to selling. Listen, Listen, and Listen to your customers.

Finally, this newsletter is called Success, what is your definition of success with Olas IT?

Success can be demonstrated in many different ways but we are very proud to have maintained the highest standing and reputation in the industry for more than 20 years when many companies in our sector have not survived. A large number of our customers have been with us for over 15 years.

For more information visit Olas IT at www.olas.ie.

This article was written by Peter Lawless, founder of 3R Sales and Marketing - www.3r.ie. For previous articles or interviews like this, visit 3R's Resources. Alternatively, subscribe to Success our free monthly Information Bulletin with sales and marketing articles.

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