AML Consultancy Ltd

How I work

I work primarily on a referrals basis, which means that most of my clients have had some reassurance from somebody they trust that I’m good at what I do!

I’ve outlined below my process and network approach, which seems to work for my clients.

Process

Initial Contact, usually by telephone or e-mail from you to me, as a result of a referral. At this stage, I ask a few simple questions, to ensure that I can help you with your needs, that I am available when you need me, and that my potential costs are acceptable.

Client meeting. I then come and meet you, ideally wherever you are based. I’ll hold a full consultation meeting with you, usually taking 1 to 2 hours, with the objective of finding out enough about your requirements, to produce a detailed proposal. If, as a result of our meeting, I identify that your requirement is potentially different to that which you initially identified (which can happen), I will always let you know – I will only ever take on work that is going to achieve the results that you and your organisation need. There’s no charge for this meeting.

Detailed Proposal. I’ll then send you a written proposal, summarising my understanding of your requirements, my suggestions of how they can best be met, any organisational commitments required to ensure a return on your investment, the cost of my proposal, any terms & conditions and suggested dates for completion of the required work. As soon as you sign and return your copy of this proposal, your dates are secured.

Design. I then design a programme to meet your requirements, based on further organisational research, as outlined in our agreed proposal. I don’t use ‘off the shelf’ solutions, as there is always something different about each client’s needs. I meet those needs in a customised solution.

Delivery. If face-to-face training has been agreed as part of the solution to your requirements, I will personally deliver that training – who you meet is who you get. I’ll prepare a great training environment and personally welcome the people on to their training event. My aim is always to model what I’m training, so if it’s customer service, that’s what they get: Excellent customer service from start to finish. I’ll ensure that people leave the training with useful reminders of key messages and a clear picture of what happens next – what actions they want to take, and how their managers will be supporting them in ensuring those actions take place. I ‘ll recommend in my initial proposal what the manager’s role should be in supporting the learning in the workplace and, if you’ve agreed to this, both my design and delivery will incorporate line manager communications and where necessary, development.

Evaluation meeting. We’ll agree right up front, at our initial consultation meeting, how the solution should be evaluated – what will be your evidence of success. I’ll then work with you to ensure that you have that evidence and can be confident in a return on your investment. At this meeting, I can usually help my clients with ideas of actions they could now take, to further improve processes or develop their people, within their own organisational resources.

Network Approach

“We need a large training organisation to deliver this project – it would be too big for AML Consultancy”

OK … for most of my clients, most of the time, I work on a solo basis. I find out what you want, design it, deliver it, and check that it’s getting the results you were looking for.

But that doesn’t mean that I can’t respond to larger requirements! It really depends on the scale of things. When it’s really big, that’s the time I put my ‘associate’ hat on, and would suggest one of the organisations I’ve worked with as an associate over the last few years. Not all requirements are quite that big, however. So, I can offer another solution, that gives you the best of both worlds…

One of the benefits of my twenty years’ experience in learning and development is that I’ve had the chance to work with all sorts of training designers and deliverers. Which means that I now have a great network of trainers that I truly value for their varying skills and experience. The one thing we have in common is a sense of what we believe in, when it comes to training and development – a common set of underlying values and beliefs. That’s why we work with each other from time to time – I will help them out on any larger projects they need support on, and vice versa.

So, when I include any of my colleagues from within this network in my proposal to you, I can guarantee the following things:

  • I have personally worked with each of them. I have seen them working with learners in a training environment, or have seen and worked with their training design. I can therefore guarantee the quality of their work and professionalism
  • They are all truly experienced and skilled in their fields. Whatever they say they have done, I know to be true
  • They will maintain the same standards and quality of training design and delivery that you would expect of any AML Consultancy Ltd. solution
  • Your investment in training is not being spent on huge marketing or organisational costs. Our costs are directly related to the experience and expertise we provide, which means that you get the results you want

How does this differ from any larger training organisation? Well, hopefully, it doesn’t. But it’s worthwhile asking the questions …