Category Management Training: What Drives “Value” in Training?

“Value” has many definitions and interpretations – the Merriam Webster and Oxford dictionaries give eight!  It’s no surprise then that when asked to articulate the value of something in business, the results can vary dramatically.  The concept of “value” has been a hot topic in the industry as it relates to consumer-perceived value, and for us lately here at Category Management Knowledge Group, as it relates to evaluating the value of training for Category Management.  I’ve been asked many times in my career to articulate value:

• The consumer perceived value of a premium product;
• The value my category management team brought to the organization; or
• The value a new technology or data source would deliver.

What remains consistent across any of these scenarios, and training, is the idea that value is derived as a relationship between cost and benefit, and cannot simply be defined as price.

Value = Benefits / Costs

Value ≠ Price

Cost is usually pretty straight-forward to define, and should include any upfront or ongoing monetary costs, as well as the investment of time or other resources.  Benefits however, can be much more subjective.  Benefits are often perceived, and can’t always be quantified.  It is critical though to identify the benefits that you require and expect, before you can attempt to assign or evaluate “Value”.  Let’s illustrate this idea for “the value of category management training”, using a simple 3 step evaluation process:

1. Identify Training Objectives (intended benefits)
2. Determine Features Required to Achieve Objectives
3. Complete Cost-Benefit Analysis

1.  Identify Training Objectives (Intended Benefits):

The most common objectives for category management training should be:

 

These are pretty lofty objectives, but they are also the reality of the requirements in today’s business environment.  Companies are being asked to ‘do more with less’, are investing thousands or millions of dollars in data and technologies, and expect results!  Many of these objectives can only be measured over time, and so carefully evaluating the features of your potential training solution for the role they can play achieving these long-term objectives is also critical.

2.  Determine Features Required to Achieve Objectives:

Here’s my assessment of critical features, and how they relate to achieving these long term benefits:

Accredited online training content	Drives consistency across teams and organizations by ensuring the same content is available to everyone; Drives sustainability over time; and Accreditation ensures industry standard content is being delivered.
Support and coaching system	Ensures focus on ‘building capability’, not just ‘completing training’; and Having a support and coaching team that is grounded in category management ensures that students receive the support they need throughout their training program.
Current and leading edge resources	Ensures that your training and resources are current; data and technology are evolving faster than ever before (80% of world’s data today was generated in the last 24 months!).
Tracking and recording results	Allows you to measure and improving business results.  You should track and measure your training results, ensuring you maximize engagement and ROI on training, and then add in business results over time.
Maintenance programs	Contributes to all of these objectives by keeping your program and resources current and accessible – true mastery of skills comes over time with application, not when a course is marked complete!

3.  Complete Cost Benefit Analysis:

Look for the features that will contribute to your overall objectives, and make your choices based on the value that you will achieve over time.   You’ll find very quickly that while price is still an important consideration, it shouldn’t be the basis of your decision.

My first lesson on articulating value came when investigating the dynamics of the ‘loyal consumer’ of a premium laundry product many years ago.  The most loyal consumer was the low income segment, and this conclusion surprised me at first.  When I came to understand that the premium purchase was an investment in ensuring the longevity of their bigger investment, their clothing, the “value equation” became forever etched in my strategic approach.

So today, when I’m challenged to articulate the value that category management training brings to an organization, I go back to my strategic approach to the value equation:

Training Value = Knowledge, Capabilities & Business Wins

Training Value ≠ Cost / Course

If you are considering in investing in category management training now or in the future, you should consider the “value” equation beyond cost, as that will better reflect the overall return on investment that will come both in the short-term and the long-term.  Category Management Knowledge Group offers exceptional value to individuals, teams and organizations in both the retail and consumer packaged goods industries, with an emphasis on meeting customer needs.

Click here to request a 48-hour pass to CMKG’s eLearning center, to see some of the value in action!

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