Why is it better to include training in a bespoke software package?
When you give your proposal of software design to your client do you include training? Is this training by professional training consultants rather than sales or programming staff?
Training the end users to use the software you designed is very important in ensuring that they get the most from it. Not everyone can understand new software immediately even software that is intuitive, having a little training and support can help.
The training needs to be able to pass the maximum amount of information across without the attendees reaching saturation (too much information being passed and the attendees not being able to remember anything), interesting, relevant and memorable.
A professional trainer can create courses that do this and deliver them so that there are less help desk calls during go live and the users will be able to use the software from day 1.
When a person who does not understand the learning process and learning styles creates training they do not know how to maximise the training for the learner. Evaluations may be good but there is no reduction in help desk calls or in praise from the users.
Comparing a Sales person to a trainer is like apples and oranges. Does the sales person understand how much information is too much, what to tell and what to leave out when dealing with the end users? Do they really need to know the full background or everything the software can do?
A trainer can be more cost effective, less need for support at go live, user buy in of the product and telling others how great it is. You may think I am exaggerating but I have been brought in late on many projects where I could have designed the courses and trained the trainers, instead the project team were doing training and the users were extremely hostile. That soon changed, once the documentation and training courses were altered everyone realised that the software was much better than they thought, it was easy to use and they had a process they could follow.
Several years later I am told that the users are still using the documentation as reference for new people.