Whether you have new hires or you want to give current staff a refresher on your business, planning a training session can be time-consuming and overwhelming! You want your employees to be able to jump right into things, but what’s the best way to support staff learning within your pet sitting business? Video training is the answer.
Research has shown that video improves learning results. In a digital world where people’s attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter, the video provides a snappy solution for training staff members.
Forrester Research estimates “one minute of online video equates to approximately 1.8 million written words.” Isn’t that crazy!?
Additionally, “90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual– and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text!”
If you want your staff to retain as much information as possible about your business then setting up video training should be your next step. Here are some helpful tips to get you started:
- Keep it short and sweet.
If you’re going to do video trainings, don’t create super long content. If you have several topics you want to discuss, break them up into smaller videos.
- Break up videos with images.
While talking heads are great to drive points home, nobody is going to want to stare at one person talking to a camera for 3 minutes. Jazz up training videos with fun images, infographics, and other visuals to keep your staff members engaged.
- Make your videos interactive.
Once you’ve got your staff’s attention with videos, keep them engaged with tests, polls, and other interactive features. You can include buttons within videos that say, “click here to learn more!” and other call to action phrases.
Video Training Online When They Are Alert.
This is also great for staff members because they can complete these trainings from anywhere! You can designate time at work for them to do the trainings, or allow people to complete them at home. It’s also a huge benefit if the videos are both mobile- and web-friendly.
Video Training Is More Likley To Be Consumed
Again, according to Forrester Research, “employees are 75 percent more likely to watch a video than to read documents, emails or web articles.” Another great thing about video training is that your staff members can always refer back to them.
It can be difficult and time-consuming to sort and sift through physical documents to try and find a resource or bit of information needed for work. With video, staff members can jump in and go to the exact point in the video with the information they were looking for.
Gartner Research also recommends video as a support tool, especially for training purposes One report notes, “There are cost and time savings to be made in reusing content, compared to running the same live conferencing session multiple times.”
Video Training Doesn’t Have To Be Boring.
Video is an excellent tool because it can take so many different forms. It can be animated, it can be you and your team members talking, or a mix and match! You don’t have to follow some corporate structure when creating your videos – keep the content true to your business and your brand!
Training videos can be exciting, humorous, informative, and engaging all at once. Of course, your tone may vary on the topic being discussed but definitely get creative with your content. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with staff trainings, video can help take much of that pressure off so that you can spend more time jumping into other projects!
Incorporating Video Training Into Your Pet Business Onboarding Program:
Videos can also be incorporated at any point in staff training. Once you hire a new pet sitter or dog walker, you can send them an intro training video to get them started. You can provide new videos each quarter or annually to staff members as well.
Video also provides a great way for employees to understand everyone’s role within your organization. It’s easy for people to get caught up in their own day-to-day jobs, but video training can really bring everyone together to ensure your team is on the same page.
Beware! Video Training Is Only One Component
Of course, you shouldn’t replace all pieces of training with video. Be sure to make yourself available if members of your staff have questions following a training video. Plus, while many people are visual learners, make note that not everyone will be. There may still be a need to have physical documents for training as well as in-person sessions, depending on a person’s role within your company.
Have fun with these staff training videos and know that they’ll ultimately serve to help everyone to learn in a way that will save both time and money.
