Four ways to ensure your CPD is a success

Are you considering developing a CPD? When we work with clients on their programme of continuing professional development, we often see four key stumbling blocks. Here, we’ll show you how to overcome them.

Take a team approach

Should a CPD be developed by marketing or sales? Actually, it’s both. CPD content is often developed by marketing teams, however the presentation itself is likely to be delivered by someone from your sales team. If the process from creation to completion becomes disjointed, the CPD content might not be as effective as you’d hoped.

The solution? Involve your CPD presenters in the planning stages. Make sure they’re on board with the process. Can they see themselves presenting the content? If not, stop right away and start again. CPD planning takes time and energy so don’t risk your hard work never seeing the light of day. If it’s a success, the CPD will become part of your sales team’s toolkit for building relationships with specifiers and building trust in your brand.

Understand and address different needs

Planning a CPD with your sales colleagues needs to be an open and honest process. This way you’ll understand their needs. What are they able to present; what would they like to present; and which content do they feel comfortable presenting? Once you understand this, combine it with your marketing needs. What expertise do you want to showcase? How will you communicate your brand values?

Finally, and most importantly, agree what the needs of the audience are. What do specifiers need to know in order to specify or understand your products? Determine which information will be truly educational and useful.

Keep the content bite-sized

When you create lots of good content, it’s tempting to pack it all into one session. Resist the urge to do this: specifiers might feel overwhelmed or end up feeling more confused about the subject.

Let your ideas breathe and break them down into several seminars. Running a CPD series gives your audience time to reflect on their new knowledge and look forward to the next session. Think of each CPD session as a seminar, not an entire module. Keep the learnings clear, short, and easy to take in.

Collaborate for success

We’ve already mentioned why it makes sense to get your CPD presenters on board at the planning stage.

But even earlier than that, when brainstorming content ideas, involve the people who really understand specifiers’ problems. These might be colleagues in your technical team, or in the wider sales team. Even if they’re not presenting the CPDs, they may still have good suggestions for topics and content.

When you understand the issues and questions that architects and interior designers face – the technical details of those problems and solutions – CPD writing becomes more straightforward. We advise clients to schedule regular meetings with their advisory team throughout the CPD project to address technical questions that arise.

Finally, when it comes to developing and writing the script: consider getting an expert on board. We often see marketing teams make an excellent start on a CPD, only to become too overloaded to pull the final content together. With an external content creator on the team, you can confidently set a date for your next CPD, regardless of the number of events, trade shows and product launches in the diary!