CPD Training - Capital Allowances on Commercial Poroperty

CPD Training - Capital Allowances on Commercial...

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Dear All,

This post is a bit self serving but I would appreciate any observations as we are moving into a new area for us and I want to make sure we are marketing ourselves in the best way possible.

As a commercial property capital allowances claims firm we are applying for accreditation of several of our presentations under the CPD scheme.

Initially we will be approaching accountants, tax advisers and commercial property solicitors to just provide in house training for them. However the long term aim will be to run training courses to groups of accountants from different firms etc. My questions are these;-

i) Do you think we would be justified in charging a nominal amount for the training which is likely to last no more than an hour and a half. I was thinking of a fee of £99 + VAT? This will just cover our travel costs

ii) Do you think accountants who have clients who own commercial property would be interested in receiving this training? I appreciate that we are in fact hoping that as a result of our training we may get some referrals from accountants but am hoping but the CPD training will have a benefit to the client in its own right. 

iii) If we offer the training in a central location in major cities do you think accountants would be prepared to travel to that location to attend the training?

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts people may have on any of the above. Marketing has always been a black art to me which I am always struggling to manage.

Regards

John 

Replies (4)

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
14th Apr 2013 18:34

Not full training

Hi John - having had experience of one of these claims, using a specialist firm like yours, then I'd think that the majority of firms will just need a basic "what's it all about" type seminar rather than training.  Thinking about it, if you fully train them up, why would they need your firm?

If it were me, at an hour or hours & a half, I'd offer it by webinar.  I've "attended" lots of these over the past year and it's so much more efficient at both ends, you can reach tens or even hundreds of people at once, and the attendees can always find an hour at their desk, without the waste of travelling.

Also, have you thought of talking to existing training/CPD companies like CCH or Quantum?

Best of luck 

Thanks (1)
Replying to tom123:
By plummy1
15th Apr 2013 10:44

Thank you Paul.

Hi Paul, 

Thank you for your comments and I take your point about it not being full training. Maybe orientation is a better phrase but not sure about that either. Will give it some thought.

While I can see the advantages of the webinar approach  as we are a small firm I would prefer to visit accountants in their own offices and save them the effort of travelling to the venue and also by meeting them face to face building a potential working relationship. Maybe webinars will be the way forward when we are a slightly larger firm.

Thanks again Paul.

Regards John.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks (0)
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By holywood
17th Apr 2013 14:29

I have attended several seminars on capital allowances provided by so-called experts over the past couple of years. I have paid fees for these on occasion (only if offered through an Institute) but generally they have been free of charge.

You will need to ascertain the purpose of the seminars. Is it a genuine in-depth training seminar or is it to drum up business? 

I attended one such paid CPD seminar provided by a purported 'expert' which was just a major sales pitch and the 'expert' was woefully short of expertise. Accordingly, the Institute received horrendous feedback and they have been removed from the accredited list of suppliers. 

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Replying to zain79:
By plummy1
17th Apr 2013 14:40

Thanks for the feedback

Thanks for taking the time to respond.  It is made clear to us that giving CPD related training must not constitute a sales pitch. We are working on the basis that we will provide interesting and relevant content presented in a professional manner. Let's be honest and say yes we are hoping that the investment in time and money will provide us with some additional business but nobody is going to appreciate a sales pitch when they have come to an event to increase their professional knowledge. In the case you have stated it obviously backfired quite badly.

 

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