What Price Training?

Unique Business Models...

Competitive Prices...

Special Offer Discounts...

Attend Now Pay Later schemes...

Rigid % Profit Margins...

I sometimes feel as if I've inadvertently walked into the Walmart of the Security Training Industry, with Training Providers vying for the best marketing location in the store, as unsuspecting training course "shoppers" wander in to browse the aisles.

Self-service checkout Sir? No problem...let me help you with your purchases.

When did we become so Retail?

As Firearms Training Provider, currently having the shit kicked of us, due to COVID, I am constantly asking myself:

"...how do they do it...?"

Someone once told me that I'd never be a businessman and, unbeknown to the orator of that unsolicited piece of wisdomic advice, I took that as one of the biggest compliments I've ever had.

Over the past few days, a UK Security Company has come under severe criticism (some of it warranted and some of it not) regarding the Manchester Bombing Inquiry. As a result, a tsunami of retrospective opinions have been thrown around about what should have happened and what someone should have done, which has funnelled down, as it always does in incidents like this, to how much money was spent on training.

Ironically and, if it wasn't so serious, hilariously, the cost of training is the one thing that is regularly bartered and negotiated down to the lowest number, with competitors constantly out-bidding each other on who can do the job for the least money; a race to the bottom if you like.

Yet, when something goes wrong which, arguably, is a result of poor training, the same people who are actively engaged in dragging down the good ship "HMS Training Price" to Davey Jones's Locker, like an anchor around the ankles of the Security Training Industry, are the very people lamenting about the "standard" of training and the "capability" of Security Staff, whilst throwing this Security Company under the bus as they shake their heads and "...tut tut tut..." in silent disapproval.

I mean...really...you couldn't make this shit up!

I constantly here explanations like:

"...we have a unique business model that allows us to lower our training course prices to a more competitive level..."

To me, that's Industry bullshit-speak for:

"...we're gonna do the absolute bare minimum possible, to get you through this course so that we can hit our 20% profit margin, whilst paying our Instructors ￡100 per day..."

So, back to the title of this article; What Price Training?

How does one know if they are getting value for money on a course, without having done a similar course?

What do Training Providers "cut out" of their courses to be able to price them at such an embarrassing and ruinous price?

NOTE: I say "ruinous" simply to emphasise the consequences, to the training industry, of that impending race to the bottom and to ask:

"...what happens when we get there...?"

I came across a recent post on here, where a training provider was offering a 3-day Firearms Course for almost two and a half times less than a 4-day course that we currently run, in the same country that we have been running Firearms Courses in for 2 years and I sat back in my chair and thought;

"...what the fuck...? How is that even possible...? What are they teaching? What are they NOT teaching? Who's doing the teaching?"

After doing some research and the math, it was pretty clear that, in all likelihood, the course is likely to be substandard and, in all probability, with a ridiculously low allocation of ammunition.

Now, I know that...but folks that might book on it, don't!

The UK Training Industry used to be a collective of professional individuals who knew their craft well, had the experience to back it up, took pride in what they did, had pride in the Security Training Industry, didn't suffer fools, had a steady moral compass and took their reputation, and that of the craft they were teaching, seriously. Lately however, it resembles an Industry where people are stabbing each other in the back (I get that a lot), copying ideas (I get that a lot to) undercutting each others prices, bluffing it, exaggerating their capabilities (in some cases lying) with the priority being unapologetically placed on profit, irrespective of the damage that they KNOW they are doing to the very Industry they are supposed to be passionate about.

COVID has meant that lots, if not most, Security Training Providers have had to readjust how they deliver training.

Some have definitely been innovative and one can clearly see that a great deal of thought and imagination has been employed in order to retain their ability to deliver courses, whilst maintaining their training content and professionalism.

Others? Well...not so much...

Rightly or wrongly, we have refused to do that, simply because "Firearms" Training is a practical skill-set that requires a more "...you gotta be there..." training approach and, although some training "could" be done on-line. We decided to remain true to the Firearms craft and not dilute, what is a perishable skill that requires constant practice from both student and Instructor.

Instructors of any craft, have got to either be constantly engaged in that craft or regularly practicing it. We are fortunate to live in a country that allows us to get down range every day, if we choose. Between Tsarina and I, we can get through over 1000 rounds of an ammunition nature in a single day, practicing what we preach; if you're not doing what you're teaching, you have no business teaching it.

So, What Price Training?

There is no price than can be placed on Training; the Manchester Bombing Inquiry has, pretty much, nailed that one to the wall.

The only way to quantify whether training is worth the cost, is to look at the individuals who deliver the training.

We have become an Industry of self-awarding titles; Counter-Terrorist Expert, Close Protection Specialist, Medical Technician and Firearms SME, yet, very few of us, can, hand on heart, actually lay claim to these obtuse titles and, in my opinion, this has had a diluting effect on the "real" Counter-Terrorist Experts, Close Protection Specialists, Medical Technicians and Firearms SME's, within the Security Industry to the point where no-one takes real expertise seriously anymore; too many young turks, too many fantasists and too many bluffers who are literally dragging the Security Training Industry down to a level where scepticism, doubt and mistrust is rife.

Would you take the advice of a Doctor who hasn't practiced in 9 months?

Would you allow a Medical Instructor to teach a course, who has never dealt with a "real" casualty?

Would you employ a CP Instructor who has never deployed on a CP Task?

Would you engage the services of a Firearms Instructor who hasn't been on the Range for over a year?

From a solely Firearms Instructor perspective, 15 years in the Army does not a Firearms Instructor make.

Like all crafts, you have to "feel" it before you preach it.