Our Christmas get together, a look back over the past year

So, it’s our Christmas party, well it’s not really but we are going to look back over the year and look ahead to 2022

If I said – tell me about 2021, in relation to GPS Training, what one word would sum it up for you

Key points, that I can think of, from the past year -- January/ Feb – New website

- The start of the ‘walk and talk’ series – more about that later

- Starting to get out delivering courses – Easter?- June – Andy coming back

- September – The introduction of the free OS route planning software – again more about that later

2. Big progressions over the past year – post-sale automation – We tweak and work at this all the time. LynnWhat is it?Series of emails customers get from us for the year after they have bought a GPS unit from usIt encourages them to look at the resources they get from us – including the support and training options they have access to.

And therefore, people know where to find the answers they are looking for.

Many people do pay after the first ‘free first year’ to continue to have access to both the online resource and one of our support packages.

3. Big progression 2 – AndyIf customers can’t find the answer they are looking for they then work their way through to Andy.Andy came back in mid-June – June 14thSupport – both in person and also creating videos for online resource/ YouTubeHad the business changed in those two years away?Videos for online resource (what is the online resource) – Over 50 videos now for most units – How do you go about structuring these, recording, editing, uploading and embedding within the online resourceTherefore with each unit being covered in such an in-depth manor the questions I am now getting are very specific and more than likely to be ‘a problem’ rather than how do you do x or y?Training courses – throughout UKScottish Borders

Northumberland

Lake District

Peak District

Northamptonshire

Gloucestershire

South Downs

New Forest1:1 Zoom training – only been introduced a couple of weeks but a great success, we have had one customer who booked back-to-back 2 hour sessionsAndy – what’s been your big takeaway for 2021?Using two-way satellite communicationPutting into practice myself, what I have been teaching in the classroom for a number of years nowThis gives me the ability to relate to the experiences customers are getting4. Big progression number 3 – walk and talk – Jon and JaneHow it came about – Buckham’s Bridge – a long way up the valley – Between Christmas and New Year – a long way up the Valley – Snowy day – Dere Street, Pennine Way – Cold Day!The frustration of people not understanding the principle and how a GPS will look when navigating.

Originally, we were going to get them ‘professionally shot’ but trying to understand ‘how to do it’ I just went out with my iPhone and my own personal GPS unit.And that turned into the first-ever ‘walk and talk’.Since then I have filmed them on short walks on summer evenings, long walks in the Cheviots, on a number of long-distance trails in all weather and in every season.One of my favorites is the eTrex 10 – I took a £100.00 GPS and our free route planning software i.e total spend £100.00 and showed how you can get a great navigational experience from a ‘budget’ GPS unit.

I have also personally got lots from walking with each of the units and spending some ‘quality’ time getting to know them and all their good and bad points.

How do I create them?

Our most recent one was with the Garmin Fenix watch, still a few holes to plug, mainly GPSMAP 66sr and more watch videos.

Our final big progression of 2021 has been our free OS route planning software.Why did we do this?Tried to make it as simple as possible?

And in the run-up to Christmas, we even had a free webinar for those who want to get 100% out of it

You access it by clicking on OS planner on the top menu bar on the GPS Training website and ...