The numbers don’t lie – and they tell a concerning story if you’re a small or midsized business (SMB). According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), 99.7 percent (27.3 million) of all US corporations have 500 or fewer employees and employ about half of the entire private sector workforce, or 59.7 million people.

At the same time, according to the 2015 ATD State of the Industry report, companies with fewer than 500 employees spend an average of $1,716 per year per employee on training, while large organizations pay as little as $868 – a staggering 98 percent premium for similar services.

Corporate training providers spend virtually all of their sales, marketing and product development dollars trying to attract large organizations. Certainly, large companies have strong brands, thousands of employees and significant training budgets. But when you consider that SMBs spend approximately $50 billion on training annually, they are a market worth paying attention to!

Recent trends in training technology, new business models offered by training providers and best practices in training management provide a path for SMBs to find the training they need.

Make Some Noise

I’ve attended more learning industry conferences over the course of my career than I can remember. Without fail, the majority of speakers, case studies and research focus on large clients, even though the majority of attendees and buyers are SMBs.

So make some noise. Be active in your local industry association chapters. Join other SMBs in your area to make your needs known. The same goes with industry trade publications, whose advertising dollars come from learning service providers. Let them know about this large, underserved constituency.

Think Local

Take advantage of free or low-cost training provided by your local or regional Chamber of Commerce, the SBA, Small Business Development Centers and others. Be creative and aggressive. These groups exist solely to promote SMB success and will partner with you to provide training at low or no cost. They also provide an environment where you can share ideas (and buying power) with other local SMBs.

Alignment

Whether you’re the leader of an SMB or you manage operations or HR, insist that your training function remain close to the product or service delivery arm, and become fully aware and committed to key business initiatives. Use the generally less formal organizational models of an SMB to your advantage; facilitate cross talk and planning so everyone’s focus is the needs of the business.

Control What You Can and Can’t Optimize

The old adage “cost is cost” applies to training expenditures. With the inherent scarcity of resources in an SMB, it’s important to manage all costs carefully and pay attention to growth in your fixed cost base. Look at every alternative to obtain training at the lowest expense possible without sacrificing business results. Find options that allow you to pay only for what you use.

Make sure you don’t sacrifice business results. While a dollar spent on an online course is a dollar out the door, that dollar shouldn’t be seen as a pure expense, but as an investment. If the learner drives revenue, reduces cost or improves a process or product as a result of the course, it was money well spent.

Measure, Adjust, Repeat

Once you’ve confirmed alignment, optimized your spend, and optimized training management and delivery, start the process over again. Use simple measurements tied to cost, business needs and management’s subjective measures of effectiveness. Review results as frequently as makes sense for your business. Make training part of your normal operational and financial reviews, and it will stay relevant.

Curate, Enable and Mentor

There are mountains of information online. Your millennial workforce expects to find information when they need it, in the amount they want, using whatever device and app they prefer.

Except for situations where regulation, safety or critical processes are involved, take advantage of the free or nearly free information out there. Curate it to provide suggested sources in situations where it will be used repeatedly, and provide mentoring from in-house experts.  Focus on what information is needed, not where or how it’s acquired.

Test Technology Options

With the advent of the As-a-Service Economy, the per-unit cost of technology to develop and deliver content is dropping even as its quality increases. Whether it’s your LMS, LCMS, content development app, or collaboration and knowledge capture tools, there’s an ocean of choices available instantaneously. With the cost of entry so low, it’s even affordable to try out a number of alternatives before you settle on one.

While SMBs will never have the buying power to drive the unit cost of training, following these tips will help your business maximize your investment and find the training your employees need to succeed.