Employers are spending 23% more on external training because internal teams can't keep pace. Most organizations lack the resources and personnel to build effective training programs themselves.
Training departments—when they exist—are stretched thin. Internal teams lack instructional design expertise, and budgets can't keep pace with content development costs.
This creates an opportunity for your association. Employer training partnerships—where you provide professional development so employers can focus on internal operations—range from simple volume discounts to co-developed custom programs, creating new revenue while solving workforce challenges.
With 56% of training now outsourced to external providers, employers are seeking partners who can deliver what internal teams can't:
These partnerships work because each side brings complementary strengths. Corporate training handles compliance, onboarding, and company-specific processes. Association education delivers professional development, industry credentials, and career advancement pathways.
Employer training partnerships don't require building everything from scratch. Start simple and expand the relationship as mutual trust strengthens.
Tier 1 Employer-Sponsored Training Programs - Lowest Complexity, Fastest Implementation
Employers encourage staff to take your courses and pursue your credentials. You offer volume discounts on registration, subscriptions, and exam fees. Provide promotional materials for HR communications. Your role is to make it easy for HR to say yes.
Tier 2 Customized Cohort Training - Medium Complexity, Higher Value
Offer cohort-based programs for company teams. Add light customization: company examples, branding, and case studies. Provide administrative dashboards for tracking team progress. Your role shifts to adapting existing programs to the employer's context, which generates additional revenue without reinventing your offerings.
Tier 3 Co-Developed Training Partnerships - Deepest Relationships, Premium Pricing
You jointly develop custom training aligned to the company’s business goals. This might result in co-branded or employer-specific credentials, with ongoing content maintenance and updates. Your role transforms into strategic training partner, not just vendor.
Start at Tier 1 and demonstrate value before proposing deeper engagement. Many partnerships naturally evolve as trust builds.
When positioning these partnerships, lead with business outcomes—reduced costs, improved performance, better retention—instead of program features.
Employers avoid upfront investment in content development, instructional design staff, or learning technology. Outsourcing provides scalability without additional L&D headcount or expanded payroll.
Your content has been co-created and validated by practitioners across the profession—it doesn't just represent one company's approach. Regularly updated training reflects current industry best practices.
Industry-recognized credentials provide third-party validation that internal certificates can't match. Their portability enhances employee career mobility, which is crucial for a company’s recruitment and retention efforts. Since most job seekers evaluate employers based on learning opportunities, supporting staff development builds the employer's brand while creating a certified, skilled workforce.
Employer training partnerships strengthen your association in four ways: revenue diversification, member recruitment pipeline, market intelligence, and competitive positioning.
Revenue Diversification and Growth
B2B sales represent higher volume and more predictable revenue than individual transactions. Corporate partnerships often deliver higher margins than individual sales, and multiple income streams buffer against membership and event registration fluctuations.
Member Recruitment and Engagement Pipeline
Training partnerships also strengthen your member recruitment pipeline. Employees introduced to your association through employer programs are more likely to engage long-term as customers or members. Bundle a trial membership with corporate training enrollment so employees experience your member benefits firsthand. Position certification as the natural next step after employer-sponsored training.
Market Intelligence and Program Validation
Your association gains direct insight into workforce skill gaps and employer priorities, which is valuable for program planning. Employer input keeps your curriculum aligned with market needs. Partnerships can also lead to employee involvement in volunteer leadership, advisory roles, and advocacy initiatives.
Competitive Market Position
Employer partnerships validate your market position. When companies invest in your educational programs and credentials, they're signaling to the broader market that your offerings deliver real value.
Start With Warm Leads
Survey your members to identify which employers are already investing in training. Ask members to introduce you to their L&D or HR decision-makers. Approach employers when they're navigating change—regulatory updates, mergers, technology adoption, or leadership transitions—because these conditions increase training needs.
Know Your Corporate Buyers
Understand primary decision-makers and their priorities:
💠 Chief Learning Officers and L&D Directors focus on program quality and learner engagement
💠 HR leaders care about employee engagement, compliance, and retention
💠 Finance leaders want clear ROI and cost efficiency
💠 Operations leaders seek productivity improvements and reduced skills gaps
Build Internal Capacity
Start by designating a point person for corporate inquiries, even part-time works initially. Create corporate-specific landing pages and sales materials.
As your program grows, invest in dedicated partnership staff. Organizations with full-time partnership managers build stronger relationships and generate more revenue than those treating corporate sales as ad-hoc.
Employer Training Partnership Pricing Models
Common pricing models include:
Whatever model you choose, price based on value delivered—business outcomes like reduced turnover, faster onboarding, improved performance—not your delivery costs. Set a pricing floor and add value rather than competing on price.
Finding and Selling to Corporate Training Buyers
High-Value Channels for Reaching L&D Decision-Makers
💠 LinkedIn outreach: Target L&D titles with thought leadership content and direct messaging
💠 Member referrals: Ask for warm introductions to employer contacts
💠 Industry conferences: Exhibit at your own events plus HR/L&D conferences
💠 Content marketing: Publish skills gap research reports and partnership case studies
💠 Trade publications: Advertise where training managers read
Sales Approach: Position Your Association as Partner, Not Vendor
Lead with discovery by understanding company goals before proposing solutions. Offer free consultations or needs assessments, then start with pilots that reduce perceived risk while proving value. Share case studies with measurable outcomes—retention improvements, performance gains, cost savings.
Employers struggling with training challenges will partner with someone—why not you? Successful partnerships require learning technology that corporate buyers expect: dedicated portals, reporting dashboards, and branded experiences.
An LMS with partitioning functionality, like TopClass LMS, transforms employer partnerships into scalable revenue streams. Sign up for a personalized demo to see how associations use TopClass LMS to build profitable employer training partnerships.
Need a learning management system (LMS) that makes it easy to deliver sponsored education, track engagement, and show sponsors the ROI? Sign up for a personalized demo to see how TopClass LMS can support your educational partnership strategy.