You’ve completed your soft skills trainer certification. You’ve designed your first few workshops. Perhaps you’ve even conducted a handful of sessions.

Then comes the question almost every trainer eventually asks:

“How do I now establish myself as a trainer people actually want to hire?”

There is no shortage of trainers today. Every week, new trainers enter the market offering communication skills, leadership, interview preparation and behavioural programmes. Simply being good at training is no longer enough. You need to build a business around your expertise.

Fortunately, that doesn’t happen overnight—and it doesn’t happen through marketing alone. The trainers who consistently grow their business focus first on becoming trustworthy, visible and memorable. Here are a few habits that can help you establish a training business that continues to grow.

1. Start by Becoming Known for Something

One mistake many new trainers make is trying to conduct every possible workshop: Communication, Leadership, Sales, Customer service, Team building, Time management… The list just keeps growing.

While it’s good to learn different subjects over time, your audience first needs to know you for something specific. Perhaps you become known for interview preparation for fresh graduates. Maybe your expertise lies in first-time manager development. Or you focus on confidence-building and presentation skills for young professionals.

When people repeatedly associate your name with a particular area, recommending you becomes much easier.

Ironically, specialising often creates more opportunities than trying to become everything to everyone.

2. Don’t Just Teach. Keep Learning.

Participants ask better questions today than they did even a few years ago. Organisations expect trainers to understand workplace realities, not just textbook concepts. That means your preparation shouldn’t end once you’ve completed a train the trainer or soft skills trainer certification programme.

• Read research.
• Attend conferences.
• Watch experienced facilitators.
• Observe workplaces.
• Study behaviour.

The more examples and perspectives you collect, the richer your workshops become.

Participants may not remember every concept you teach. They do remember trainers who make them think differently.

3. Use LinkedIn to Build Trust, Not Just Visibility

Many trainers ask me whether they should be active on LinkedIn. My answer – Absolutely! But not only to increase followers.

One trend I’ve noticed is that trainers spend a great deal of time creating motivational reels or posting generic quotes. Those posts may receive views. Whether they generate meaningful business is a different question.

Instead, ask yourself, “If an HR manager visited my profile today, what would they learn about my expertise?”

• Share observations from workshops.
• Write about behavioural patterns you’ve noticed.
• Explain why a particular communication challenge occurs.
• Reflect on what you’ve learnt while working with different audiences.
• Content like this demonstrates your thinking.

It helps organisations understand how you approach learning—not just that you’re active on social media. Over time, that’s the kind of credibility that attracts better conversations.

4. Conduct a Few Free Workshops Strategically

Many trainers hesitate to conduct free sessions because they worry about undervaluing their work.

There’s certainly a time to charge for your expertise. But early in your career, a thoughtfully chosen free workshop can become one of your best investments.

• Offer a session at a college.
• Conduct a workshop for a community group.
• Partner with a local organisation.

The objective isn’t simply to fill a room. It’s to gain experience, to observe participants and to get a chance to refine your activities. Most importantly, it’s an opportunity to collect genuine testimonials and references.

If the workshop creates value, participants naturally begin recommending you. And if certain parts of the session don’t work as expected, you’ve gained something equally valuable – practice.

Either way, you’ve moved forward.

5. Testimonials Tell a Story – Collect the Right Ones

A testimonial that says, “Great trainer.” is certainly encouraging. But it doesn’t tell future clients much.

Instead, try collecting testimonials that describe change.

• Did participants become more confident during presentations?
• Did interview candidates perform better after the programme?
• Did managers begin conducting more meaningful conversations with their teams?

Specific testimonials create far greater credibility because they focus on outcomes rather than compliments.

Whenever possible, ask permission to include participants’ names, roles or organisations. Real stories build trust far more effectively than generic praise.

6. Your Website Should Demonstrate Expertise

Many trainers create a website simply because they feel they should have one. The result is often a homepage listing every workshop they conduct.

Think about your own behaviour for a moment. If you were choosing between two trainers, would you only look at the list of programmes they offer? Probably not. You’d want to understand how they think.

That’s where articles become powerful. A well-written blog explaining how to customise corporate training, prepare candidates for interviews or design better learning activities immediately positions you differently. Before organisations ever speak to you, they’ve already experienced your expertise.

That’s one of the reasons we’ve invested in building a knowledge base at Simply Body Talk Academy. We want trainers to learn not just what to teach, but how experienced trainers think.

7. Observe More Than You Speak

One habit I’ve consciously developed over the years is observing participants just as carefully as I observe my own facilitation.

• How quickly do discussions begin?
• Which examples generate the strongest reactions?
• Where do participants hesitate?
• Which role plays create meaningful conversations?

These observations help me improve future workshops. They also help me understand organisations better.

Clients appreciate trainers who notice behavioural patterns and share thoughtful observations after the workshop. That’s often what leads to repeat assignments.

Not because you delivered content well. But because you demonstrated that you genuinely understood their people.

Credibility Is Built Between Workshops

To conclude, don’t assume that your credibility as a trainer is built during the workshop that you conduct. In reality, it’s built much earlier—and much later.

• It’s built through the quality of your preparation.
• Through the articles you write.
• Through the conversations you have on LinkedIn.
• Through the testimonials you collect.
• Through the follow-up observations you share with clients.
• And through your willingness to keep learning even after you’ve become an experienced trainer.

None of these habits produce overnight results. Together, however, they create something far more valuable than visibility. They create trust.

And trust is what organisations ultimately invest in.

How We Help Trainers Build Credibility

At Simply Body Talk Academy, we believe credibility begins with competence. That’s why our soft skills trainer certification, train the trainer programmes and Behavioural Design Trainer Certification go beyond teaching facilitation techniques. We provide trainers with ready-to-deliver workshop modules, behavioural frameworks and the confidence to conduct professional programmes from day one. We even help you to setup your own training business and provide you support in case you don’t know how to market and sell.

Just as importantly, we help trainers develop the habits that build long-term success – understanding participant behaviour, designing meaningful learning experiences and continuously refining their craft.

Because becoming a successful trainer isn’t about getting one assignment. It’s about becoming the trainer organisations confidently recommend to others.