Vendorst PK seminars I equip your sales team with selling power

If fnv sHouLD DEALERS take advanV Y tage of manufacturer training programs? Mainly because training programs are often one of the best ways to empower your salespeople and increase your bottom line. In our experience, training need not be one long exhaustive lecture - it can be engaging and fun. Spicing up the training sessions with a series of different activities, including hands-on building projects, your sales reps gain insider knowledge and get involved with the product. By the time the power tools are revved up, your salespeople are well on their way to being revved up. too. In addition to increasing sales, training can also greatly reduce callbacks, create expert brand ambassadors within your organization, and help build solid relationships at all levels.

Product training also helps to keep communication in sync along the entire supply channel, whether it's finding everyday solutions for customers or supporting a new product launch. It can be the playbook that ensures manufacturers and distributors are on the same page with your sales team. Add in some social events and competitions, and the experience can be even more enjoyable. And, yeah, it can get loud as everyone gets psyched up to build the best project.

As we all know, dealer sales are often relationship-based. That means that making sure your sales team has hands-on experience with the product is essential in communicating the benefits to a customer. Contractors welcome the insights that your salespeople have about new products-and trust them to help make their businesses stand out among the competition. The more knowledgeable your salespeople are about a manufacturer's products, the more comfortable they will feel about selling them. And, if they are given a chance to actually work with a product, you can rely on them to not only explain it well, but perhaps even demonstrate how a product works-letting their actions speak far louder than words.

For example, if a contractor comes in to buy materials for a porch job, your salespeople may be able to simply rattle off a few products they could buy. However, if they have been properly trained on different ways to enhance a front porch to make it lowmaintenance, they may be able to multiply the value of that sale. A wellschooled sales rep could recommend an assortment of solutions that the contractor may not have even thought about, such as cellular PVC for the porch planks, beadboard ceiling and column wrap. Knowing how and why the numerous alternatives on the market compare to traditional materials will allow your sales rep to be a resource for the contractor, while increasing your sales. And, in the future, that contractor will likely rely on your people being knowledgeable and able to decipher the sea of new products on the market.

So, what should you expect a learning session to cover? Topics can vary widely but will typically include product performance and composition. Material Safety Data info, code listings, warranties, marketing and merchandising tools, features and benefits, installation tips, and differences from competitors. Plant tours are also beneficial in showing the ingredients, quality and testing processes that go into making a product. A combination of these training topics and facility tours combine to provide an overall view of the company and its products. Attendees should expect to come away with first-hand knowledge of what the brand stands for and the resources available to support it.

Training can be conducted either at your location or at a facility created by the manufacturer. As an example, we have AZEK University at our headquarters, with a workshop "hands on" room, presentation rooms, and a showroom where anyone from distributors to dealers and even contractors can learn. The workshop is equipped with many of the power tools and equipment that contractors use in the field. Everyone attending these types of events learn much more than they expected and leave more enthusiastic than ever. As a recent dealer sales rep proclaimed after leaving a training session, "You just planted a lot of seeds for sales for the future." That is really what this is all about-empowering your team to increase sales.

Depending on how many product lines are covered, the length of a training program can range from a few hours to a few days. For the multi-day events, components typically include hands-on workshops, demonstrations and product use sessions, Q&A sessions with R&D, marketing and product management personnel, training manuals, videos, PowerPoint presentations and takeaways. The demos and hands-on product experience are extremely important because they give dealers a real feel for the product. They can touch, feel and work with the materials and even do a mini installation.

If it isn't possible to spend a few days away, having a manufacture provide a mini-training session at your location is still better than no training. To supplement in-person training, you should also ask a manufacturer if any online training options are available. For example, an important online training resource for AZEK to share new product information and provide on-going refresher training is a dedicated online training platform called Brainshark. Designed to highlight new products in quick, 12-minute learning modules. Brainshark uses cloud-based software to create, share and track online and mobile video presentations. It provides on-demand training, allowing distributors, dealers, contractors and architects to access AZEK's new product training on their own schedules.

Overall, when performed consistently and effectively. training programs can greatly enhance your sales team's relationship with your distributors and manufacturers. At the end of the training session, your salespeople should have a direct point of contact at the manufacturer in order to facilitate continuous communication throughout the year to help support sales.

Seizing the opportunity to have your employees attend manufacturers' training programs, gives you the ability to experience first-hand the best, margin boosting way to better serve your customers. Training will help move products out of your yard and into your customers' trucks or onto jobsites-and that is a great reason to say "yes" to training.

- Carey Walley is v.p. of marketing for AZEK Building Products and TimberTech, both wholly owned divisions of CPG International, Scranton, Pa. Reach her at (800) 307 -77 80 or cwalley@ timberte ch.com.