TRAINING
BRADSTONE LAYS TRAINING PATH
Bradstone has created a merchant-specific training programme to work as a two-way conversation between the hard landscape supplier and their merchant partners. Elizabeth Jordan went along to take part.
I
n order for merchants to be able to maximise sales of a supplier’s products, they don’t just need to know any and all product information but also USPs and be given ideas that make a difference to the end user. Understanding this, Bradstone invites employees from their merchant partners to visit their North End Works for a factory tour and a day of conversations, product training and sharing of hints, tips and ideas on how to up-sell. The training itself is carried out predominantly by Bradstone’s Regional Sales Managers, in this instance, Louise McCoy.
“We are in our fifth year of running the Bradstone training academies. They started off fairly small with a week’s session and they’ve grown over the years to run for three weeks each year, in various locations across the country. “We are lucky at our North End Works to have the factory to show people around, whereas some of our other locations are more classroom- based training sessions.”
McCoy explains that the main aim for the training is not a ‘tough sell’ into our merchant partner’s. “It’s not about selling our business to the merchants as they are already trading with us. It’s about how we can get them thinking about adding value to the products we manufacture and they sell. We get them
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thinking about up-selling and merchandising within their branches to inspire their customers. It’s about getting them to think of different ways of working to increase their profit margins and for us to increase the mix of products they could put in their yards as well, so it isn’t just standard product we talk about.”
“The awareness piece (of the training) really linked to strategy is to get them to think about the initiatives we run with social media and our website and how they can use some of those ideas for their own business. Covers, who we’re with today, are particularly good at this.” McCoy says that the training has been very well received since it started, “We tend to find that merchants who really get to grips with it do well afterwards, which we see when we visit them a few weeks down the line. It’s great to see individuals getting invested in the products by utilising the training and sharing their knowledge about products with their customers.”
“A lot of the training is based on understanding the customer and what they want or what might be better suited to their needs.”
“The overall goal for merchants is to build knowledge and confidence. We like to build confidence, especially with new products, like
porcelain, and find that sharing our knowledge about these can help removed any stigma that might be attached to them. Not all of the guys who come to the training courses are front of house sales, but it is just as important for them to understand the products, as we mention in the training because they might be the first face their customers meet.”
Because Bradstone is quite a trusted brand, McCoy says they find merchants trust a lot of their initiatives as well which has worked out well for everyone involved.
Daniel Cox, Group Heavyside & Showrooms Assistant Product Manager for Covers comments: “The Bradstone Training Academy is a fantastic asset to us as it’s beneficial to both our employees and as an end result, our customers. We sent team members from 10 different depots to the academy as we are looking to have a landscaping specialist within each of our branches.
“Each employee came away from the training with additional product knowledge and the confidence to be able to advise and positively sell to our customers. Every day is a school day in a builder’s merchant but through Bradstone’s training, we now have a ‘go-to’ landscaping specialist for our customers within each depot.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net May 2019
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