By Jane Eakins*
It was a full day of high energy interactions with 23 sales representatives from True Blue Distributor partners throughout Australia descending on the company’s newly renovated Sydney head office training facility for a ‘chemical sales excellence’ training conference. Held late February, with sales staff from every state attending, it was a great cross-pollination of ideas and a good networking opportunity.
In his opening address True Blue Chemicals’ executive director Brad Macdougall commented that, “With a commitment to continually upskilling those sales teams within the True Blue Distribution network we are keen to provide a meaningful day.
“We want to ensure those attending go home with increased knowledge of our industry, our chemicals, and the resources available to support our offer. Confident selling is based on having all the facts and today is about sharing that knowledge and those skills with each of you.”
After a first round of coffees to counter the 8.00am start, the group settled into a program that covered such topics as how to move from supplier to partner; the value of ‘cost in use’ selling; brand and range segmentation selling; core range product training; Installing and dispenser trouble-shooting; a sneak peek into the marketing and Innovation program; and a site tour of True Blue’ manufacturing facility.
One of the best ways to embed learning is to put into practice new knowledge and skills as soon as possible. Therefore, the day had a lot of interactive workshops and role plays that, while sometimes being a little scary in which to participate, are very worthwhile.
As Pak-Rite’s (Adelaide) David Murphy noted, “I didn’t think I’d volunteer to role play the ‘asking for referrals workshop’ … yet suddenly there I was. “
Part of the ‘chemical sales excellence’ day was dedicated to understanding how performance testing is conducted on new and existing products to ensure optimum performance. Delegates were taken through various experiments designed to highlight the importance of using the correct acidic or alkaline product dependant on the metal or natural surfaces being to clean.
Delegates now all know the disastrous results of making the mistake of cleaning marble with a highly acidic product!
By 5.30pm the formal part of the conference drew to a close with the general consensus from those attending being it had been an interesting and worthwhile day. The conference dinner that evening provided a great opportunity to swap stories and further spend time getting to know others within the True Blue Network.
True Blue has a wealth of knowledge within its company, with plenty happening on the Innovation and new product development front so to be able to share this ‘inside information’ with those directly responsible for selling our products is an important part of our going to market strategy.’
*Jane Eakins is True Blue Chemicals’ marketing and innovation manager