How the ‘Best’ Train Their People to Win
The upcoming July edition of SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION is our annual Best of the Best Issue, featuring 10 of the industry’s best-run businesses and most highly skilled installation firms. In interviewing leadership from all of these tremendous organizations, one of topics I focused on was training employees since that has perennially been one of the top challenges bemoaned by managers of security services providers. Be sure to check out my other blog post where I ask about recruiting these individuals in the first place. Following is what some of them had to say when asked: How does your company make sure its personnel are properly trained?
Jeremy Bates, GM, Bates Security
“We put emphasis on training for the entire company and we have grown to a size where we have to work hard to make sure this is done. We also have a person that keeps data on our continuing education courses and renewal dates for each technician. We are particularly proud of Mark Sturgill, fire systems design engineer for Bates Security. He has achieved the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies [NICET] certification for Level IV. This respected credential for engineering technology establishes professionalism and identifies Sturgill as one the best in his field. Also, it seems we constantly have Honeywell representatives meet with our technical and sales team for product training and demonstrations.”
Stuart Forchheimer, President, HS Technology Group
“We continually train our staff and update our procedures to stay current with the times. Our tech
nicians carry Level 1 certification and our designer is CEDIA certified. We take a lot of time and have developed training modules that we use for our sales staff as well as procedure manuals for our office staff. We bring in a specific manufacturer for in-house training at least once every month to educate our sales and installation management team.”
Dean Guyette, COO, Per Mar Security Services
“We have two trainers on staff. One is focused on technology tools that the team will use, and the other is focused on programs and classroom instruction to give the team the culture, education and assistance to grow within their position. All of this is completed, measured and assessed to assure that people are successfully completing training.”
Shawn Mullen, President & Chief Energy Officer, Protex Central
“Protex Central has elevated training awareness within the company by investing in and developing a world-class special protection systems training system at its home offices in Hastings, Neb. Full-scale system fire systems are in place to demonstrate operations and applications. Protex also works closely with its partner manufacturers to provide certification training at its other offices as well as the manufacturers’ facilities. Because third-party certifications are highly prized in the fire industry, Protex Central incentivizes its employees to attain NICET certifications within any of the relevant subfields. Finally, each employee is reviewed on an annual basis to track his or her professional development.”
Jim Kopplin, VP Field Sales & Integration Leader, Stanley CSS
“Stanley Security’s primary goal for its training initiatives is to ensure our newly hired representatives receive the proper knowledge, training and continually develop their skills throughout their career in order to help them build and retain lasting relationships with customers. Our sales training starts as soon as a new associate is hired with a Web-based, self-paced curriculum of recorded presentations designed specifically for new hires. New hires then attend a training class held in one of our ProtectionNet monitoring centers. This weeklong curriculum requires pre-coursework and post-coursework in order to fully hone their sales and security knowledge. The main purpose of the training class is to teach the representatives to be ‘Stewards of the Stanley Brand.’ Learning does not stop with the onboarding class, it continues when they return to their local branch through use of the Stanley Security Sales Roadmap to Success. This plan and resources document is intended to be completed in the first 90-180 days of hire, working both independently and with their manager. For further training and development throughout their career with Stanley Security, we provide a variety of continual development training courses such as: Sales Representative Academy, a series of interactive workshops on various sales development topics to reinforce training class concepts, extend learning opportunities and foster a team environment; Sales Huddles, monthly Webinars discussing pertinent topics such as new products and services, and sharing best practices and sales techniques; and Stanley Black & Decker online University, a self-paced course on goal setting, consultative sales process, product knowledge and presentation excellence.”
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About the Author
Scott Goldfine
Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at [email protected].
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