RM Online - Employee training

Rarely does a week go by when you don't receive a brochure for a training program that promises to make your staff smarter, more motivated, more efficient - everything you always hoped for! How do you know the training is worth your investment?

Customer-service and sales training should be treated like any other investment you make in your rental company. It's a business commitment that requires research and discussion. You need to demand a re-turn on your investment. What will your employees, your company and your customers realize from this training investment? How will this training program serve your company in the future?

In calculating your investment, there are many factors to consider. There is the obvious - course fees and course materials. Your direct financial outlays may include travel expenses, also.

In addition to the financial costs, there is the "opportunity" cost. This is the cost of having the employee away from work while attending the training. Who is going to cover for your employees while they are being trained? How much does that coverage cost?

Also consider the impact on your customers. Is there the potential for lost revenue while this employee is being trained? Are customers being inconvenienced because your employee is not available?

You can attach a specific dollar amount to part of your training investment, but the opportunity cost will surface in lost productivity and possibly lost revenue - harder to pin down, but still, it's cost, and you need to know the impact of your total investment as you consider the value of a training program.

Once you have determined that, you need to look at your return on the investment. Let's use service and sales training as an example, since that's my specialty. We ask that all of our prospective clients consider how their company, customers and employees will benefit from the training. If there is not the potential for sufficient return, they should not move forward with the training.

What is in it for the company? By investing in a service and sales training program, how will your company benefit? Can it be quantified?

Let's take a very basic function - answering the phone at the counter - and look at it mathematically. To determine your return on a monthly basis, use this formula:

average rental value

X number of employees who answer the phone regarding rentals

X number of work days in a month

X number of additional conversions

Here is how it works. Let's assume that the average rental value of each rental contract is $200 and that you have three employees who take rental calls. If you are open six days a week, that converts to 24 days per month.

Finally, assume that by following effective sales and service methodology, each of your employees converts two additional customer inquiry calls to rentals per day. Now the results: $200 x 3 x 24 x 2 = $28,800

Once again: if you are able to convert only two additional calls into rentals per day, your return on investment is $28,800 per month. Even with a rental revenue average of $100, your return is still impressive ($14,400). Use your own numbers to determine your potential return. Your financial return is key to determining if your training investment makes sense.

A study from Vanderbilt Univer-sity indicated that for every dollar you invest in service and sales training, your return is $2.31.

In addition to your financial return, there are other benefits to your company for investing in sales and service training:

Service culture. When you create a culture that focuses on service and satisfying customers, you inevitably will get more customer referrals.

Better reputation. Improve your service and you improve your reputation. People want to work for and do business with a company that has a good reputation.

Competitive advantage. Strive to deliver a level of service that makes you the best in your market.

You have a lot to gain by investing in a program that trains your staff in sales and service skills. By applying sales training techniques (such as asking for the business) you are going to convert more calls to rentals. By developing a service culture, you will be enhancing your reputation as a first-class company. This also leads to additional business.

But what's in it for your employees? When you invest in service and sales training, what do your employees gain from this investment?

Employees recognize that service and sales skills are a critical component of their jobs. We operate in a service-driven economy and depend on the skills that such an environment requires, yet most employees lack solid service skills. Your employees will appreciate your setting service standards for your company and training them on those standards.

You would be amazed to know how many company owners and managers do not set standards for service skills, but instead, just assume that employees have these skills.

Employees who recognize this kind of training as an investment in their development are more likely to stay with your company. When you give an employee a training opportunity, make sure that he or she recognizes that you are investing in his or her development - that you are encouraging that employee's career in rental.

What's in it for your customers? They benefit from your investment in technical training, such as product repair and diagnostics, of course, because you will be able to deliver equipment in good working order and solve problems when they come up.

Also, the employee who really knows how to listen to customers, understand the thing they're trying to do and advise them, as a knowledgeable counselor, will add value beyond measure to your operation - and to your reputation, and that will continue to bring in new business.

Customers enjoy working with employees who put the customer's needs first, who fix a problem before it becomes a major issue, who spend time building a relationship with the customer, who return phone calls promptly or when promised, who think of ways to exceed the customer's expectations and who adapt to the customer's personality.

Sure, price is important in attracting and retaining customers. But without good service, how long will those customers stay with you?

I have heard horror stories - truly amazing stories, about endless waiting time, failure to apologize when things have gone wrong, indifference of employees, and so on - that have caused customers to take their business elsewhere. These companies have spent a lot of time and money building their business, only to lose it because of something that's totally avoidable - poor service.

Customers generally recognize and appreciate superior service and will reward your investment in customer-service training with more business.

Once you have decided to invest in training, how will you reinforce that training and protect your investment?

Employees return from training excited and motivated and within a week they are back to their old habits. I see it all the time. Your challenge is to keep the momentum of the training going. These new skills need to become new habits.

As you contract with a company for training services, make certain they have a comprehensive reinforcement program that accompanies the training. Set goals for your employees based on the training objectives. Design in-house training programs that keep the lessons fresh. Reward and recognize employees who are mastering new skills.

Don't waste your training investment by just assuming that employees will embrace these new skills and implement them automatically. They need your encouragement, commitment and reinforcement.

So this is a lot of work, yes. Is it worth it? Time and money are precious resources. When you consider how your company, your customers and your employees all benefit from customer service and sales training, there is no question about it: the return on this investment is substantial - it may even mean the difference between staying in business or failing in the face of competition from others who were more dedicated to training their employees.