by Rich Vurva

One of the biggest struggles distributors face today is locating high-quality, yet cost-effective, sales training for their employees. They want to invest in sales training but they also need to spend their money wisely. As the story entitled "Turning employees into counter pros" states, the problem plagues distributors of all sizes.

Many companies have turned to distributor associations for help. For example, our story explains how construction supply distributors are using STAFDA’s Counter Pro training handbook to train inside salespeople and counter employees.

Six years ago, because of what we perceived as a lack of quality training programs in the distribution industry, Progressive Distributor created an award to recognize one distribution company each year for its sales training achievements. Every year in our January/February issue, we announce the name of the winning distribution company. Although some past winners include major national distribution chains with big budgets and training departments, we’ve also given the nod to single-branch distributors that bring in expert sales trainers for in-house seminars, provide salespeople with books that teach them how to brush up their selling skills and work closely with suppliers on focused efforts to boost sales.

Since we introduced the award, I’m pleased to report that the quality of the nominations we receive each year has improved dramatically. Many distributors are taking a much more deliberate approach to training than ever before. They realize that investing in a quality training program can pay big dividends in sales and profitability.

Nominations are now open for our 7th annual Progressive Distributor Sales Training Excellence Award. If you’re especially proud of your company’s training efforts, I’d like to hear from you. Give me a call or send me an e-mail to tell me how your company handles sales training. Or, visit us on the Web at www.progressivedistributor.com and click on the link at the top of our home page.

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