A company of trainers

Henkel's team approach to training earns it the 2005 Progressive Distributor Manufacturer Product Training Award.

by Rich Vurva

Most manufacturers in the MRO channel approach product training in one of two ways. Many simply arm their salespeople with catalogs and send them out to give presentations to distributor salespeople at monthly sales meetings. Others invite distributors to their training facilities, where engineers or designated trainers review the nuances of their products and how to apply them in the workplace.

The first approach is easier to accomplish because it requires less time of the distributor audience. But depending upon the manufacturer rep giving the demonstrations, the training may lack consistency and substance. The second approach requires a greater time commitment, but results in distributor salespeople gaining a deeper understanding of how to apply the products to help their customers solve common application problems.

Henkel Corporation, which manufactures Loctite brand industrial products, approaches training in a different way. The company requires salespeople to participate in a “train the trainer” certification program, then arms them with a variety of tools and materials they need to develop a consistent training message to distributors and end-users.

Pete Guidinger, director of the Fastenal School of Business, was so impressed by the training created for Fastenal by Henkel account executive Larry Jensen, who represents the Loctite product line, he nominated Henkel for the Progressive Distributor Manufacturer Product Training Award.

“Henkel developed highly interactive, engaging and efficient training programs to train our sales force. The program is the right mix of sales techniques, target market information, new opportunities, technical knowledge, hands-on product application and customer problem solving. They have provided consistent high-quality training over the last 3 years for our company throughout North America and back up their training programs with field sales support,” Guidinger says.

Progressive Distributor is pleased to present the 2005 Manufacturer Product Training award to the Industry and Maintenance Division of Henkel Corporation.

Training trainers
While many Henkel employees participated in developing the company’s training materials, Kevin Boyle, vice president of distribution and channel management, says salespeople are the key standard bearers for Henkel’s message.

“We’re a training company. That’s how we sell our products. We’ve developed training materials that our salespeople can customize to fit the audience,” he says.

Henkel’s Industry and Maintenance Division requires salespeople to attend a “Train the Trainer” course developed by training and development manager Barry Whitehouse. The two-day course focuses on how to improve audience involvement, organize learning objectives and a training agenda, and utilize hands-on demonstrations and questioning skills to maximize the learning. After completing the course and demonstrating mastery of the necessary skills, salespeople earn the designation “Certified Instructor.”

If a salesperson fails to be certified after the first attempt, Whitehouse develops a plan to help that individual master the needed skills. He says the instructor certification program has helped Loctite salespeople improve their effectiveness.

Henkel is an authorized provider of Continuing Education and Training by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), a non-profit association of education and training organizations. This authorizes Henkel to award continuing education units for successful completion of training programs such as Manufacturing Reliability and Advanced Adhesive Technology Workshop.

“IACET authorization and our instructor certification program have increased the quality of the training we provide. It sets us apart from our competition not only because we have skilled trainers, but because we can offer these CEU credits for selected training, which is a value-added for many of our customers,” he says.

A team approach
Henkel follows a team approach to train distributors and end-users. Although Jensen developed the specific training materials used to teach courses at the Fastenal School of Business, he’s quick to credit Whitehouse for his involvement in leading the train the trainer program. And Whitehouse credits the MRO market department for putting together the training materials.

“My role is to help salespeople develop the skills in design and delivery but they actually developed the course,” Whitehouse says.

The training materials salespeople use today resulted from an effort that began in 2002 to standardize Henkel’s training program.

“Over the years, we realized our training had lost consistency. We needed to make sure our salespeople were delivering a consistent message,” says MRO market development manager John Borden.

His team met with a group of salespeople to review techniques they used in the field and brainstorm ways to present product information and conduct demonstrations covering core Loctite products, which include thread lockers and sealants, retaining compounds and anaerobic gasket material. As a result of those meetings, the marketing department developed a new catalog that leads readers through the decision process to understand which product is right for the application, plus armed salespeople with a variety of product samples and demo units to show the products in action and explain their characteristics.

“Our salespeople have a kit of tools they can use when they walk into a distributor location or an end-user’s location to show them the different products, how they work, and how to select them,” says Borden. “We try to keep the audience involved. If you have people squeeze bottles, turn wrenches and try the product, they’ll understand and remember it. We want customers to feel comfortable in knowing how to select the right product, when to use it, how to use it and how to take it apart.”

Jensen sees value in making training very hands-on oriented.

“Our feeling has always been if you can help the distributor salesperson develop a feel for the product, how to use it, where to use it, what it’s like when you’re using it, that person will be much more capable of discussing it with the end-user,” he says.

The ultimate goal of the training is to help distributor salespeople improve sales. Borden believes Henkel’s approach achieves that result.

This article appeared in the July/August 2005 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2005.

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