Setting a training standard

Standard Abrasives wins accolades from distributors and earns the Progressive Distributor Manufacturer Product Training Award.

by Richard Vurva

Most distributors think long and hard about the cost involved to take a group of employees away from work for offsite training. In addition to travel and housing expenses, they worry about the potential for lost sales when salespeople leave their territories for even a day or two. Distributors want to make sure that the training the employees receive will be worth the time and money.

When a manufacturer has a waiting list of distributors eager to attend its product training schools, and manages to fill monthly training seminars at two locations even during a down economy, it suggests that the company’s training program must provide exceptional value.

According to industrial and construction distributors, that description accurately portrays the training provided by Standard Abrasives, a manufacturer of coated and non-woven abrasives. Because of its dedication to continually providing product training support to distributors in a variety of formats, Standard Abrasives is the recipient of the 2002 Progressive Distributor Manufacturer Product Training Award.

Standard holds monthly training sessions at its Simi Valley, Calif., corporate headquarters and its Brookville, Ohio, plant. Each session serves 10 to 16 people, and usually lasts from one day to a day-and-a-half. Attendees include new salespeople and customer service reps, experienced salespeople whose companies may have recently picked up the line and seasoned veterans coming back for a refresher course or to learn about new products.

“After attending one of our training sessions, even long-time salespeople who are knowledgeable about abrasives say they’ve learned something new,” says Jason Richards, product manager and one of three trainers.

He says one of the reasons Standard Abrasives’ training is popular with distributors is because it’s interactive. The multimedia approach uses CD-ROM, PowerPoint presentations, the Internet and plenty of hands-on time using products in the grinding room.

“We don’t make people sit in a classroom setting for eight hours listening to us lecture. We talk about the products, then go into the grinding room so they can try the product,” Richards says. “We try to make it fun. We make them feel comfortable. When they feel comfortable, they’ll ask questions and learn more. It’s all about creating a dialogue between the attendees and the instructors.”

According to distributors, the approach works.

“In all, they make it easy to learn,” says Duane H. Frager of Jergens Industrial Supply, Cleveland. “This class is very popular with our company. Whenever we get a new person, the first class we send them to is Standard’s.”

Distributor accolades
“Standard Abrasives does a great job training both our inside and outside sale force on their products,” says Bob Mars of W.P. & R.S. Mars Co. in Bloomington, Minn.

“Standard Abrasives has comprehensive programs for all phases of training covering not only the distributor level, but also the end-user in both classroom and lab settings. Coupled with a technical customer service staff, this sets Standard Abrasives apart from the competition and helps Updike Supply add value to our customers,” says Jeff Butts of Updike Supply in Dayton, Ohio.

“Standard Abrasives does a good job of basic training, as well as — and probably more important — follow-up training,” says Dennis Norton of MESCO in Monrovia, Calif. “The classes that they hold are hands-on. More manufacturers should take this training approach.”

Matt King, director of product management, says a key to his company’s success is the time trainers spend before the training session even begins fitting the material to the audience. They learn what primary markets the distributor attendees serve, their main product lines and the level of experience of people in the room so they can cater to their information needs.

“If I bring in a distributor that specializes in the aircraft industry, I’m not going to spend my whole day talking about how abrasives are used in the manufacturing of cutlery or metal furniture. Part of what we’ve implemented in our training is to get very specific toward our attendees’ markets,” he says.

Distributors consistently give Standard high marks for providing a setting where attendees can try out its products.

“What we like most about their training is that it is hands-on and interactive,” says Mars. “We each get a chance to use the products, as well as comparing their performance with competitors’ products.”

Grinding out results
Attendees spend almost as much time in the grinding room as they do in the classroom. The grinding room is stocked with seconds and discarded parts from actual customers. During training sessions, distributors use the parts to compare the performance characteristics of Standard Abrasives products to competing brands.

“We want the experience to be as close as possible to what they’ll find in the real world,” King says.

The best way to teach someone how to create a specific type of finish isn’t to tell them, it’s to let them try it for themselves on a brass hinge or a door handle straight from the factory floor, he says. Or, let them compare the stock removal rate of an 80-grit disc to a coarse surface-conditioning disc on an actual turbine blade taken from an aircraft manufacturing plant.

Participants complete a series of tests on stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, cold rolled steel and other materials. They learn simple performance improvement techniques to pass on to customers. For instance, changing the angle of the disc on the workpiece and allowing the tool to do the work is a better way to improve performance than pushing harder on the tool, a common mistake operators make.

They learn how to test one product against another and, perhaps more importantly, how to document test results using Standard’s Performance Analysis report forms. 

“We take them through how to test our product. What should they be looking for? What are the five things the customer is going to be looking for? You have to know what you’re selling, you have to know your customer, and you have to know what your customer expects before you put anything on the end of that tool,” says King.

Finishing what you start
Distributors add that the training doesn’t stop when they leave the training school. The company offers a variety of methods to keep distributor salespeople informed.

“Standard Abrasives offers our distributorship more training than any manufacturer we represent,” says Larry Rowlands of Ram Sales Inc. in Akron, Ohio. “Their training programs go beyond just product training to include general selling aids. They provide training through a variety of channels, from in-person, to Web site, to various media like print, tapes and CDs.”

He points to Standard’s catalog and Web site as good examples of how the supplier leverages other media to continue training beyond the classroom setting.

“Every time they make a change or an improvement to a product, they’ll send you a supplement to the catalog that introduces the new product,” he says.

The supplements provide in-depth information about the product, how it is used and in what industries. It’s the kind of information that distributors find especially useful because it helps them target specific customer applications for the product.

Rowlands adds that salespeople also look forward to receiving the SA Audio Network cassette tapes that Standard sends to distributors to update them on new products and offer general selling skills. His company also utilizes Standard’s Web site as a training tool for new salespeople.

This article appeared in the July/August 2002 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2002.

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