Most people will likely recall the iconic commercial image of the lonely Maytag repairman, whose lack of work reflected the quality of the company’s appliances. It’s a new world now, with Maytag a brand of the Whirlpool Corporation. The products are still top-notch, but thanks to a new training initiative, Whirlpool Corporation on Tour, the repairman isn’t quite as lonely. In fact, he and she is about to get a lot of company.
Try these numbers on for size: 15 trainers, 70 cities, 70 hotels, 70 trucks (and drivers), 70 caterers and 7 weeks. All that comes together around one message: selling Whirlpool products.
Meet Liz Okon, sales training manager for Whirlpool Corporation, based in the company headquarters in Benton Harbor, Mich. Liz is overseeing the Whirlpool Corporation on Tour training initiative that will reach more than 10,000 sales professionals in 70 cities. The tour kicked off on Sept. 14 in Birmingham, AL, Little Rock, AR, Kansas City, MO and Raleigh, NC, and it’ll wrap up on Nov. 3 in cities including Pittsburgh and Allentown, PA.
“The goal is to show off and educate the salesforce on the new products that are launching this year,” Liz said. “They get an early view, they get a consistent message and they get to ask questions. There’s probably no better scenario than that. And hopefully they’re having fun.”
Fun is definitely part of the package at the series of three-hour training events Whirlpool is taking on the road. In addition to the training itself, the program includes food, music and audience participation … all designed to help make the event memorable and to keep the learning top-of-mind.
“We know that cluster training works,” Liz said. “Even if we do it only here and there, the sales associates tell us that without that information, it would be harder to sell the product. How successful will it be? That we’ll measure once it’s complete. How many people did we touch? Are the products on the floor? What did the sales look like afterward?”
Clearly there are a number of success factors that will help determine the full value of the training tour. But one thing is clear already: The concept definitely reaches more learners more reliably than the more traditional methods.
Previously, Liz said, Whirlpool would have rolled the training out through account managers at the store level, a slower, uncontrolled method of reaching sales professionals. The event training ensures consistency of message, full distribution of materials and the ability to immediately gauge responses and capture questions. The tour isn’t cheap, but it’ll leave a roomful of people primed and ready to sell.
“It’s worth their investment to send their people and our investment in providing the location and the training,” Liz said. “You can talk about robust ball bearings, but if you see it and feel it, you understand it better. It’s not just talk, it’s see it, feel it, sell it.”
That’s a great mantra for product sales, and it’s a message that’s getting out. Attendance has been good at programs held to date, and Whirlpool has even had to shuffle scheduling to work around maxed-out attendance. The goal, of course, is to reach anyone who sells Whirlpool products.
“If you miss this tour, you’re going to miss a lot of excitement,” Liz said. “I think we all know that it works, which is why we went forward with it in a big way. We’ll analyze it after this, we’ll survey the participants and we’ll do it again if it makes sense.”
