Bringing retail sales training to a city near you
By Andy Kriege, YSN
Whirlpool Corp. is launching a series of live, face-to-face training sessions in 18 cities across the country.
The trainings, which will run Sept. 7 through Nov. 8, will be conducted by Whirlpool national sales trainers along with local sales reps. The sessions will run about three hours, include a meal, and will be offered in the morning, afternoon and evening at each location.
The purpose of the training is to help retailers develop advanced selling skills in order to help maximize sales volume and margin. “BrandSource members will gain increased product knowledge and new selling techniques based on customer purchasing habits as well as industry insights to help draw and close more customers,” said Brett Oleson, the company’s senior sales enablement manager and one of the tour’s trainers. “This will be an immersive training experience.”
The sessions will help retailers determine which models will “move” on the sales floor, Whirlpool said, and will also include insights on upselling, attachment sales and building appliance bundles.
Three key topics of discussion will be the KitchenAid brand, premium top load laundry and duress purchasers. The KitchenAid segment will explain who the KitchenAid shopper is, what characteristics they exhibit and how to sell them KitchenAid brand appliances. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the breadth of the KitchenAid lineup and why this is important when building a premium kitchen package, the company said.
The premium top load laundry discussion will cover insights into industry trends, including the fact that 40% of all top load washer sales now fall within the mass premium and premium segments. This is up dramatically from just two years ago, Whirlpool said, and attendees will learn why this is happening and how they can leverage this opportunity.
For the duress purchasers portion, attendees will learn to identify the difference between emergency duress, planned duress and non-duress (discretionary) shoppers, and how to better qualify the customer to meet their needs. Knowing the difference can create sales opportunities members may not be taking full advantage of, the vendor said.
Oleson strongly encouraged retailers to invest the time in this training. “Attendees will hear multiple selling strategies to step up the mix and/or increase the average selling price per transaction,” he said. “They will get recent real-time data on the direction the industry is headed, enabling them to compare and determine the best product mix.”
For the complete tour schedule and to register, visit learnwhirlpool.com/tour. For further information, contact Tour Manager Eric DeJong directly at eric_s_dejong@whirlpool.com or at (269) 408-6689.
