This thought is probably familiar to you. It is something we at ASA hear almost every day - and we have an answer! The ASA Education Foundation (ASAEF) is where you begin a training program.

Here are a few tips to get started:

1. Assign one person in your company who will be the Training Coordinator. Oftentimes this is the same person who is also responsible for your human resources functions. Of course, this depends on the kind of training you are planning. For example, if you are starting out with ProductPro® to teach your new hires in the warehouse about the products you sell, you may wish to appoint your Warehouse Manager to be the Training Coordinator.

2. Review the ASA catalog of training materials that are currently available and decide who in your company can benefit from these training resources.
NOTE: In ASA’s “Employee Performance Improvement Tool Kit,” we provide 21 typical wholesale-distribution job descriptions and suggested training tools for each.

3. Work with the Training Coordinator to choose the right educational tools for the employees that you want to train. You can view samples of all of our training tools on our website (www.asa.net). Order the materials from ASA, either in book, CD or online formats.

4. Decide whether you wish to allow the employees to be trained on company time or on their own time, after hours. Even if you’re asking them to do the work on their own time, consider providing follow-up time for them to review what they’ve learned, either with their peers, or with their supervisor.
This can be done during lunch in a brownbag “Lunch and Learn” format where a group of employees bring their lunch into the training room and the training coordinator conducts a training session on one particular aspect of a training course.

5. Establish timetables for completing the training program(s) and consider providing incentives for those who meet the deadlines. For example, you may wish to tie in a modest hourly wage increase for a student who completes the first 3 modules of ProductPro® within the given time frame. Once that student completes the entire course and receives a certificate of successful completion, another incentive, such as a gift certificate or dinner at a local restaurant, might be added.

6. For certain courses, such as the “Essentials of Profitable Distribution,” the “Lunch and Learn” approach is ideal. Invite key people together once a week to review one or two chapters that they’ve read, and then you, or your Training Coordinator, can facilitate a discussion about how what they’ve learned applies directly to your own company.

7. Make a “big deal” at company meetings, in your newsletters, on bulletin boards, or other opportunities, of the employees in your company who have completed their training programs. Offer to frame their certificates and hang them prominently for your customers and other employees to see. Ask these employees often about how the specific training they’ve received has helped them perform their jobs better, and what they would like to learn about in the future.

Visit www.asa.net today to discover more about training, and to review ASA’s entire line of products.