Targeted Training Answers Building Demand

Last month at the Omni buying group meeting, showroom expertEllen Cheeveraddressed new trends in showroom design and new techniques for managing successful showrooms. Yet, when asked about where attendees could find quality sales training for showroom personnel, it was an audience member who provided news of the latest resource.

“I’ve just made a commitment to put all of my showroom salespeople through ASA’s Essentials of Profitable Showroom Sales© course,” said Robert Seiffert of Supply One, headquartered in Rochester, NY. Seiffert shared with the other attendees that the new course is targeted to the kind of showroom sales he wants his sales staff to make, and that he has plans to lead the training experience with his team in a series of segmented chapters over a period of time.

Seiffert and other wholesalers across the country have been waiting for this kind of training to help their salespeople become well-versed in the consultative sales process that today’s plumbing showrooms require.

“You can’t overestimate the value that proper training brings to sales performance,” said Inge Calderon, the Executive Director of ASA’s Education Foundation. “With the recent growth of wholesaler showrooms, there has been an increasing need for trained, knowledgeable people who can help leverage the big investments made into these stores,” she added.

The need for targeted, effective showroom sales training materials has no doubt contributed to the overwhelming acceptance of the new Essentials of Profitable Showroom Sales© among plumbing wholesalers, whose showrooms are integral factors in their overall market strategy.

Hank Darlington, a well-known expert in the field of successful showroom marketing and sales, has brought decades of experience to the creation of the Essentials course for ASA. Together with Paul Martin of the ASA Foundation staff, they have developed a concise, highly-readable text that offers 220 pages of targeted training for wholesale plumbing showroom personnel. Included in this Essentials Certificate Course are:

  • The characteristics of successful showrooms
  • The showroom sales process
  • Becoming the ultimate showroom sales consultant
  • Major differences between the distributor and retail profit model
  • The art of consultative selling in the upscale retail model
  • 102 Best Showroom Practices

    “Distributors will find Essentials of Profitable Showroom Sales© a valuable tool in their efforts to create a distinctive and successful showroom sales team,” said Martin.



    • What Goes on Behind the Wall?

    It’s one thing to be able to explain the features and benefits of a particular faucet or suite of fixtures. It’s quite another to be versed in the specifications, required support equipment, and manufacturers’ rough-in instructions that go along with those products.

    In complement to the showroom sales training materials, the comprehensive Product Pro®: Fixtures and Faucets® CD training program provides an overview of fixtures and faucets, water closets, bidets, lavatories, sinks, showers, whirlpool baths, hot tubs and commercial faucets and fixtures. The program includes definitions of common industry terms, descriptions of the major types of fixtures, and information on the supply and DWV fittings most commonly specified for them. The CD is an interactive training experience, offering a variety of self-assessment quizzes, as well as a final exam that can earn a successful Certificate of Completion from the ASA Education Foundation.

    For details and complete ordering information, please visit us at www.asa.net, or call 312.464.0090.