According to ISMM's Head of Sales, Ben Turner, the initiative is the first that has been seen in the construction industry. He said: "This is a truly unique scheme within the industry - one that will allow sales personnel to achieve recognised qualifications and cement the importance of their role within the business and, indeed, the industry as a whole."

Frank Rowe, SIG's UK Sales Performance and Development Manager, said: "Turnover of sales staff in the construction industry is high and, while others in the marketplace might be happy to accommodate for this, we want our employees to know that they have a future here. Our investment in an on-going training programme to up-skill all of our sales staff is testament not only to this commitment, but to the fact that we want to provide the best possible service to our customers. The greater knowledge and expertise our staff have, the more effectively they can help deliver our customers' projects."

Rowe concluded: "Sales is the cornerstone of most suppliers' businesses, so their salespeople - and, more importantly, the job satisfaction of their salespeople - should be a top priority. As far as I'm concerned, this is something that every company should be doing, and I'm glad that SIG is leading by example in investing in the development and longevity of our sales teams - and excellence in customer service."

Frank Rowe's words are extremely encouraging - and they're all the more encouraging coming from a large company with an international reputation. SIG is Europe's leading specialist supplier to the construction, building and industrial markets - with 872 trading sites in 15 countries across the UK, Ireland and Mainland Europe.

When economic times are tough, there must be a temptation for firms - particularly large ones with well-established markets - to relax their attitude towards staff training, cut back to doing purely compliance/ regulatory training and so cut costs. This relies on the inertia of the markets - and customers - to -˜keep buying what they've always bought', regardless of the knowledge and skills of those from whom they buy.

Taking a different viewpoint, SIG has embarked on an initiative to raise the level of its sales force's knowledge and skills by investing its staff - and encouraging them to respond by staying with the company. This raises such issues as employee engagement and motivation.

If this strategy is successful, it should reduce labour turnover and the costs of recruitment, selection and induction (or 'onboarding' as the Americans say) - as well as produce a better equipped sales force. Hopefully, SIG will soon be reaping the benefits of this strategy via its bottom line.



For over 20 years, Bob Little has specialised in writing about, and commentating on, corporate learning - especially elearning - and technology-related subjects. His work has been published in the UK, Continental Europe, the USA and Australia.
You can contact Bob.