Aftermarket Insider Issue 80 - (Page 8)

A SS o C i AT i o n n E W S head of the class The VIP – Parts, Tires & Service company 20 12 8 | AFTERMARKET INSIDER | VOLUME 80 The AAIA Education Committee, sponsors of the AAIA Head of the Class Award, has been interviewing winners of the 2012 award to learn more about each company’s philosophy and success with its education and training investment. Below is information provided by Aaron Hackett, director, operations and administration, VIP – Parts, Tires & Service, Lewiston, Maine, recipient of the 2012 Head of the Class Award – Retailer Category. How did VIP recognize that training was so important? Given our company’s mission statement, “To Earn an Automotive Customer for Life,” we knew that we had to strive to be a worldclass training organization – to enhance our associates’ knowledge base in order to offer outstanding service to customers, cultivate morale and retain great associates. Due to the complexity of the products and services our team members need to offer customers, we realized if we didn’t invest in ongoing training and development, we would fail in our efforts to earn automotive customers for life. We took a look at our team’s knowledge base due to turnover over the years and deter- mined that we were losing the “institutional” knowledge that comes with years of service. We realized we needed to reinvest in training before it became too late. How has VIP’s training strategy evolved? We created a new training program, named the “EXCEED Training Program” (EXceptional Customer Experience Every Day). We looked at our resources at the time, how some of our competitors were delivering training and learned from our vendor partners how they deliver training. Based on this research, and the fact that we have 56 locations, we’ve changed our focus from trying to accomplish traditional classroom-style training to more technology-based methods such as e-learning, webinars and materials that are delivered through a Learning Management System (LMS), purchased in 2012. We’ve added programs that begin with new employee on-boarding, advanced product knowledge, “soft skill” development, technical training and advanced management level courses. What new techniques will/ have VIP employ(ed) for 2013? We are working to leverage training content from our vendor networks. Rather than try and create our own learning content, we are finding ways to incorporate their material into our LMS. We’ve seen huge improvements in training turnouts with this system. We’ve become much more efficient at scheduling training and balancing productivity with learning events. Our LMS allows us to schedule training in advance in a calendar-style format and have our team members enroll themselves http://www.vipauto.com/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aftermarket Insider Issue 80

Aftermarket Insider Issue 80
Contents
President’s Message
Association News
Government Affairs
Government Affairs
Head of the Class
Head of the Class
Member Profile
Toolbox
Impact Award
Market Intelligence
Market Intelligence
Executive Perspective

Aftermarket Insider Issue 80