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Local moving franchise Two Men and a Truck International’s Skills Advancement Program (SAP) is a learning opportunity designed by the Training and Development department, in tandem with the company’s chief talent officer, to help employees gain more of an understanding of the business as a whole by becoming certified in specific skills. All employees have the option to enroll in any of the 13 certifications.
Program Details
Each certification focuses in on a certain skill in order to make the learner an expert in that particular process. This allows for employees to become more confident in various business areas, as well as continue to develop their personal brand. There are currently 13 SAP certifications available in the categories of Sales, Customer Service, Marketing, DOT, Safety, and Training.
Each certification consists of three parts:
1. Training courses and material to review to teach the learner the necessary skills. This is done via the company’s intranet and learning management system (LMS).
2. Assignments to send in to the Training and Development team. These assignments serve as a way to apply the knowledge learned. A team of subject matter experts review these assignments and provide feedback to the learner.
3. A final exam given through the LMS.
Short-term reinforcement comes in the form of a final exam at the culmination of the program. Participants are tested on their newly obtained knowledge to ensure they understand the programs’ material upon completion.
Long-term reinforcement is established by annual recertification of the program initially earned. These recertifications are in the form of an exam to retest participants’ knowledge obtained from the program, and assignments to show the maintenance of a certain set of skills, ideals, or concepts. Failure to recertify within a month of their one-year anniversary of the program results in learners needing to become certified from the ground up once again.
Results
Through second quarter 2019, those locations with a sales certification through the Skills Advancement Program have displayed, on average, a one-hour reduction in the time it takes to respond to online leads that come into the location. This contributes to higher conversion rates, which boosts sales and profit, contributing to Two Men and a Truck’s goal of 10 percent profitability system-wide.
For this same group, the company is seeing a 5.18 percent increase in phone conversion rates and a .66 percent increase in online lead conversion rates. Locations with a sales certification have seen an increase in revenue of 7.05 percent year-over-year from 2018 to 2019.
Additionally, those locations with a sales certification through second quarter 2019 are achieving an average satisfaction rate of 4.78 (out of 5), which is .06 over the company’s corporate goal and up .02 from 2018.
Additionally, year-over-year, through second quarter 2019, those locations with customer service certification have achieved a 0.22 percent increase in customer referrals and a .01 (out of 5) increase in customer satisfaction.