WOOSTER, OH – Kansas City, Mo., was the setting for a recent extensive training program for 67 distributor sales personnel of Emak USA and Blount International. For three and a half days, the attendees focused on increasing their product knowledge and demonstration skills for all the products they sell. 
Lee Richey, general manager, said, "efco University, with the theme ‘Mission Possible,’ was developed to help our distributor salesmen become more familiar with our company and the features and benefits of our products. We held classroom sessions and then went outside for hands-on demonstrations of each of the 39 models we now offer." In addition, they were exposed to the all-new Blount Kansas City Distribution Center and were able to use their state-of-the-art training facility. By partnering with Blount, distributor sales personnel learned important updates, saw and used new products, honed their skills with existing products, and saw some of the products being produced.
The event’s goal was to bring the distributors and their sales representatives together to review the existing product line and introduce six new products. A complete review of the product line was held, in addition to a review of the company background and history of the efco product line.
After the full classroom product review, the real training began. The goal was for every attendee to have hands-on experience with every product and be able to discuss the features and benefits with dealers. Over a four-hour period in the afternoon, everyone ran all 39 pieces of the efco line, including the new products.
Many attendees found the highlight of efco University to be the hands-on demonstrations, which offered them the opportunity to learn how to properly demonstrate and run the equipment. All the personnel who did run each piece of equipment were entered into a contest, with prizes that included $50, $75, $100 and a grand prize of an iPad. Joe Scroggin from RBI, Inc. took home the grand prize.
Emak awarded three reps with limited-edition efco watches. Tim Slack of Menominee Industrial Supply, Arnette Leland of Menominee Industrial Supply and Chuck Wonstetler of Lawn Care Distributors demonstrated the best success with an individual dealer through education and marketing of the brand.
