Online Learning & Certification
Developing World-Class Brand Representatives
MRKTMKR interviews your product, marketing, support, and sales teams to create a focused range of online courses, webinars, and certification programs, custom tailored to your business, and developed with the purpose of driving sales growth by instilling confidence in the internal and extended teams selling your products and brand. It's easy to think of training as a cost center for your business, but executed properly it's likely to become your largest marketing and revenue generator. The custom installation industry is different than consumer retail in that big spends don't work unless they are $$$$, this is an industry based on educating and supporting your integrator partners and $1 spent directly in engaging your integrators will grow more and better sales, resulting in happier consumers because they got placed in the correct product from the start.
Courses are short, sweet, and to the point,—each course is about 15-20 minutes long, and each certification program averages eight to ten courses. Our programs help internalize your branding strategy, boost credibility as industry experts, and increases the confidence of your team.
Our Approach
Gathering Insights From Your Team
One of the biggest misses in a go-to-market plan is that the decisions are often made in a vacuum. Yes, someone ultimately needs to be the decision maker, but it’s important to get information from the various teams you have representing the brand. When developing a training path, it’s important to know what the internal and external teams feel like they need to know. It’s easy to assume that because you presented something to a group of dealers or sent an announcement email out that everyone knows about it, but that’s often not the case. This is even more prevalent when it comes to how the product works, how it integrates with other products, and most importantly, how to talk about the product to potential clients. Therefore, MRTKMKR interviews the internal sales and marketing teams as well as select dealers to get a solid understanding of what is commonly known, what should be considered core education, and of course best practices in discussing the product to consumers.
Having an outside group do this often leads to your teams being more willing to open up versus an executive member asking the same questions.
Only A Product Expert Can Train The Trainer
One of MRKTMKR’s core expertise is product development. Our CEO, Brett Bjorkquist has spent tens of thousands of hours building and testing products for the CE/CI industry, resulting in an incredibly hands-on approach to training. You often see trainings offered by companies without deep knowledge of the product they are training on. We’ve all sat through those trainings, and they miss the mark every time. You also know that one person in your company that’s trusted to give the presentation when it’s imperative to get it right. Whether it’s a control system, high-end speakers, or a media server, Brett is quickly chosen as an expert in the products he represents, learning the hot button questions and developing clear and concise messaging directed specifically towards the channel. Now you likely have a team of internal salespeople, outside reps, and the integrator’s sales teams. Trusting that they are all going to deliver a strong consistent message just doesn’t happen unless they are trained centrally, and in a way where you can get reporting that shows that they’ve taken the time to go through the courses and taken quizzes that demonstrate that they’ve absorbed the information they’ve been presented.
Engagement Makes All The Difference
We’ve been training salespeople for more than 20 years. Brett started off as a salesperson, then department manager, Asst. Manager, and then became a store manager, all within 3.5 years in a company where the average store manager had more than 10 years before they go their first store. The reason, it was simple; take the time to train your people right and make sure they are consistently executing the expected behavior. MRKTMKR takes those years of learnings, and develops courses that aren’t just PowerPoint or recordings, we take engagement to the next level, by actually building a true working environment, where integrators can click through the programming, they can even follow along with the real software. But we don’t just spend time on hardware and programming knowledge. We spend equal time on teaching the key value proposition of your products, so they know how to talk about your product in a way that instills confidence. If they are confident in the “why” they will be talking about your product consistently, and that means more sales opportunities for everyone.
A Couple Of Videos Doesn't Cut It
When we first started in the industry, training was mainly done in person. That meant it was sporadic, and if some sales team members weren’t available, they often had to wait another 6 months before they got it again. Plus, how much can you absorb in a 45-minute training you came in early for and then need to get back on the floor after? By having an LMS (Learning Management System) always ready for your teams, the training is consistent, never rushed, and can be taken when the salesperson has time. By offering 8-10 courses in a general certification path, and then creating deeper-dive courses for those that want to learn more, you create a goal for them to accomplish. This is amplified even more when you align it with your dealer agreement, assuring that the staff is well trained and any investment you make with the dealer has a better chance at a strong ROI. “So, if we build it, they will come…?” Not exactly, but we have strategies for getting strong results, which we’ll talk about next.
Directing Attention To Your Trainings
You’ve done the major work in having MRKTMKR help you build a best-in-class training platform. How do you get the integrators to actually take it? Creating action and engagement can be tough, and the best laid plans don’t get you the results if you can’t get people to pay attention. We’ve got you covered with this last and sometimes most important part, working with integrators and press to help promote your platform, making sure the integrators know why they should take the time to learn more about your products. Want to really drive engagement, MRKTMKR has all the tools ready to build a great contest for your integrators, or even taking a consumer-focused video and get more qualified people to watch those as well. With budgets large or small, we’ve got turnkey programs that we can customize to your business, and make sure you get the eyeballs needed to turn your training program from a cost center to a revenue generator.
Drive Brand & Sales Growth with MRKTMKR
The flexibility of our courses and webinars allow users to complete trainings when it's most convenient. As former A/V integrators, we know how difficult allocating defined training time can be, which is why we strive to make your training program as accessible as possible. With average webinar attendance of 100+ integrators and consistent 5-star reviews, we've cracked the code on integrator engagement, and are happy to extend our platforms and years of experience with other quality brands in the CEDIA industry.
Ready to see how an update to your online education and certification program can help drive your business?
Submit your information below or schedule an introductory meeting today!