Emser Tile, LLC, designed Emser University to be a venue for educating and training its staff and customers. The second of the three-dimensional Emser University programs, “Master’s Program” targets employees who have been working at Emser for six to eight months (the other two programs focus on “First Principles” for new hires and a customer version).
Program Details
After applying what they learned in Initial Branch Training (IBT), Branch and Operations managers, along with Sales reps, travel to Emser Tile’s corporate office in Los Angeles, where they learn more about advanced sales techniques, managing customer accounts, freight and pricing programs, business strategies, and in-depth product knowledge.
Where IBT starts trainees off at the 30,000-foot-level, the Master’s Program drops down to the 10,000-foot-level to get to the core of managing accounts, customer and employee relationships, and the overall business.
During the Master’s Program, facilitators cover general information with the entire group and then separate into smaller role-based groups to cover such topics as:
- Talent Acquisition
- Employee Relations
- Employee Engagement
- Product Positioning
- Market Penetration
- Go-To Market Strategy
Each day, subject matter experts rotate into the learning center to share critical information with the group. During these interactive sessions, trainees share best practices, challenge business processes, and ask questions. Beyond the learning objectives, Emser Tile has mixed in fun teambuilding activities throughout the week to further indoctrinate them into the company’s culture.
A month after trainees finish the Master’s Program, they are required to complete a capstone project to further cement their learning and establish their roadmap for the next 12 months. Branch managers produce a business plan; Operations managers create an operations improvement plan; and Sales reps do a market review.
Once trainees finalize their plan, they present it to their regional management team. During the presentation, they are given feedback on other market penetration opportunities and strategies to grow the business.
Results
Since the inception of the Master’s Program, Emser Tile has graduated 248 trainees and put an additional 57 corporate employees through the program for exposure to company culture and processes.
As a direct result of the Master’s Program:
- Employee engagement increased by 25 percent
- New account openings increased by 20 percent.
- Turnover decreased by 9 percent.
- Employee retention increased by 12 percent.
