Nokian Tyres speeds up its sales with product training
Nokian Tyres invests in the online training of its sales personnel. The objective is to improve product knowledge and to give sales processes a boost towards increasingly better results. E-learning enables the simultaneous and cost-efficient training of people on a global scale.
Nokian Tyres is a tyre manufacturer, the only such manufacturer in the world to concentrate on the customer needs and products demanded by northern conditions. All Nokian tyres meant for passenger cars, as well as c. 60 percent of tyres meant for heavy vehicles, are sold to consumers through specialized tyre and car dealerships and other enterprises operating in the tyre business. Taking care of the sales and product knowledge of one’s own personnel and distribution chain has a key role in the success of sales.
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E-learning, with its uniform content, gives us a pedagogical means to ensure that sales personnel use a common set of sales arguments, says Hanna Heikkilä from Nokian
Tyres plc. |
New methods of learning into sales training
Nokian Tyres is aware of the benefits of e-learning and develops new methods of learning to ensure the improvement of skills and competence. In order to enhance the product knowledge of sales personnel, the e-learning suites Join the Natives and Hakka – for rough conditions were implemented in collaboration with Prewise. The target group consisted of the company’s own personnel as well as retailers and partners in Finland and abroad.
- Our goal is to reach the sales field with a common message through visual and demonstrative means and to support sales by narrating the sales arguments, says HR Developer Hanna Heikkilä of Nokian Tyres plc.
Training material that supports a solid brand
- Traditionally, our customers and sales people have been supplied with fairly large amounts of marketing materials concerning products, but getting familiar with the material has been left to each one themselves. Consequently, the sales arguments of same products might have varied considerably, says Heikkilä.
When meeting a customer, the skill sets of the customer and the sales person should be similar and the language used common, in order to ensure the successfulness of the deal or customer service.
- Uniform e-learning materials provide us with the pedagogic means needed to make sure that sales people use a common set of sales arguments. By focusing on different issues in the material, we can keep repeating central themes continuously, thereby improving memory, explains Heikkilä.
- An additional, integral advantage is the fact that we are able to distribute the material effectively and simultaneously around the world and that no one has to travel because of training needs, adds Heikkilä. This saves time in addition to being cost-efficient.
Motivation is borne out of user benefits
The actualization and measuring of training goals is important from the company’s as well as the employee’s perspective.
- We follow up on the number of users and the level of performance within our own personnel and in the retailing channel. Since we are only in the first stages of launching the Hakkapeliitta Academy, it is important to see that the personnel turns to it when looking for opportunities to develop their skills, says Heikkilä.
Hakkapeliitta Academy is Nokian Tyres’s competence development portal, functioning as a channel for the development of knowhow on a corporate-wide scale.
- As for motivational methods, we have only used printable diplomas so far and that has worked excellently among the staff – there have been immediate requests for more materials. The best motivational instruments are practical, life-like, and user-friendly materials. Users must be able to perceive the material as beneficial to them – this brings about motivation with it, assures Heikkilä.
For more on Nokian Tyres plc., go to www.nokiantyres.com
Text: Jaana Raaska
Picture: Nokian Renkaat/Nokian Tyres