The Seymour, Connecticut-based company has four dealer networks that provide services in waterproofing, crawl space repair, foundation structural repair, and basement finishing. “It’s a dealer network, not a franchise. We actually operate on a handshake,” says Larry Janesky, president of Basement Systems (www.basementsystems.com).
The company makes money when dealers sell Basement Systems products, so “we’re committed to making the dealers successful in every way,” he says. That commitment includes a variety of voluntary training sessions offered free to the hundreds of dealers in the company’s networks.
In addition to product training, Basement Systems provides dealers/owners with training in sales management and marketing to help them grow their businesses. “We try to touch on every area of training, including, most important I feel, how an owner thinks,” Janesky says, noting that dealers are coached on what is most important in their business, why it is most important, and how the business should work, for example. “We show them how small changes in key performance indicators can make a huge difference in their profit.”
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The training also helps them think about “organizational flexibility” (i.e., the need to expand when business is good, contract when business is slow, and “make money along the way”), he says.
Sales training is offered four times a year, while production training is available three times a year. In addition, a manager’s “boot camp” is offered twice annually. Dealers “can come anytime that we hold these trainings and as often as they like,” Janesky says, adding that dealers can send their employees to the training as well.
With a few exceptions, training is conducted over 2 or 3 days at corporate headquarters, where dealers and employees alike can dine in a 1950s-themed cafeteria and visit the IT department that has been remodeled as a tree house. “There’s just a lot of cool things in the building,” he says, noting that he prefers to have dealers come to headquarters so they feel a “connection” with the company. “They feel that they are part of us.”
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Basement Systems also provides weekly training meetings in production, sales, and service for its 128 employees. Within the last year, its video production department started videotaping the sessions, which are led by Janesky, and posted them online so that dealers can use them during their own training sessions.
The company videotapes four to five meetings per week—sometimes two to three in 1 day, according to Janesky. Each video lasts about 10 to 20 minutes.
In addition, dealers can access videos of the 2- and 3-day training classes broken down into segments, he says.
Dealers can pick and choose which videos are most appropriate for their workers, or they can show each video as it becomes available, he says. For example, a sales manager might select a videotape on closing techniques to show to his or her sales staff and then lead a discussion after the video.
Training has helped drive Basement Systems’ success, Janesky says. Noting that other companies in the industry have tried to work with franchises or dealer networks, he says Basement Systems is the only company that has done it successfully. “Training is a very large part of that. Our training makes sense … It works in the Midwest, and it works in Long Island. It shows our dealers our commitment to their success.”