Client

The client is a national distributor of quality controlled foodservice products with distribution facilities in 12 states.

Challenge

Create a core training program and best practice process for the organization’s sales management & operations teams focused on providing skills to help them manage a geographically dispersed group of 500 associates. The client was seeking to bring continuity to communications as well as provide a better platform to keep associates productive without having daily face to face contact.

Solution

The initial focus of this program was pointed at the managers who had the responsibility of training, coaching and reviewing daily work. The AMS team taught them the techniques to better manage in a virtual team environment. This core training program helped them to gain competency beyond “basic” team management skill sets. Such as, performance management in a virtual environment, communicating objectives to a distributed workforce, communicating with a distributed team, and promoting engagement in a virtual environment with technology tools.

Benefits

As a result of the training the organization realized a decrease in turnover and an increase in productivity, measured by their internal performance standards. Based on a sampling of the clients and staff one year after the program it was cited by the CEO that they reduced employee training cost by 5% and over all territory sales by 8% within the sales teams to this initiative. Further analysis proved that after a “structure” was set in place for the distributed team initiative there was a spike in continuity vs. doing “virtual” work in an unorganized environment.