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Why use Foodservice University? |
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Foodservice University is the premier provider of mission-critical web-based training in the food channel. We have been in business for over a decade, providing valuable brand and product-centric training to thousands of users from sales agency reps, to DSR’s across the segments. No other provider can offer the depth of experience in the industry combined with the expertise in developing content designed for the audience targeted. Foodservice University offers manufacturers the opportunity to HIGHLIGHT their brand/product message to their agency reps, cut through the clutter of competing information, and control the sales message and brand positioning they use with their customers on your behalf.
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Why should I offer training to the brokers? Isn’t that their responsibility? |
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You are the product expert. Why not distribute that knowledge to those front-line reps responsible for selling the product?
Do you know how these reps are trained now? At best, they may spend a day or two with a senior salesperson, and then be put out on their own to “learn as they go”. Is that the way you want your product information conveyed? And how effective is it anyway?
You need to become ACTIVELY involved in sales agency training their training to assure that your brand(s) and product(s) are being properly represented to prospective customers.
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How do the broker owners feel about their principals dictating how their people will be trained? |
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Sales agencies welcome the help, and are anxious to be provided manufacturer-developed product training. We certainly could not survive over a decade in business if they didn’t! They understand that is their best opportunity to increase sales and penetration at their customers (leading to higher commissions).
In addition, sales agencies understand the need for a consistent selling message. And they know that their best opportunity for success is to get that message directly from the manufacturer.
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How can we get actively involved in training at the agency level? We don’t have enough field personnel as it is! |
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Foodservice University can fulfill that responsibility. Our courses are developed in collaboration with your sales and product experts, and then assembled into an interactive courseware module that the user can easily access on their own schedule, using a personalized username and password.
And implementation is easy as well. Announce new courses via email blast, with a link to the training site embedded in the message. Set the parameters for performance (acceptable course score, timeframe to complete) and you’re done! Your field personnel can manage broker implementation by accessing the online activities recap from time to time to see who has completed the course, their scores, and their problem areas.
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Who should take these courses? The broker owner? My account manager? Or everyone? |
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We recommend that all agency personnel charged with selling --- or managing --- your products become an authorized user. This can include customer service personnel as well as inventory managers and administrators become familiar with their principals. The courses are typically only 30 to 40 minutes long…isn’t that a small price to pay for a fully trained staff?
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What kind of content is included in these courses? Audio? Video? Graphics? |
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All of the above, if you so desire. Your training objectives, combined with your current available resources, will drive the decision on what to include in each course.
Our baseline building blocks start with PowerPoint slides. Often, clients already have presentation materials they use for distributor sales meetings and the like, and these can be adapted for use on our system. Once the flow and content of a course are decided, we explore graphic needs by examining product photography and other brand identity art that is available to enhance the course. Finally, an audio script for each page is developed, which is then professionally recorded as an accompaniment to the course, lending to the interactive nature of the experience for the user.
If you have video clips that are appropriate to the training objective, they can also be integrated with the courseware module if desired. Clips of up to 20 seconds are appropriate for use within the course; otherwise, longer films (i.e. plant tours) can be linked from the course RESOURCES section of each module, for viewing or downloading by the user at the conclusion of the course.
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How is the course organized? What does it include? |
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Each course is focused on a specific product group or brand, or segment. Your overall training plan will dictate how to group the content into courses.
Once the course objective is decided, the resource materials are assembled by the course content expert assigned this task at your company, and is reviewed in detail with an educational development expert at Foodservice University. The two (and their respective staff) collaborate on the flow of the content, keeping within accepted eLearning guidelines.
Structurally, each courseware module is broken into four to six-minute lessons (6-10 slides), with the lessons combined into a single-focus course module of four to six lessons total. A final exam completes the modular structure.
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How are the testing materials developed? |
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Because we have password that describe each person who comes into the site, we will be able to give you, the broker owner, the ability to get on the site and see the results of each one of the tests as they happen. You can give this authorization to anyone you deem appropriate. The passwords ensure that the SECURITY of the system only allows people who are authorized into the results as well as the tests themselves.
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How do the users access the materials? |
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Each authorized user will be required to initially REGISTER using their email address and a password of their own choosing on the sales portal site or web address where the course access is centralized. Once registered, they will subsequently enter this site using these same access ID’s.
Foodservice University may be accessed from any computer with internet capabilities. It is a web-based application, with the content and the system software residing on the Hospitality Training LLC servers.
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What about pricing? |
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There are three components to the Foodservice University Web-Based Training System.
1. Courseware development: A one-time charge to design, develop, produce, and post a single courseware module to the system. Pricing varies depending on the completeness of the materials to be developed, and if the client assumes some development costs personally. Regardless, once the courseware module is developed, it is theirs to use for as long as the content is current and valid.
2. Server/Hosting/Licensing Fee: Annual flat fee for server time, materials hosting, and system software licensing.
3. User subscription fee: A small per student/user fee assessed at the beginning of each contract year for each system user. Since every user has a unique access ID, this means that individual users must register, and not a single user on behalf of an entire broker company.
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What about updating the materials content? |
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That is easy, with simple edits done at little or no added charge.
If there are incorrect or outdated slides or materials within a course, the required changes should be reviewed with Foodservice University, and we will provide you with an estimate to correct. Once the materials have been revised, they can be posted immediately, thus dynamically updating all those who take the course from that time on.
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