Throughout April and May, Luxury Products Group (LPG) hosted its first-ever round of regional training sessions across the country, which drew great participation from members. Training sessions were held in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Las Vegas.

“I was impressed with the quality, enthusiasm and talent of the people who attended our regional training sessions,” said LPG Director Jeff MacDowell. “Thank you to our members who invested in sending their staff to this valuable training. And of course, we’re very appreciative of Elkay for their sponsorship.”

In each city, presenter Robb Best led attendees through four-hour courses that gave them solid takeaways to better engage with customers and increase sales. As Elkay’s senior advisor for cognitive strategy, Best is highly regarded for his research and expertise into the correlation between neuroscience and the sales process.

“Our team was so pumped up when they came back from this training session,” said Jeremy Smith, sales, marketing and showroom manager of Central Arizona Supply. “The in-depth training from Robb had a practical and immediate impact in our showrooms. Even those who had seen him before felt they gained deeper knowledge and understanding.”

The training events also included roundtable discussion groups. “It was important for members to talk amongst themselves and share best practices,” said MacDowell. “They were very vocal about hiring & training, building the right culture to retain employees, internet sales, IMAP policies, shifting to boutique rather than ‘commodity’ products, using vignettes as much as possible, and even allowing pets.”

MacDowell encouraged attendees to share the ideas and information they learned with showroom owners and suggest possible changes that could increase sales and customer traffic.

“Robb and Jeff are two of the best instructors I've been around in quite some time,” said Brandy Iannelli, design consultant at Wiseway Supply. “Robb was fantastic in teaching us how to engage our clients and gain their trust. I’ve already implemented some of the things he taught us — and they’ve worked! Since attending the training, I’ve closed almost every sales opportunity that I’ve had.

“I also took home good ideas from Jeff on providing top-tier service and hosting events to reach targeted potential clients," continued Iannelli. "We plan to host a food truck day, and also pair with the local animal shelter for an adopt-and-shop event. We can't thank Jeff enough for providing such important training and encouraging us to consider implementing small changes that will make a big difference in our business. I'm grateful for benefits like this that LPG offers its members!” 

Based on the positive feedback from these sessions, MacDowell said that he hopes to secure additional vendor sponsorships so LPG can offer more training sessions in the future.