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million, has been named
Blackbaud's National Reseller of the Year for three straight
years.
New
employees usually have strong accounting and consulting backgrounds,
but the firm wants to put them in touch with its marketplace. The
new-hire training program is a combination of market trends,
in-house training, hands-on training, and Blackbaud software
certification.
The
first two one-day courses are followed by eight hours of self-study.
After taking another half-day class, Selling for the Non Sales
Person, consultants spend a half-day shadowing a sales-person. "This
helps consultants recognize sales opportunities when working with
clients," says Robert Schilling.
The
firm's three partners, Pollock, Schilling, and Peter Saul, continue
not only to educate themselves, but also strongly support the
ongoing education of their staff. They back that up with their
pocketbooks: The firm allots $10,000 per year for certified
consultants. There are seven currently on staff.
But
training is not reserved for the professionals-all employees receive
training, from the administrative person to the sales people.
"The
most important aspect of training for us is to prepare our people to
work with our customer base. It helps us with profitability because
the more our consultants know, the more satisfied the customer is,
and the more focused we are on our mission," says Pollock.
Saul
teaches a course about Conflict Management, important for
consultants who deal with customers that often have complex business
relationships among the different users within their organizations.
"We
are often putting in different systems for customers with multiple
departments, and these departments didn't interact much in the past.
We want to teach our consultants the best way to work with them," he
says. The class also assists consultants in understanding how
software features can meet clients' needs.
After
completing training and achieving Blackbaud certification, new
consultants are teamed with a seasoned consultant for approximately
two months.
"You can only learn so much
in a classroom setting. Accounting software is never the same set-up
in an organization. The only way a consultant can complete training
is to be out in the field," say Pollock.
Once the fieldwork is
completed, the seasoned consultant fills out an evaluation form for
the new consultant for the partners' review. Pollock says this
process is one reason Capital has a low turnover rate.
"Although we don't have
the statistics on how training affects retention, we feel providing
employees with a structured learning program reduces their level of
frustration," adds Pollock.
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