> A Balanced Life
> Business Management
> Customer Service
> Finance
> Marketing
> Recruiting & Training
> Franchising

> Franchising Video
> Photo Gallery

> Candidate Qualification Form

The Importance of Training

A wise man once said, “Good is the enemy of excellence.” The saying remains a cautionary tale for small-business owners who struggle to eliminate complacency in the workforce and their company’s financial returns.

Feeling good about your company can provide a justifiable feeling of accomplishment that quietly leads to levels of deadly complacency and even worse, costly performance plateaus. So how does a small-business owner take his good company up a notch?

A training program can be the answer to jump-starting your business. The right kind of training program can help a small-business owner elevate the performance of a company and its employees from good to great and even excellent.

Mike Pizzuti, owner of a Rainbow International franchise in Findlay, Ohio, knows that the ever-changing restoration and cleaning industry requires regular training and continuing education. Training helped him earn recognition as Rainbow International’s Franchise Owner of the Year in 2003.

“Rainbow International’s training is light years ahead of the competition,” Pizzuti said. “We look forward to learning about the new products, techniques, and services that are out there.”

Take It Outside
Training your employees encompasses more than renewing licenses or certification. Your technicians must keep up with their industry’s latest technologies and techniques. But if these minimum forms of continuing training are required of all technicians — including those of your competitors — can they really help your company take a step up from the pack?

Small-business owners who seek out and implement regularly scheduled, outside training programs for all aspects of their business (including customer service, marketing, and operating) can give their companies added value and a leg up on the competition.

What’s wrong with buying a few how-to train books and passing them out to your employees between service jobs?

The most effective types of training are learned in focused sessions conducted under controlled environs. This type of training requires the undivided attention of you and your employees. Distractions such as answering customer calls and putting out even the smallest of fires can render training ineffective.

Training Costs vs. Profits
Many small-business owners worry that outside training sessions will cost them down time and money. Just as many small-business consultants suggest that companies seeking growth and the ability to sustain it should budget a minimum of two weeks of training. How can you weigh the cost of training, or not training, your employees?

Fast-forward to the real-market costs of falling behind your competition. Training programs bring value to your company by making even your best technicians more productive employees. Training sessions can introduce your technicians to new services and bring them up to speed with the latest products, as well as, marketing and sales tips that will raise your profits.

Successful service franchise operations offer built-in training programs. Home service and repair companies such as Aire Serv, Glass Doctor, Mr. Appliance, Mr. Electric, Mr. Rooter, and Rainbow International offer regularly scheduled training conferences that update and fine-tune their proven marketing, operating, and customer service systems, and reinforce their message of success to franchisees and their employees.

“If one of my employees or I have a problem, I can call Rainbow International and have many people working to solve it,” Pizzuti said. “They allow us to decide how much continuing training we want to attend. The value of their training always has been worth the time and the money.”

Training programs such as these are the answer to turning hardworking employees into smart-working ones, and a good business into an excellent company. Remember, another wise man once said, “In the battle between good and excellence, the enemy is often you.”

< Back