|
By: Robert Janis
Polaris Uses Webcast
to Train Dealers
When companies introduce a new product, they
have to train their dealers on how to maintain
and repair those products. Most have used
video presentations that can be sent out to
dealers, a training road show in which
technicians from the factory go out on to the
road and physically visit dealers to do
training, or provide a curriculum to a field rep
who then does the training.
With the economy the way it is today any one of
those ways of training a force in the field is
just too costly. Today there are better, more
cost effective and more efficient ways to
achieve the same goal. That way is a webcast.
Polaris Industries, manufacturer of ATVs, is
using a webcast to train the technicians at
their dealerships about the new Sportsman 850
and 550 XP.
Laurie Rengel, manager of Service Dealer
Development for Polaris, was involved with the
development of the webcast and finds it to be a
“super” way to get the message out to
technicians in the field.
In the old days, while was not that long ago,
when Polaris introduced a new product and had to
educate its dealers’ technicians about it, it
sent out technical service reps and instructors
in a road show. “They would have had to go to
about 36 cities to cover the sales for the
Sportsman,” said Rengel. “And you have a number
of dealers traveling, too. We felt that we had
to re-think the way we do our
training--especially considering the economic
times.”
According to Rengel, Polaris discovered the need
to come up with a new way to present information
to its forces in the field quickly but still
have it be informative and helpful to the techs
in the shops.
The idea of a webcast came from Rengel’s boss,
Bill Fisher, Chief Information Officer/Vice
President of Dealer Services for Polaris.
Developing the Webcast
Polaris used the infrastructure that it already
had and merged it with new technology.
“Typically, in the old days Polaris would have
done a road show,” said Rengel. “So we already
have a staff of people who can put a
presentation together. They’re called our
‘Technical Curriculum Developers.’ They go
through the product line with our engineers, and
they create a curriculum based on the components
of the product and the changes made. That could
include quality improvements and how you operate
and repair different components of the vehicle.”
Once the Technical Curriculum Developers were
able to come up with an outline, they met with
videographer Phil Lawrence and instructors Kurt
Saler and Gary Kovala as well as the account
executive for StratosFour, Richard Moffitt.
StratosFour was the company that was contracted
to actually produce the webcast. Based in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, the company has been producing
webcasts for 11 years and its clients’ list
includes Colgate-Palmolive and the American Bar
Association.
Polaris was able to identify StratosFour as the
possible producer because a colleague of Rengel
was familiar with the company. “We ultimately
selected StratosFour to do the production
because of their experience and expertise,” said
Rengel. “We knew that they had this because we
viewed other webcasts that they had produced. We
found that they could deliver to a large
audience and could deliver very technical
information and was able to handle what Polaris
needed to get our information out into the
field.”
During the meeting it was determined that a
vehicle was needed which could present the
technical information and also provide time for
viewers of the webcast to actually ask questions
and get answers. “One of the reasons why on-line
training doesn’t usually do well is that people
can’t ask questions. They just see somebody
talking and they can’t interact or become
engaged,” said Rengel. The webcast format that
was developed allowed for this. So, when the
event was videoed, there were a few Polaris
technicians in the room who could answer any
question pertaining to the Sportsman XP and
representatives from StratosFour were also
present to feed the questions that were coming
in in real time from the technicians who were
watching the presentation. So questions could be
asked and answered in real time during the
webcast presentation.
Moreover, dealer needs were always kept in the
forefront during the planning stages and when
the webcast was actually performed. “We actually
had eight dealers in the room when we were
filming,” said Rengel.
The presentation created was 7 hours in length.
It was broken up into two hour segments. It
covered:
- A summary of all training events for the
Sportsman XP.
- All technical features of the Sportsman 350 and
850 XP, which included a walk around description
of the specific features that are unique to
these vehicles.
- A discussion of all the essential tools required
to repair the products and how those tools
operate.
- A physical hands-on presentation that included:
- The PVT System
- Removal, Disassembly and
Re-assembly of Gear Case and Engine
- Engine Management System, which
described how to use the Polaris Digital Wrench,
a digital tool used on a laptop computer to
diagnose any issues with the vehicle.
Prior to the webcast dealers were notified and
provided with a hyperlink via e-mail or they
were given access through the Polaris website (www.polarisdealers.com),
or they could get a link via telephone.
Page 1
2 Next
|
