Training: Why people are missing out

Reseller businesses outside of capital cities are starved of training services and vendors should be allocating more resources on skilling-up partners in regional areas, according to Channel Roundtable attendees.

Leading Edge's Ross Whitelaw says businesses outside capital cities are starved of vendor training programs. 'It's not a matter of choosing between which program is going to suit them the best. It's like crumbs before a starving person - they just don't get it. The industry is so focused on two things - capital cities and Harvey Norman,' he says.

Whitelaw says the retailer has been 'pleading' with vendors to do something about servicing regional areas.

'We're now looking at a web-based training program to see if it's worthwhile rolling out. Right now the whole channel outside the capital cities is starved. Tech Pacific started doing something last year in NSW getting vendors out there doing training. We have guys in towns of 5,000 people turning over $1 million - they're doing serious business.
'When we're working with anybody we look at the things that are going to benefit everybody. You're pushing the technology bandwagon but with some people it's like: "How do you use the bloody website",' he says.

'Right now, for people outside of CBDs or capital cities it's not being shared. They're having to do it all themselves,' he continues.
'Some suppliers have people on the road going out there calling on a Harvey Norman store in Bathurst and driving in and out again. There might be three other retailers that deserve some support but they don't get it - so why not?' he says.

Paul Colley, technology and training manager, mobile network products and network marketing group at Sony Australia, says it is almost impossible for the vendor to get to the regional centres. 'Not because we don't want to but physically my guys are constantly on planes. From a physical resource [perspective] it's very difficult to achieve.

'We're developing an online training service which can meet all the needs but at least it's a start. So that's something that we've realised is critical to reach the regional areas,' he says.

'What I would say is that I think from a training perspective and the people attending, we have to be strategic about what we do with training. If you were to look at any of the training that's available in any given week then everyone's working every night of the week,' he adds.

Safa Joumaa, general manager, sales and marketing at Altech, agrees that regional partners are out in the cold. 'They're out in the country and are missing out.
He suggests that bringing regional VARs into the city to do training is going to be costly. 'People are allocated co-op funding - you can use that co-op funding to bring them out there instead of putting it on ads,' he says.

Whitelaw points out that it's still more cost-effective for suppliers to 'send somebody to Bathurst than 50 people to Sydney and it doesn't need to happen quarterly.
'If the industry started to do it once a year, that would be a giant step forward from what it is now and suppliers that do that will be the ones who will start to reap the benefits,' he says.

David Kong, owner of reseller Emagen, adds that at the end of the day, it is the retailer and reseller's responsibility to do training themselves.

'If they're not interested in doing the training themselves and figuring out what's new and what's happening then they're not going to be around - that's business, that's reality.
'Vendors shouldn't fall over backwards to try and give training to all the retailers because only the smart people eventually figure it's worthwhile to attend,' he says.