Capitol Sales will launch a new phase of its Learning Institute program beginning in January that will adopt what Jeff Kussard, director of strategic development, termed a “guerrilla approach” to education.
The 2009 program just concluded after a six-city tour that started in April, and the 2010 program will still take the training to the trainees – but the sessions will run two days and include participation from four vendors, each of which will conduct half-day trainings. “We’ve experimented with the new format at our facility in Minnesota,” said Kussard, “and found that a more compact program could translate to the road.”
The fine-tuned regional outreach, which will likely alternate between off-campus locations and training at Capitol Sales’ facility, pairs synergistic vendors whose technologies support one another, he explained. “It makes sense logistically,” he said.
Kussard said 2010 will also mark the introduction of a monthly, Capitol Sales-run multi-day curriculum that trains and certifies installers on integrating the Panasonic Business Telephone Systems product suite with Control4’s products. “We’ve been a 19-year partner with Panasonic phones, and introduced them into the CEDIA space,” he explained, “so it made sense for us to help Panasonic and Control4 in their joint development effort that resulted in the phones being interfaces for Control4.
“The nature of training and education, from a dealer’s perspective, has changed,” reflected Kussard. “There is more competition for training and education mindshare than years ago. Companies used to develop a broad-based curriculum, but not any more – not in the face of the new economy. The reality of the marketplace dictates finding new training concepts that can be quickly implemented and can generate profit for dealers. That’s what attracts people to training. We’ve been very fortunate in gaining manufacturer support, because we’ve found a way for it to be low cost to them, and not overly demanding on their time and resources. I think we have a winning formula, and we expect our vision will continue to evolve and be modified.”
Kussard also spoke of Q2 and Q3 vendor additions, citing ZeeVee’s HD distribution solution, which the company began offering this past summer, as “a runaway success.” “It’s an evolution of technology dealers know – RF modulation of video sources. That became a commodity item, but what lacked was the ability to move high-definition content at a reasonable cost. ZeeVee sends HD over existing coax networks at a below-$1,000 price range versus what could cost $10,000 in the past. It dovetails nicely with technologies that use existing wiring rather than new wiring.”
