The Inside VuE |
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November 2006/ Volume 1 |
CEO of Vuepoint shares what it means to be a brand ambassador on internet radio show ‘sales talk with russ lombardo’ |
Host Russ Lombardo |
Long Island, New York- It doesn’t matter how great a product may be, in today’s world of ubiquitous information it is essential to differentiate your product and brand from the product and brand of the competition, and to relate that knowledge to your particular customer. This very important sales concept, based on ‘Transforming Sales Reps into Brand Ambassadors,’ a whitepaper from Vuepoint’s CEO Ara Ohanian, was the subject of Voice America Business’ internet radio show ‘Sales Talk with Russ Lombardo’ on Monday October 30th, 2006 at 4:00 pm EST |
“Sales Talk with Russ Lombardo” is an excellent resource for sales professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs. With over 6,500 listeners per month, Lombardo uses the hour as a platform for discussion between business professionals in hopes of inspiring new ideas, sharing advice and benchmarking against other industry leaders. Lombardo, renowned Sales and Customer Relationship Management consultant and author, invited Ohanian to introduce to his audience the concept of being a Brand Ambassador rather than simply a Salesperson. When asked what a Brand Ambassador is, Ohanian explained that a Brand Ambassador effectively promotes a product through truly understanding the brand and what it means to both the organization and the customer, and interpreting these concepts into useful information that the individual consumer can use. “Think of it as a salesperson playing checkers, and a Brand Ambassador playing chess,” he further explained. Surprisingly, this concept is lost to many brands and there is a great disconnect between the Senior Level Executive’s ideas of what their particular brand means, and the salesperson’s idea of what the brand represents. Ohanian calls this disconnect ‘selling in the 21st century with 20th century methods.’ In the 20th century, products were sold based on feature and function. The conversation between sales and the customer was very tactical and focused on the benefits of the product. “Interestingly enough, companies have not done very much to change the way that they are selling,” Ohanian explained. In his experience, too often Training and Human Resource functions are something distant from Sales and Marketing. When Sales and Marketing are actively involved in the transfer of knowledge, then you will get the desired impact in Sales. Ohanian said that some organizations are satisfied with steady sales that result from old training and selling methods. “They say if it is not broke, don’t fix it. But we live in an age where we can’t wait until it’s broken!” For more information on Brand Ambassadors, read Ara Ohanian’s whitepaper “Transforming Sales Reps into Brand Ambassadors,” at www.vuepoint.com. If you are interested in Russ Lombardo’s radio program “Sales Talk with Russ Lombardo”, visit Voice America Business’s Radio website at www.modavox.com/VoiceAmericaBusiness.
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John crane chooses vls as their global elearning solution Brussels, Belgium October 2006- John Crane - the recognized world-leader in the design, development and manufacture of engineered sealing solutions - has chosen the Vuepoint Learning System (VLS) as the e-learning platform to train its employees throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Vuepoint, which is centrally located in New York with offices in Los Angeles, Brussels and Dubai, projects that they will implement and deploy the VLS solution for John Crane by March 2007. John Crane is a leading supplier of mechanical sealing solutions and associated products to many global industries including oil, gas, pharmaceutical, chemical and food and beverage. The company sought an e-learning system that would provide a consistent level of training to its employees, one that would help the company increase its reach all over the world, and that would help it save on training costs. Vuepoint offers a user-friendly e-learning platform with a comprehensive Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Content Management System (LCMS)with a strong presence in Europe, a product with multilingual capabilities and nearly 10 years of experience in European implementations, Vuepoint and VLS were a clear solution for John Crane’s globalization needs. After an extensive search, John Crane chose the VLS e-learning system because it met all of its requirements for an online training program and for several additional reasons which the company listed:
Michael Hall, Technical and Marketing Director of John Crane, is enthusiastic about the launch of Vuepoint Learning System within his company which will train about 3000 sales personnel, engineers and operators. “I believe that this is a first step for us on a long road to developing a learning culture within the business that will underpin our future growth plans,” he said. John Crane hopes to use VLS in support of product launches and to promote its LIFE philosophy company-wide. LIFE, an acronym for ‘Little Improvements for Everybody’ is a process for continuous improvement, based on Lean Thinking beliefs, that focuses on reducing waste to improve efficiencies. Ara Ohanian, President and CEO of Vuepoint, is looking forward to working with John Crane towards the company’s goals and beyond. “This solution will empower John Crane to transform critical intellectual property into interactive learning on the job. The ability to rapidly capture, transfer and measure knowledge-impact on business will empower knowledge workers to deliver business and growth objectives. Embedding state-of-the-art knowledge transfer technologies into core business processes is a testament to John Crane’s forward thinking and leadership of its industry.” Several case studies conducted by clients of Vuepoint have found tremendous benefits from using the VLS e-learning system. Companies have individually saved millions of dollars on employee training costs, training delivery time has been reduced from months.to several weeks, and corporations have experienced improved knowledge retention rates. One company found their employee’s knowledge retention level to be 85-90% after using the Vuepoint Learning System. Only months after John Crane’s decision to partner with Vuepoint, employees will be using the new web based learning due to Vuepoint’s very thorough and methodic yet rapid implementation of their platform.
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November Virtual Forum- Benchmarking with Chuck O’Keefe
Mr. O’Keefe, Director of Performance Learning Services for NACCO Materials Handling Group Inc., shared his wisdom on Thursday November 2nd, 2006 with representatives from Black & Decker, GE Energy, The Hartford Insurance, Mercury Insurance, Midwest Energy, Toyota, WE Energies and others. Before beginning his presentation, a survey revealed that only 28% of attendees had ever conducted their own Benchmarking project. O’Keefe explained that Benchmarking is a great way to see where your company stands versus its competition, or to evaluate internally by looking at past performance versus present performance. O’Keefe offered a great deal of insight, some of his suggestions for Benchmarking included: when choosing an organization to Benchmark with, both parties should sign a clear contract. He recommended that both organizations define their Benchmarking goals before starting so that they can use the designated time efficiently. He also warned against pitfalls like misaligning yourself with the wrong company or trying to change too much in your own organization. Mr. O’Keefe pointed out that Vuepoint’s Virtual Forum was a unique opportunity to share knowledge and best practices. At the end of his presentation, Mr. O’Keefe asked attendees if they would like to join a small team and explore the idea of creating a benchmarking forum focused on Corporate Learning. If you were unable to attend the November Virtual Forum and would like to view a recording of Chuck O’Keefe’s presentation, you can visit http://clientforum.vuepoint.com/. You can also express your interest in joining a Benchmarking discussion group by emailing clientforum@vuepoint.com, or by calling Vuepoint’s New York office and speaking with Mary Grace Sauve. Our Virtual Forum is held the first Thursday of every month. If you are interested in presenting at one of our Virtual Forums, please call our Vuepoint Offices at 1-888-883-7646 and speak with Mary Grace Sauve. You can also contact Mary Grace via email at msauve@vuepoint.com __________________________________________________________________________________
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Lean Thinking: what does it mean to be lean?
Lean Thinking, a customer centric business principle based on the concept that ‘Less is More’, is a core value at Vuepoint Corporation. Vuepoint adopted Lean Thinking in 2003 and immediately saw results from implementing the philosophy. “I am amazed how fast Lean Thinking is spreading through Vuepoint. In the first month we had seven projects underway. It’s the best thing that has happened to Vuepoint and we ALL firmly believe that Lean Thinking is going to give us a competitive edge beyond anything else.” Constantin Ohanian, Chairman of Vuepoint, said soon after Vuepoint employed Lean Thinking. Lean Thinking is a way of life that originated with Toyota and has since spread to other industries. The focus for Lean companies is to become truly customer centered, to streamline processes in order to add more value and eliminate wasted, and to strive for continuous improvement and innovation in all that they do.
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One of the main pillars of belief in the Lean Thinking philosophy is that when waste is eliminated in the work place, the result is a more useful product and meaningful experience for your customer. Waste can come in the form of extraneous procedures, complex rule systems, or miscommunication within a company. In short, waste is anything that ‘adds cost or time without adding value’. Each month, we will include in this section advice on how you can make your company Lean. We will provide tips and tools that you can use everyday in your work environment, principles on which the philosophy is built, and examples of how Lean Thinking has helped businesses. We hope that Lean Thinking can positively affect your work environment the way that it has positively affected Vuepoint! VLS TIP OF THE MONTH
Vuepoint Corporation Contact Information Four Expressway Plaza, Suite 200 |
