NEMRA Helps Reps Train for the Future

Earlier this year NEMRA launched its Rep of the Future report which highlighted industry changes that are / expected to occur over the next five years and the traits that reps will need going forward. And recent conversations with reps and manufacturers validated that these traits are even more important and COVID (and if you haven’t seen the report, click here to request a copy from NEMRA. It should be required reading for every rep and manufacturer.)

A few of the traits reference the need for training to help rep personnel excel in supporting their agency, manufacturers, distributors, and customers.

NEMRA launches NEMRA University

NEMRA University today contains over 800 online training programs spanning the gamut of training resources that independent sales agencies need.

According to an email from Jim Johnson to members and manufacturers:

Dear Valued Members,

A significant ask of our members was to bring product training and skill-based training content, together, and make it affordable.  Understanding this, we set out to build a platform that would not only provide our members with convenient access to valuable and free education but allow our manufacturer members and industry partners to collaboratively share their content over as well.  That’s why we are excited to announce our NEW Professional Development eLearning platform:  NEMRA University.

NEMRA University is designed to provide continuous learning initiatives that will not only improve the collaboration between manufacturers and representatives but will develop a deeper understanding of how to more effectively work together to support the needs of the channel and the contractor.

With over 600 courses presently loaded, we will continue to build-out the most comprehensive eLearning training platform to network and strengthen relations between our members and the community we serve. The content will only get deeper, broader and will bring a holistic understanding of our industry together, making NEMRA University an intuitive, powerful, convenient and affordable place to learn.

The redesigned user interface provides easier navigation, so you can jump right in and start training quickly and easily. When selecting a training category, you will be able to fine-tune your search using filters to find newly-added content, free or paid content, or even search by a specific manufacturer.

Once you enroll in a specific course, it will be placed into your ‘Enrolled Courses’ so you can keep track of and complete your courses at your own pace.

For Manufacturers who are sharing their content, access can easily and actively be updated as relationships change, and you will be able to pull reporting on those reps to see who is using and completing your content.

Let’s Get Started

As a NEMRA member you have two ways of registering:

1. You can navigate to the provided link NEMRA University and have your users individually sign up by visiting clicking the button below and following the instructions within NEMRA University.
2. If you would like to bulk upload your users into NEMRA University and have email invites sent directly to your team, please reach out to stodd@nemra.org.

Once Sue has all the information, we will be able to register them all. Upon being registered, they will each receive an access link to complete the registration to begin accessing the content.

Available topics, and the number of courses

Communication – 97 Courses Available

• Business Writing
• Communication
• Digital Marketing
• Negotiation
• Social Media

Compliance – 60 Courses Available

• COVID-19 Response
• Cyber Security
• Ethics
• Human Resources

Effective Leadership & Management – 250 Courses Available

• Leadership
• Management
• Personal Effectiveness
• Relationship Building
• Succession Planning

Finances – 60 Courses Available

• Budget & Accounting
• Cash, Income and Expenditures
• Finance

High Performance Sales & Sales Management – 109 Courses Available

• Customer Service
• High Performance Sales Management
• Negotiation
• Selling

Microsoft and Google Docs – 43 Courses Available

• Google Suite
• Microsoft Office
• Presentations

Electrical Industry Education – 80 Courses Available

• Electrical Safety
• Electrical Standards

Remote Working – 38 Courses Available

• Remote Working
• Virtual Meetings

Plus, essential work skills such as Microsoft, customer service and communication.

And, here’s the kicker, to date over 25 manufacturers have uploaded their online courses into the platform. The platform will also include content from NECA, IEC and IMARK Group.

Further, because the platform is powered by Blue Volt, manufacturers that are already providing product content to IMARK and AD can also request this content, as long as it is not “group branded” to be placed into NEMRA University for no additional fee from Blue Volt.

As manufacturers add content it is not a stretch to think that there will be over 1000 courses on the site very quickly … with updates regularly.

Surprisingly, this is very affordable … only $100 a year (or $8.50 / month … about 2 Starbucks / month!)

Agencies should have subscriptions for key staff given that NEMRA University will become a “go to” portal for product and skills training but, at the worst case, every agency should have at least one subscription.

This is one of NEMRA’s first initiatives in developing tools to support the Rep of the Future initiative and to ensure that agencies continue to be the sales model of choice for manufacturers. It’s also designed to be cost-effective for manufacturers and agencies making it a win-win for all.

Only $100 a year to invest in yourself?! To invest in your people. To invest in your future.

To learn more contact Sue Todd or Jim Johnson at NEMRA or visit NEMRA University.