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Technology and product development are progressing at a rapid pace, impacting and changing the way you run your business on a regular basis. With this in mind, Ella Cooper, Technical Manager at Sentinel, explains why ongoing training is important and how it can benefit you, your employees and your business.
Companies are always trying to improve their products, with research and development playing a key role in the plumbing industry, so attending one-off training isn’t sufficient anymore. These developments, although seemingly small, can result in changes to the application of product, so by attending ongoing training - whether it’s water treatment or boiler installation - you’re keeping ahead of these changes, ensuring your customers get the best work, every time. We would recommend attending an on-site training session that also provides the opportunity to constantly update your product knowledge via an online portal.
The plumbing industry has very strict legislation, and for good reason. When working with gas, one wrong move could have disastrous consequences. No matter how qualified and experienced you are, accessing ongoing training will allow you to keep abreast of any changes to legislation, keeping your customers, and your business, safe and compliant.
There’s no shame in admitting you need to improve or increase your knowledge in certain areas of your job. There is training available that will help you do this. By expanding your skill set, you will be able to up-sell to your customers, offer an improved service and increase your profitability.
If you aren’t overly knowledgeable in certain areas of your job, you can guarantee one of your competitors will be. Use training to make sure you are constantly improving and advancing in order to stay ahead of your competition and remain a major player within the marketplace.
Ongoing training, particularly sessions with other installers, allows you to share and receive advice and guidance - and this doesn’t just have to be about the product or service you’re learning about! Whether it’s the best way to avoid traffic on the M6 or letting other installers know about an offer on at your local merchant, ongoing on-site training with your peers allows you to pick up information that might make your job a little easier.
If you’re a sole trader, being a plumbing and heating installer can sometimes get lonely. Attending training allows you to mix and socialise with other like-minded installers and inject some more fun into your day. Got a group of installers that you chat with every day on Twitter but have never met in real life? Why not arrange a group training session and all attend at once? Installer2018 only occurs once a year, so training is a great way to increase those reunions!
At Sentinel, as manufacturers of water treatment products and services that provide the best lifetime protection for heating and hot water systems, we provide a range of training for installers and for plumbing and heating students. Training sessions are available at the Sentinel Welcome Centre, based at Sentinel HQ in Warrington. Or, if the journey is too far, and in order to make training more accessible, we have also partnered up with Worcester Bosch to deliver training across three other centres across the UK.
To supplement this, we also offer free online training. This training is accessible to anyone who is interested in learning more about the industry, and it allows you to keep up to speed with product and application training from the comfort of your own home.
To find out more about the training we offer, and any upcoming dates available, visit: www.sentinelprotects.com/uk/training
