Askona training. Study for your own pleasure

Pavel Grekov
Executive Director
"Ascona" company

Over the past seven years, Askona has accumulated enormous experience in the field of enterprise management and has an impressive collection of successful retail cases in its portfolio. Until recently, our connections, no matter how wide they were, were limited, for the most part, to the furniture community. At the same time, Askona has always had a desire to share knowledge with the outside circle. We want to involve as many entrepreneurs from a variety of industries as possible into our orbit. And, in our opinion, it is best to do this on the basis of the company’s educational center. Over the past two years, we have been actively reforming it and turning it into a kind of club for those who want to develop and grow professionally.

Remotely and continuously

Like any company involved in large wholesale and franchising, Askona pays serious attention to the training system for employees and partners. The training center and electronic portal for coordinating educational services have been operating for quite a long time. At the end of 2015, we decided to expand the powers of the “training” and made this structure more open - this is how the “Corporate Center for Personnel and Business Development” appeared. Inside the company we call it in English - learning center. But on Facebook you can find us as “Askona Training Center”, where you can also get information about upcoming events.

The updated center has been operating for just over a year. The cornerstone of this structure is the electronic educational portal, which all our partners have access to today. Before the official opening of the training center, the portal’s collection of materials was aimed at training line personnel - employees of the stores of our franchisees and wholesale partners. Today, the Askona Training Center is represented by two online directions. The first includes a wide variety of practices and modules for self-study. The second is represented by proprietary courses and webinars taught by Askona trainers. There are real masters among them.

Electronic practical courses and programs are separated by sales channels, as well as by specific tasks and specializations. Ascona's trading partners, Hilding Anders franchisees and wholesale partners have their own websites. Access to the materials is available to all employees of retail companies, who are supervised by the Askona manager, who is responsible for the local training process. He ensures that courses and certifications are carried out according to the standard at least once a quarter, and upon request they can be carried out at least every day.

Basic information is posted in the methodological office. Users are provided with a comprehensive toolkit: training manuals (presentations) on specific products, videos, sales technique scripts for specific products, information letters, declarations of product conformity, certificates, assembly diagrams for retail equipment, a workshop on the basics of effective store management, the latest edition of the law on rights consumer.

The current training program for retail specialists involves three practical stages, at each of which the required number of lessons is determined and criteria for online certification are set. An employee can be examined right in the store. The system itself will give him a final grade, depending on the points scored. The calculation is carried out on a 100-point scale, taking into account the number of completed online webinars. As soon as a specialist passes all the stages (and the training program is designed for 9-12 months), he has the opportunity to participate in personal training from TOP managers of the Askona company. This, I must say, is an excellent motivator. Believe me, the top officials of Askona know how to motivate for success. In April, for example, personal training “Business with meaning”, designed for managers, was conducted by the founder of Askona, Vladimir Sedov. The feedback and reaction from the audience was beyond all expectations.

The work of the portals is absolutely transparent. If an account has not been active for a month, the system blocks it. In order to continue training, the partner needs to recover the password. This algorithm allows us to monitor the demand for educational services and the intensity of the training itself. To my joy, over the past year and a half, the number of restored accounts has decreased to 5 units per month, and Askona now has more than 2,500 partners, and each has from 10 to 100 employees. Plus partner retail networks with a solid staff - at least a thousand people each.

Partners whose managers are registered on the portal can, upon request, carry out scheduled or unscheduled certification of employees. We, in turn, regularly create summary tables of training by region. Dealers thus have information about where their employees are in the ranking in terms of qualifications and knowledge. Let's say, in June of this year, the Ryazan franchise salon Hilding Anders became a leader. And the salon from Michurinsk is in the lead in Askonov’s franchise network.

Our e-academy is working properly, and the distance learning system for line personnel is well developed. But we continue to form a complete base of training courses. At the moment, we want to achieve deeper involvement of business owners themselves in the educational process. An enhanced cyclical program for directors, managers and store owners is currently being developed. At the same time, the possibility of attracting entrepreneurs from related industries to this resource is being considered.

Close contacts outdoors

In addition to online learning, there is another, no less important, area of ​​activity of the teaching center - offline education. Askona trainers regularly visit regional partners to conduct full-scale training of their teams on site, identify areas that require improvement in staff performance, and correct system errors. We have a standard training program that covers all aspects of a retail company’s activities, and there are what are called out of the box programs that a business owner can order from our specialists for his personal needs. The training is prepared on a topic specified by the partner and is conducted at a time convenient for the trainer. By the way, there is a queue for programs from especially talented and efficient corporate trainers - their trainings are ordered almost six months in advance. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that on an individual basis, trainers can advise our partners not only in the mattress area. In most cases, these seminars cover all aspects of the retail business.

As part of the corporate programs of the Askona Training Center, original trainings were conducted by Maxim Batyrev, Igor Mann, Dmitry Norka, Evgeny Zhigiliy, Igor Ryzov. By the end of the year we plan to arrange performances by Radislav Gandapas and Gleb Arkhangelsky.

“Star” trainings imply not only a broader view of business as a professional field of activity. They also form a circle of like-minded people, introduce and unite people who want to communicate in the same language and, possibly, implement joint projects. That is why we are interested in making our events as accessible as possible to all interested entrepreneurs and businessmen.

This year, about two hundred partners and colleagues attended Ascona’s “star” seminars. A lot of interesting things await the training participants ahead. The Askona Training Center maintains contacts with all speakers and business trainers included in the Russian TOP-20. Perhaps over time we will begin to invite foreign consulting stars.

“Ascona,” I want to note, does not earn anything from these events. The ticket price includes the speaker's fee and operating expenses: hall rental, two coffee breaks and lunch. At the same time, the cost of participation turns out to be several times lower than, say, in Moscow or large regional centers.

We conduct all classes and trainings in Dobrograd. A comfortable four-star hotel was put into operation here in June. Today we are ready to work with audiences from 10 to 700 people. If necessary, we can accommodate up to one and a half thousand listeners - Dobrograd venues allow this.

People come to us for knowledge, impressions, emotions. In addition, many are interested in seeing with their own eyes the first private city in Russia, invented by Vladimir Sedov. Now Dobrograd is actively developing new facilities. There are beautiful views, fresh air and an amazing friendly atmosphere. We also feed our guests deliciously - the chef of the best Dobrograd restaurant, “The Stork’s Nest,” creates real gastronomic miracles, so no one has ever left us hungry. Many training participants prefer to stay in Dobrograd for a couple of weekends. And, believe me, there is something to have fun here.

At the end of each event, we collect feedback from listeners and try to make the next program even more interesting and exciting. For those who want to receive information about Ascona's educational events, we invite you to contact us by email. Let me note right away that we do not send spam, only surveys on training topics and announcements of the next meetings.

The Pixel Plus company has created a portal for training and advanced training of personnel for the Askona company, which produces and sells orthopedic mattresses and sleep accessories.
The website implements an employee certification system, a seller rating system, a training schedule, an online communication system and notifications about events and competitions.

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