Case Study

Revamping Employee and Sales Training in Light of COVID

The onslaught of COVID in early 2020 had every business scrambling to figure out how to continue providing services under ever-evolving restrictions. Ameristar’s training program is one example.

Rachel Newton, corporate trainer with Ameristar, says they had to figure out a way to provide training remotely and it was a massive undertaking. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ameristar is the world’s largest manufacturer of ornamental fence and gates. Providing training in person was done by flying customers to the facility in Tulsa, teaching them about the products, taking a plant tour which is over a million square feet, bringing in lunch, having dinner with the sales team, and driving everyone around in a 15-passenger van. All of this would need to be revamped in light of COVID.

“We taught around 10 classes a year with 15 – 25 customers per class. It was great! I absolutely loved it,” Newton says. “In 2020, I attended FenceTech in Utah and had the best time. I remember the last day of the show, COVID was starting to get real.”

The Information Technology department of Ameristar got everyone set up with everything needed to work from home. “This was over 100 people within a week or two, it was impressive!” says Newton. “With everyone working from home, we saw this as a great opportunity to offer refresher classes to our sales team. We went over products and different fence systems. We decided to offer classes for our customers, too.”

Transforming current, in-person trainings to Zoom-friendly engaging presentations was a huge undertaking. “We had to change the way we taught,” Newton explains. “The room full of eager faces, laughing at jokes, and engaging in conversation was just a memory. With participants on the other side of the screen quietly following along, we had to draw on the excitement and engaging energy from within. After a season of trial and error, we found our flow and learned new ways to keep the audience engaged.”

After months of quarantine, staff began to return to the office. Newton, along with Chris Rice also a corporate trainer, continued the Virtual Training Classes for customers and the Ameristar sales team, including all of the Sales and Service Center Branch Managers. Today, we continue to expand, develop and update the virtual trainings, making sure we provide the most accurate and essential information to maximize the education and engagement of our internal and external customers.

“One of the benefits of the Virtual Product Training classes is we are able to reach a much broader audience; not limiting participation to only those who can fly into Tulsa for a day and a half,” Newton says. “We have even had contractors log into training classes from their phones while sitting in their truck at a jobsite. Hundreds of customers across the US and Canada have attended our nine virtual product training session, and we continue to assess our current curriculum, adding sessions as needed.” The classes are 60 – 90 minutes long, highlighting a different product line each week. After each class, customers take a short test and a survey. Ameristar then sends out certificates of completion and Ameristar memorabilia for those who complete the tests. If customers are a member of the American Fence Association and need credit hours, the classes go toward their accreditation. “One of our favorite parts of in-person sales training was the plant tour. With COVID, we weren’t able to continue those, so we sought ways to stay connected to our customers and employees,” Newton says. “We started making fun content for our social media channels, filming behind the scenes videos, product overviews, standard operating processes, highlighting departments within the organization, as well as special announcements.”

“Our virtual trainings have been a huge success, and the last few years have taught us the benefits, fun and excitement that can come from embracing change,” she says. “These trainings could not have been a success without our incredible sales team, IT, marketing and of course, our customers! We hope to get back to in-person training soon, however, we also believe the virtual world of training and on-boarding is here to stay. As we continue to sharpen ourselves and our class offerings, we look forward to what the future throws at us next!”