This month marks one year of not seeing our customers in person and, frankly, without that interaction, it’s been miserable. However, we’ve made great use of that time by focusing on XL Academy. First, we’ve been working alongside true industry leaders and subject matter experts to revamp two certification courses for the IICRC. The RFMT (Resilient Floor Maintenance Technician) course updates have been completed for in person training and the CCMT (Commercial Carpet Maintenance Technician) is in the final stage of revisions and the committee hopes to have it completed by late spring or early summer. Once updated, these IICRC certified training courses will be available through XL Academy.
In addition to revising the IICRC courses, we’ve adjusted how we approach off script customer training. The days of “showing up and throwing up” information are gone and we are now enjoying a more modular approach to relaying information. No longer can training and education be an afternoon of “drinking through a firehose” only to realize that 85% of the information presented hasn’t been absorbed. More importantly, we feel everyone in a maintenance company needs on-going floor care training. Each role plays a vital part in the success or failure of the business, and when everyone has an understanding of materials, equipment, procedures, and technology, it makes a world of difference. For technicians, obviously, continuing education is a necessity, but consider training courses and programs for these other positions:
- Sales – training can give salespeople a fresh perspective on their projects by looking at the job from the eyes of the technician doing the work
- Project management/scheduling – training can provide managers and schedulers an understanding of the work that’s to be done along with what’s needed to meet the customer’s criteria
- Operations – training helps ops roles navigate working within the customer’s criteria along with achieving the expectations set by the sales team
We will be updating the XL Academy page in the coming months with new information along with a calendar of upcoming training classes – not just from our instructors, but also from other instructors we are proud to support.
Just like our customers and the industry as a whole, XL Academy is constantly evolving and will continue to help bridge the ever changing demands of the customer with the evolution of new flooring technology.
