Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Robert Foden of Builders Supply West Coast Ltd has been honoured with an Achievement Award from the Worshipful Company of Builders Merchants.
Foden, a sales co-ordinator in his first job in merchanting, received the Award as the most diligent and industrious user of the BMF Campus online learning area in 2014. Robert not only completed the highest number of courses – 92 during the year – he also obtained the highest average score (89%).
BMF Campus offers around 250 product related courses as well as modules on health and safety and IT.
Foden, who joined Builders Supply West Coast Ltd’s sales office from university, says the online training helped him to build his product knowledge in a relatively short space of time.
Foden said: “Working in the sales office it’s important to understand what people are asking for and how the products are used. When I started here I had very little product knowledge and BMF Campus is a really simple way to build that knowledge.
“If I have five or ten minutes between calls I use the time to do part of a course online. Each course takes between 20 minutes and a couple of hours but you can save your progress so they are easy to do in bite-sized chunks. I’ve done some at home as well. Because they are online you can log onto any computer and carry on where you left off.”
Having worked his way through all the timber and most of the plumbing modules, Foden is aiming to complete every product course on BMF Campus. “I think I am now up to 130 courses,” he said. “I want to be able to answer any customers’ question and this is free education!”
Peter Matthews, Federation Secretary at BMF said: “BMF Campus is a great way for any new starter to develop their product knowledge. Some companies will specify the modules they want all new recruits o take, others will set product targets for sales staff to match specific promotions, whereas a third group will encourage staff to use the site on a self-service basis and discover as much about different product areas as they can. Robert falls into the latter category and is a first rate example of how you can quickly develop a body of knowledge on different building methods and materials.”
