Innovative Staff Training Sells the Wool Story at Saks
 

Brussels (26.10.2006)

How terrific would it be to hear sales staff quote facts like ‘Merino Wool is five times finer than human hair’, ‘and ‘Fine and Extra Fine Merino Wool is great for travelling – you can hang your suit up in a bathroom when you’re showering and it will spring back into shape’?
Well, that’s the experience of Store Managers at 54 Saks Fifth Avenue stores all over the US.
The wool industry’s Test Marketing Project (TMP) has been launched by its first project partner, the luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue. And key to the TMP’s rollout is proving to be an innovative training program which educates sales staff in the history, benefits and features of glorious Fine and Extra Fine Merino wool. 
“One of the TMP’s cornerstones has been the creation of computer based training developed especially for use by Saks’ sales associates,” explains Melbourne-based TMP Project Director, Brenda McGahan.
 “Developed by TodayCorp, whose online learning and recruitment clients include McDonald’s, Pfizer and Rebel Sport, the program provides consumer benefits backed by fascinating wool science. TodayCorp used familiar memorisation strategies including stories, mnemonics, repetition and game-playing which, together with strong graphic design and animation, helped drive key Woolmark messages. TodayCorp are also a great success story as Asia Pacific’s largest integrated online learning, recruitment and development company.”
“Our key message has been to show American consumers that today’s Fine and Extra Fine Merino Wool is wool evolved and is different to their old perceptions of wool,” says Ms McGahan. “From consumer research groups we found that the fastest way to overturn old perceptions was to help American women understand that Fine Wool is like Fine wine, and like the finer things in life, it is special and worth paying a premium for.”  
The behind-the-scenes education program at Saks involves a multi-pronged approach – a comprehensive illustrated staff newsletter, in-store staff training, the computer based training package as well as postcards and bookmarks, to get the Extra Fine Merino Wool message into the hands and handbags of staff and customers.
The computer training is a simple to operate program which tells the story of wool. It takes users through a history of the noble fibre (‘the gift of Kings’), explains the pipeline from wool growing stage through to retail conclusion and provides a series of simple to recall acronyms for sales staff to use when talking to customers.
“For example,” says Ms McGahan, “we help teach staff about the consumer benefits of Extra Fine Merino Wool in comparison to other fibres through the word ‘Finest ”. It stands for Fine, Insulator, Natural, Easy Wear, Sensual, and Timeless. And each letter is then explained with a combination of benefits and science to prove the point. It’s simple, easy to remember and it works!”  
The TMP represents a $US 6.6 million collaboration between AWI, IWTO and AWS (The Woolmark Company). All parties have been instrumental in the TMP’s development.
With support from 14 different countries, the project’s aim is to test the degree to which consumer marketing can have a measurably positive impact on wool volumes. The TMP targets the end consumer to create demand for fine and extra fine merino wool apparel by influencing the influencers to ensure fine merino wool apparel products are available for sale and that purchases are stimulated at point of sale. Final results will be available in February 2007.
To see the online staff training package currently being used by Saks sales associates, visit: http://woolmark.todaycorp.com
Please note, the package may be a little slow to operate from the website, but as an intranet tool, it is much quicker.

For further information on the TMP, contact Henrik Kuffner, General Manager of IWTO, at kuffner@iwto.org.