PPG's MVP Business Solutions group introduced a dynamic training course to assist collision centers in maximizing sales opportunities in today's business climate. Entitled "MVP Accelerated Sales and Marketing Systems," the two-day workshop covers a wide range of topics in four primary market segments: the consumer, insurance DRP, insurance agent, and non-traditional media.

"Given this highly-competitive environment, today's collision center can no longer totally depend on traditional ways of reaching and selling to their customer base," said Norm Angrove, senior manager of value programs for PPG. "The objective of this course is to provide attendees with a hands-on look at innovative, results-driven strategies and tools for modernizing their marketing and sales efforts."

Beginning with an overview of industry trends, the workshop provides real-world instruction for developing an effective marketing and sales plan using new tools and methodology. Another training component provides insight into today's multi-generations and how their unique preferences must guide the collision shop’s marketing approach. Attendees also are schooled on how to compose a concise, carefully-planned positioning statement of the business, and the ins and outs of leveraging customer testimonials to market the business.

"In this 'brave new world' of communications, this workshop devotes considerable attention to social media, such as Blogger, Facebook, Yelp and other social media opportunities," said Angrove. "The aim is to give shops new skills and methods for influencing prospects and driving traffic to their door utilizing these new communication tools."

The MVP marketing course was extensively tested and refined by MVP experts before being incorporated into the Business Development training series. According to PPG, response to a pilot seminar was overwhelmingly positive.

"We have been propelled as a team to the next level of marketing," said David Mulder, president of Collision Centers of America, and one of the pilot course participants. "The content of the seminar was delivered in a very digestible way with a challenge to use all our employees as marketers and penetrating the markets in our communities with the expanded knowledge."

The workshop is available to PPG collision center customers in a two-day course or a one-day condensed format that allows participants to customize the course and select the topics most important to them.

As one of 15 courses in the MVP Business Development Series, Accelerated Sales and Marketing Systems is the first of three new courses to be introduced this year by PPG. The other two classes are "Evolution of Selling" which will provide a practical, professional consultative selling process, and "Fundamentals of Estimating," which will cover contemporary estimating trends, techniques and practices for entry-level estimators.

For more information about PPG MVP Business Solutions, contact your PPG territory manager, email MVPmailbox@ppg.com or visit www.ppgmvp.com.