The training program started a few years ago while the Nelsons were speaking regularly at the local college, Dakota County Technical. The school suggested that they start an internship program for interior designers who faced middling job prospects after they graduated.
The Nelsons found that their interns had such great design and people skills that they started using them as consultants when selling new projects.
Three-month internships provided the Nelsons with a pretty good idea of how well a new designer could handle the job. When they showed promise, Doug hired them as assistants for another year, giving them time to enhance their skills and to become comfortable with interacting with everyone from the customer to the plumber.
From there, they can go on to commissioned sales positions.
Demand has been very high for their internship program, which has since branched out to the University of Minnesota.
Remodeling is a male-dominated industry, and this is especially true in sales, but the Nelsons have found that they’ve brought more women into sales with this program than men.
In order to streamline the process, Doug is planning to incorporate a profiling test that will help him determine if an applicant would make a good salesperson.
“Designers are creative people who can be extremely organized, deal well with money and all that, but some people just aren’t natural salesmen,” he says.
In order to be good at sales, says Doug, “the designer needs to have a genuine caring for the client. If the client can see this, the sale is made.”
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