NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release          For More Information Contact:

Feb. 13, 2019                                        Brent Hoskins

          Executive Director

Business Technology Association

          (816) 303-4040

 BTA Service Success Training Begins April 2

BTA’s online offering focuses on the fundamentals of service
supervision & management

Kansas City, MO — On April 2, the Business Technology Association (BTA) will present its newest online educational offering, BTA Service Success Training. It is the first training program for supervisors and managers that addresses the fundamentals of supervision and management. The online format, with live lecture and discussion, will allow your supervisors and managers to continue working in their jobs while learning at the same time.

Taught by veteran service manager Ken Edmonds, this training program approaches the art and science of dealer service management at a near-college level. There will be assigned reading and collaborative projects for students to develop the skills they are learning. Since the program is conducted online, students can begin to apply the things they learn immediately.

This program runs for 15 weeks, meeting twice a week. Each session will be between one and one-and-a-half hours, depending on the subject and level of participant discussion. Sessions are recorded so students who miss a session can watch the video and not miss the instruction. There will be graded quizzes and a final test. Edmonds will provide the results to participating dealerships for future reference.

Supervisors and managers who take this course will have a better understanding of the service departments and the actions they can take to increase productivity and profitability while boosting their teams’ morale and competence.

The program covers the following areas:

• Introduction to Supervision and Management
• Leading and Improving the Team
• Working with Other Departments
• Service Department Costs
• Identifying Areas for Improvement
• Time Management
• Dealing with Customers
• Understanding and Using Service Metrics
• Service Role in the Dealership

This course is the prerequisite for the BTA Advanced Service Management training program, which will be available later this year.

For nearly 16 years, Edmonds served at Sharp Electronics Corp. and then at Konica Minolta Business Solutions as a problem solver for both technical and service management issues. In early 2018, he retired from Konica Minolta as a district service manager. Before that, Edmonds had an extensive background in the imaging business, having owned a successful dealership and serving as a service manager for multiple dealerships. In total, he has more than 40 years of experience in the technical and computer fields. Edmonds is currently consulting with dealers on strategies to improve profitability. He also writes for ENX Magazine, Office Technology magazine and blogs for the Imaging Channel. He also publishes a blog for his own website, kedmonds.biz.

Feedback from course attendees has been positive:

• “I found the BTA Service Success Training class to be quite helpful. It provided me a specific definition of the service manager’s role, as that was not provided when I accepted this position. It has helped me think like a service manager, grow in leading the service team, interface with clients and other departments, and emphasize the growth of my team. I believe this class can help both new service managers and those with years of experience, and it is worth far more than the cost of tuition.” — Jim Grose, Terrell's Office Solutions, Bozeman, Montana
• “I want to say that I found the training to be a valuable tool in the formation of my mission as a manager. It was also informative to hear about the shared challenges between fellow managers in a platform away from the corporate hierarchy. It was also meaningful to me to recognize situations that had been discussed in class and how they played out in the daily operation of my responsibilities.” — Charles Ombima, Marco, Detroit, Michigan

BTA member tuition for BTA Service Success Training is $995. A second attendee from the same dealership is $895, and third or additional attendees are $795 each. BTA members may apply their $150 educational discount received with their membership toward this workshop (discounts do not apply for additional attendee registrations). Non-member tuition is $1,425 and includes a one-year BTA dealer membership.

For more information or to register, visit www.bta.org/SST or call (800) 843-5059.

Founded in 1926, the Business Technology Association serves office technology dealerships, resellers, manufacturers, distributors and service companies. Its core members — office technology dealerships — consult, sell and service hardware, software and supplies with the goal of helping businesses maximize their investment in devices and technology. Through the association's various educational programs, information, research, legal services, publications and guidance, BTA member dealerships are positioned to be the premier source of the office technology used by businesses throughout the United States every day. For more information on BTA, visit its Web site at www.bta.org.