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Salt Lake City—As many companies continue to cut back on their offerings and services, flooring software developer QFloors continues to invest in its customers by offering even more personalized training sessions to ensure its retail users are getting the most out of its programs. And members can’t seem to get enough.

 

The most recent example took place last month here when the company hosted 36 members for a Regional Intermediate Training meeting, which covered a litany of topics to help members understand how the QFloors system can help them gain better control of their operations.

Trent Ogden, QFloors’ CFO, said the one-day intermediate classes were created due to a desire by users to want to learn more about the program. “Customers were saying, ‘after we get the basics down, what next?’”

While the company offers focused individual classes on a specific function, feature or screen of QFloors during its multi-day Users Conference, the Intermediate Training sessions go over the whole program from a broad perspective.

And, Ogden explained, “In light of the tough economy we felt these Regional Intermediate Training meetings were the best, most cost-effective way to help our customers, keeping in mind their current budget constraints and concerns over being away from the office.”

Attendee Penny Thompson, Mountain West Interiors, South Jordan, Utah, could not have agreed more. “Time is such a valuable commodity right now, so it’s really nice to learn a lot and focus on getting better with the program but only be away from the store one day.”

Even though the Intermediate Training is designed to go beyond the free Basic Training classes the company holds every month, those in attendance varied from the fairly new to the well experienced user. “I thought it was beneficial for everyone who was there, regardless of their overall level,” Ogden said. “There are enough new or existing features that people hadn’t seen yet, as well as new ways of processing or doing things, that even the most experienced users were able to gain from it.”

For Thompson, who has been using QFloors for 3 years, Ogden’s statement rang true. “I really enjoyed how much I learned; I thought it was really helpful. It’s good to understand the new features and all they do. Plus, I like learning and understanding more about the program.”

First things first

Before getting into the many new features and “cool bells and whistles,” Ogden said the day started out with a review of some of the program’s basic functions “just as a reminder of the things users should be doing already in QFloors for it to be the most beneficial for them and their company.”

He explained why the company stresses the importance of doing these core things (i.e., how to navigate around QFloors, how to find information, the necessary procedures to create meaningful financial statements, etc.) by saying, “In a typical meeting such as this over half the people in the room aren’t using some crucial features QFloors has to offer. They may not be doing some of the basics and getting the resulting benefits. It’s important that these policies and procedures are in place first, and a review of those steps tells them whether they are an efficient QFloors user.”

For example, Ogden said part of the session focused on a project management feature that “a lot of people really need and should be using but often are not.”

Thompson admitted “I haven’t incorporated everything in the program, so it was helpful to be reminded about things you should be doing with the program and make sure you are doing them right.”

Ogden heartily agreed.  “That’s the main purpose of these trainings.”

Some of the other topics covered included discussing accounting reports, how to access those figures critical for getting meaningful financial data, and why financial statements give valuable info about your business and what you need to change.

“We went over the most important reports that QFloors offers,” Ogden noted, “such as running monthly profit/loss statements, balance sheets, tracking trends analysis from month-to-month or year-to-year comparisons so that you can see how your business is changing (for example, were those changes planned or are they just happening, or did you change personnel or procedure to impact expenses or costs).”

Hidden gems

One of the more exciting parts of the day was when QFloors opened the program’s “vault” to reveal valuable nuggets of information—fast cuts, ways the system can offer additional data or additional ways of seeing things—that most users do not know about.

“We went over hidden features that are not glaringly obvious on the screen,” Ogden said. “For example, double clicking here does ‘X’; a right mouse click here does ‘Y’; holding down the shift key and clicking here allows you to ‘Z.’ The kind of ‘did you know’ features that help users get the most out of their QFloors system.  Mixed in there we also talked about all of the new QTools programs, how they work and what things you can do with them.”

Thompson said there is one other hidden gem that comes from these Regional Intermediate Training meetings: the ability to network with other QFloors users. “I find I learn a lot from other people’s comments. It’s nice to hear how they are utilizing things.”

Ogden said with the economy still fighting to get out of recession, QFloors will continue to invest in new and updated products and tools designed specifically for the flooring industry, and in different types of educational training sessions for its customers. “Even in this bad economy we’re still moving forward. By making our customers more proficient with our programs, they can add to the bottom line without any additional business because they will be running a more efficient operation.  So less money is going out the door unnoticed.”