I've seen Knapheide sales reps come and do a little bit of training in groups and at individual dealerships, but I just found out about their two and a half day full-on sales training school in the last couple of years and I really wanted to be able to see how the world's largest truck body manufacturer does serious training. Finally, I had the chance and have to say that it was impressive and well done, and I'll tell you more about that because I am certainly understating it here.

 

Though I had only just heard about this training recently, I found out that Knapheide has been doing this training four times a year since the mid-1970's! Wow! That is one of the best commitments to training I know of.

 

Arrive the day prior to training beginning because there is a dinner reception that night and the main program begins at 7:00 with breakfast and transportation, then class begins at 8:00am sharp. There is a welcoming introduction and overview for about an hour and then a break.

 

Next, is product group one: Service Body products and their common features. The detail is in the common features and it is very well done. In keeping with encouraging blood flow to the brain and other important parts of the body, there is another break. In fact, there are breaks of one kind or another approximately every hour and presentations are in segments that follow a pattern that makes it easy to go through and effective to learn about. Then more product training, then a visit to the 5th street showroom to see lots of options.

 

Day one and day two is a mix of classroom and offsite training, plant tours, product displays and hands on training. This makes for a very effective mix of training methods that help learn and keep the student's attention and interest.

 

Day three is a half day and is concerned mainly with company services and tools other than products and presentations were made by various department personnel and it was a great mix of personalities and information.

 

Taylor showing the KnapHoist & Subframe Features 

 

Taylor didn't miss a beat no matter what product was in front of him. It is so great to have that kind of experienced person doing the training. He switched gears from flatbeds to landscapers to HD cranes, hoists, crane bodies, pickup shells very nicely. He became the Knapheide authority on product, and he had plenty of backup from the rest of the team at Knapheide.

 

It seemed like at lunch in the lunchroom of the main headquarters, there were so many Knapheide people mingling and talking with us and getting to know us and we, them. It was all so darn strange and yet so wonderful. Frankly, I've never seen anything like it.

 

Dinner was a treat at different places and there were more Knapheide people than students of the class. Everyone that we talked with (even those we secretly talked with. . .) were the absolute epitome of gracious, kind and interested.

 

The highlight of the festivities was dinner at Knap Knapheide's wonderful home. All I can say is that it was spectacular and I didn't expect that kind of hospitality.

 

Nissan Enters North American Commercial Vehicle Market with Innovative Standard and High Roof Vans Designed to "Help Businesses Run Better"

 

The 2011 Nissan NV will be offered in three well-equipped models, the NV1500, NV2500 HD and NV3500 HD. All three models will be available with the Standard Roof, while the High Roof body will be offered in the NV2500 HD and NV3500 HD models only. Additional information regarding standard features, trim levels and optional equipment will be provided later.

The new Nissan NV will be manufactured in Canton, Mississippi and available through a select network of authorized Nissan Commercial Vehicle dealers nationwide. For updates and more information, please go to www.nissancommercialvehicles.com.