Our Key Factors are your Key Factors









Sixty-six pages







Just knowing isn’t enough

At Franklin Electric, several of us are currently on the receiving end of some continuing education of our own. Part of the curriculum involves some basic statistics and understanding concepts such as normal distribution and standard deviation. However, a good number of people in the class have already had statistics somewhere along the way and seen most of it before. Our instructor, who does this for a living, readily acknowledged this, but went on to say: “I would suggest that knowing something is nowhere near the same as being able to communicate something. Here’s your benchmark: at the end of these sessions, can you explain statistic concepts to someone in the 11th grade with a Nintendo in their hand in 30 seconds?”

Not a bad goal for all of us. Water systems can be every bit as intimidating as basic statistics. As water systems  professionals, we understand concepts like total dynamic head, friction loss, variable-speed, and cone of depression, just to name a few. But, can we communicate them to a home or business owner using the benchmark above? In many cases, the homeowner just wants to get back in water and you don’t get the chance to explain what’s going on. But, given the opportunity, it’s critical that we communicate how their water system works using language the end-user understands and can relate to. The better you can do that, the better it will be for you and our entire industry.

Training without asking for your credit card

I was recently perusing the website of a company that competes with us on certain products. I was especially interested in what this company had to offer in terms of product training classes. It turns out that they have an extensive list of training options, and it’s all laid out nicely in terms of class content, directions to their training location, and class dates. But what really caught my eye was the “TUITION” section. A half-day class at their facility is $150 per participant and it goes up from there for longer classes. To make it “convenient”, there’s a form on the website for you to provide your credit card information. That doesn’t include lodging or transportation; you’re on your own there, although they do offer a list of nearby hotels and rental car companies that serve their airport. The above is for training at their facility. If you need someone to come provide product training in the field, that fee schedule starts at $3000 for 1 day.

I don’t get it … If I’m a distributor or a contractor or an installer, and you want me to buy and install and recommend your products, training and support should be part of the package. Don’t ask me to hand you my credit card to go learn about your products. Continue reading