What you might call a variation on the old sales axiom "Always be closing," can be found at the E.S. Dygert Co. in Edina, Minn.: "Always be training."

Founded 46 years ago, Dygert is a specialty distributor of seals and packings, says president Larry Goode. The company sells primarily to OEMs who make equipment ranging from hydraulic cylinders to chemical process pumps.

From the outside looking in, some might think of "seals" or "packings" as a commodity product. That's true to an extent, but much of the equipment on which these seals will be found is hardly doing ho-hum work. In fact, from Dygert's perspective, it requires a far more sophisticated approach than a "mere" seal for your neighbor's garden hose.

"We have to have a really good idea of what we're dealing with, if we're going to sell product for 5,000 psi systems, which could kill a person if it doesn't function correctly," says Goode.

As a result, the training that Dygert employees receive, especially inside salespeople, is vital and never-ending, as technical advances and new equipment development make it seem as if there's always a new tool or part that requires additional education.

As Goode puts it, "Nobody is 'trained.' That's a finite comment, and I think it's always going to be that somebody is a work in process. And as customers ask for new applications and vendors come up with new products, we start all over again—with what we thought we knew pretty well yesterday, we are back at ground zero tomorrow."

Many of Dygert's manufacturers help provide some of the needed training so, as Goode says, "our training expense is not always that high."

Among the manufacturers that have provided training help to E.S. Dygert is Macrotech Polyseal of Salt Lake City. Tom Duke is the vice president of marketing and engineering for the sealing products manufacturer.

"We go out there and do training sessions," Duke says. "We'll talk about the product technology in general, in a non-commercial way, and then make sure we introduce our newer product. I've done that for them several times. And then we'll do schools out here [Salt Lake] once a year, and they've always sent a few people out."

Lee Chaplin is an engineer plastics product manager with Macrotech Polyseal. He and Duke will also take their training expertise out on the road and bring it to Dygert customers.

"I'll work hand in hand with them and their customers—either over the phone or I'll head out there [to Minnesota] four times a year or more and go out and make calls with their key accounts. It's one thing to sit in a classroom going over things, and another to be in front of customers, talking about their problems and how we can help solve them. When you're eyeball to eyeball with the end user, you see an obvious problem and can solve it. A lot is learned in the field like that."

Dygert is registered with the International Standards Organization, Goode says, which "reinforces our training. Along with the procedures we have, that helps us to formalize what we do and to focus on consistency. It underscores that what we're doing is effective in terms of our procedures and training."

ISO is a business management system that, among other features, requires outside auditors to come in and look at a company's system in various areas of operations. ISO certified companies are expected to meet certain standards in various areas, such as process controls on order fulfillment and purchasing, among others.

Michelle Ideker is an accounting and warehouse manager at Dygert. From the warehouse perspective, she says that "for the new employees, specifically, there are many facets of the warehouse to learn before they 'graduate.' We have some documented procedures, such as how to verify that the correct parts are coming in, among many others. They're then tested on the work instructions and procedures, and they must pass or be retrained."

Goode estimates that Dygert has more than 8,000 active part numbers in its computer system and another 5,000 active numbers on its shelves.

Those part numbers tend to be vendors' part numbers, as well, and thus can vary in format across the board, Goode explains. So they provide a technology complement to the on-going training regimen.

"A single digit off can have drastic consequences," he says. "If you're picking 20 to 30 parts and getting a little bleary eyed, the opportunity for error is pretty significant. So we've invested a lot in bar coding technology to eliminate those errors."

The training is also reflective, in part, of Dygert's commitment to increasing its value-added services—crucial to virtually all levels of distribution these days. Among the value adds that Dygert customers can take advantage of is a series of training seminars in addition to the ones performed with manufacturers like Macrotech Polyseal. Dygert's Web site also features a FAQ section that posts answers to problems submitted by customers.

Liz Underwood is the customer service manager at Dygert. Along with the company emphasis on training, she adds that the actual hiring process can be where developing good Dygert employees actually begins—a sort of pre-season training.

"Our main criteria is to make sure the person is a good fit personality-wise," she explains. "That's the biggest thing I am concerned about when talking with people, because our business is fairly unique. You won't find a lot of people off the street with skills particular to a distributor."

She estimates that it may take about a year for a new hire to pay off, adding that "we throw them right in helping customers, but we'll be there in the background, watching and helping them. Learning software is the easier part, in-putting orders and all that. But learning the product is the difficult part."

Dygert will often promote people from shipping and the warehouse, Underwood says, pointing out that "half of my department came up from the warehouse."

If a newly hired inside salesperson will be a good fit is something that Goode admits he won't fully know until well after the hiring date. Some things can't be displayed in the interviewing process.

"How you take care of a customer verbally, how you empathize with the customer," he says, citing examples. "But if a customer-nurturing gene isn't present to begin with—I don't know if you can train that. Having that nurturing, caring 'I'll go find out for you' attitude is something you can't train. It has to be in the person already."

If that "I'll go find out for you" gene isn't immediately obvious in a new hire, Underwood, among others, will help to bring it out into the open.

"I try as much as I can to know what projects are in the works or what problems are pending a resolution," she explains. "So, maybe the next day I'll ask 'Have you called that customer back yet?' And they might tell me they haven't heard back from the factory yet. But that's no answer. You have to call that factory again and get that answer. It's never a good excuse to say you're waiting on someone else's answer. I hate that more than anything! So we try to be as proactive as we can."

When an inside sales hire is developed and proven, Dygert makes every effort to retain the employee.

"Our retainment expense is sometimes high, in terms of compensation and benefits," Goode says uncomplainingly. "But our return on that investment is significant," he says, proudly pointing to the veterans who have been with him and Dygert for many years. Five of the employees, in particular, have more than 80 years of combined experience. The company has 25 employees in all.

"We are a very unique company in regard to the employees," Ideker adds. "Our employees take complete ownership of their work and responsibilities as well as personal pride in their accomplishments…. I think all of this plays a significant role in Dygert's employee retention…."

Underwood is confident that job and work enthusiasm inspires employees to stay longer than in other places. That, in turn, makes her life easier.

"To me, there is no substitute for experience. Once we get them where they need to be, I don't want to start over from scratch," she says. "This knowledge is so cumulative. It just gets better the longer somebody's here."

Evidently, manufacturers such as Macrotech Polyseal tend to want to stay with Dygert as well.

"We really have a good relationship with them, one of the best we have with any of our distributors," Duke says. "They are the best in service to their customers, and we all benefit from that. They do a great job."

Larry Goode, president of E.S. Dygert, emphasizes training, and then retaining, talented employees.