The Mobalpa Training Centre will be turning 30 on 9 November. The anniversary is an opportunity to look back on its impressive journey thus far, and to reflect on how essential training is to developing the Mobalpa network and ensuring that stores succeed.

Today, the Mobalpa Training Centre trains 600 trainees a year, giving them the specialist professional skills they need to navigate this complex and diverse industry, and handling recruitment for the French-speaking network.

Training: A genuine pathway to boosting sales

Access to training designed by the brand and tailored to fit the everyday experiences of sales staff is essential to developing the Mobalpa network. This ensures franchisees can recruit entry-level employees with peace of mind, safe in the knowledge that all recruits have received tailored training in line with their new roles, and that they have all the skills needed to support a store’s sales performance. Training also brings experienced employees’ skills up to date, helping them expand and hone their knowledge through targeted themed sessions. The Mobalpa Training Centre offers training modules for all store teams, suitable for everyone from commercial designers to directors!

The Mobalpa Training Centre: A dedicated team and a modern, effective platform

Based in France at the brand’s head office in the heart of the Alps, the Mobalpa Training Centre is contemporary and equipped with all the facilities needed to provide trainees with total comfort and cutting-edge expertise. According to Recruitment and Training Director Laure Bayet, “…the centre boasts four training rooms and 30 computers just for us, and we’re lucky enough to have a 3,000 m² showroom on the first floor, which means we’re able to actually display our products. Our team includes five full-time members of staff and a panel of external trainers selected for their expertise. Our trainees are given access to exceptional facilities that support tangible learning for life.”

The training programmes are a combination of virtual learning, in-store training and training at the Mobalpa Centre. Trainees start by laying the groundwork via e-learning exercises (between one and 18 days of virtual training, depending on their level), before spending five to 30 days undertaking on-site training at Mobalpa’s French premises. This on-site training alternates with hands-on in-store sessions. By the end of the training period, beginner and seasoned trainees alike will have acquired a range of skills that allow them to carry out their duties completely independently and with perfect knowledge of Mobalpa’s methods and products.

Results that speak for themselves and incredible satisfaction rates

The Mobalpa Training Centre’s success shines through in the feedback provided by the trainees themselves. “Almost 98.5% of new commercial designers say they were satisfied with the training they received. We’re very proud of their results,” explains Laure Bayet. “There’s nothing more gratifying than taking on someone with no knowledge of the trade, but whose inherent capacities shine through, and then seeing how, in just a few weeks of training, they start getting the same results as our top sales staff – even the most experienced. The best reward we could hope for is when our trainees say how delighted they are to have found a job they feel passionate about, a way of making a living that makes them feel good about themselves, too. And it happens so often!!

 

 

 

Mobalpa is making training a priority – especially for its managers

Mobalpa sees its managers as key to how stores perform. All too often neglected when it comes to training (with the focus generally placed on sales staff), managers can make or break a store, just as sports coaches and trainers are the driving forces behind their teams. As a result, Mobalpa has developed a specific training module, featuring sessions aimed at store managers. This training is suitable for managers themselves, as well as directors responsible for overseeing sales or sales staff preparing to take on managerial positions.

This is a six-month training programme that includes two to three days of face-to-face training, complemented by e-learning and in-store role-play sessions. It is industry-specific, hands-on rather than theory-based, and steered by a committee made up of network managers and directors who have pooled their experience to enrich its content. The programme is already proving popular, which isn’t surprising when you consider that the stores with a manger of this kind in their teams perform much better than those without!

Mobalpa began in 1907 as a family ca
binetmaking workshop in Thônes, in the French Alps. During the next 25 years, the business that made wooden objects, began to specialise in kitchens and in 1949 launched the Mobalpa brand name. Mobalpa developed an international reputation and launched to the UK market in 1980 where kitchen cabinetry was supplied to distributors and then to the end consumer under the Mobalpa brand.

Today Mobalpa has four French production sites specialising in kitchens, worktops, living and bathrooms and employs more than 1,000 people worldwide. It launched its franchise kitchen concept in the UK in 2012 with its first retail store in Warrington and now has eight showrooms in London, the South East and Yorkshire with ambitious growth plans for 2017. The brand has now reached more than one million customers internationally and produces in excess of 27 kitchen ranges including handleless, curved and matt designs.