Foley Inc.’s Tom Alfano, and Joe Cotignola recently became the first Caterpillar dealer employee duo in the country to complete the new Caterpillar Sales Program.

A reception was held Aug. 14 to honor Alfano, heavy machinery account manager, and Cotignola, customer support representative, for making Foley the first Cat dealer in the nation to have both a customer service representative and a sales representative become certified. All of the Foley sales representatives and managers from all four of its divisions attended the celebration, which resulted in not only a fun celebration, but also a great team building experience.

When asked about being the first to complete the training, Alfano said, “I welcomed the challenge to complete this training on a timely basis. Providing the best possible service to Foley customers continues to be a top priority for me. By becoming Caterpillar Certified, I can now provide even greater value to my customers as an equipment consultant to help them maximize their productivity and profitability.”

The certification program, developed by Caterpillar University, takes an average of 6 months (70 hours) to complete. It is a web-based learning experience broken into three units: Skills, Knowledge and Dealer.

The first two segments are universal for all Caterpillar dealers. The Skills segment addresses issues such as opportunity management, negotiations and consultative selling.

The Knowledge segment takes employees through the Caterpillar story, Caterpillar product lines, and engine basics and parts. It also teaches items essential to the customer’s business such as earthmoving principals, owning and operating costs, preventative maintenance, customer support agreements and other key issues.

Each dealer manages the last segment according to the individual needs of its employees. The Dealer Learning Management System (DLMS) provides managers with the tools to personalize the program as needed. Using DLMS gives managers numerous benefits including paths to certification and the ability to track individual and group learning.

Foley’s John Cafro, customer support representative, and Jon Musicant, general line representative, also recently completed the Caterpillar Sales Program.

Jamie Foley, president of Foley Inc. commented, “Foley expects to have all sales people certified before long. I believe that this initiative will enable our organization to serve our customers better and provide them with effective and knowledgeable solutions to their problems.” CEG Staff

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