Costa Mesa, Calif. - Through its new online training program, Sportsheets University, Sportsheets teaches retailers about the use and functionality of its products and covers general human-sexuality topics.
"Our products are high-concept items," co-owner Tom Stewart said in October during the first meeting at the International Lingerie Show. "We've been doing a good job of making quality products for years. What we weren't doing was help stores sell it."
Each store employee who visits the Sportsheets University website is asked to create an account and take a quick basic-sexuality quiz created by sexologists Trina Read and Brian Parker. The results are used to help managers gauge their employees' knowledge and pinpoint where additional instruction is needed.
The second part of the course leads employees through video demonstrations that highlight specific uses and selling points of many of Sportsheets' best-selling items, such as the original Sportsheet, Under the Bed Restraint set and Sportscuffs. Each section has a question-and-answer feature covering the key points of the featured products.
"No one wants to buy a product they know nothing about from someone they feel knows less than they do," Stewart explained. "At the end of the day, the customer wins, the retail store wins, the distributor wins and, of course, we win as [a] provider of products the consumer enjoys."
