Building confident, capable teams across 200+ retail stores

As the world's leading charcoal and gas barbecue manufacturer, training isn't just a box-ticking exercise at Weber. Product knowledge alone isn't enough. Teams need to experience cooking on a Weber so they can have more genuine conversations with customers.

“We know that getting our trainees to smell, taste and cook empowers them to sell through storytelling, and it comes from a genuine place.”

Jane Calleja, Director of Talent, Capability & Development, APAC

For years, Weber APAC ran annual product programmes that gave teams the latest essential features and benefits alongside a flavour experience. These were run as one-day, face-to-face workshops in each store.

The challenge

With travel restrictions in place at the height of their busiest season, the Talent and Capability team looked to RedSeed for an alternative. They needed a way to deliver essential product knowledge while still giving teams the full flavour experience.

“How do we upskill over 200 retail stores on how to use the latest Weber BBQ in a way that gives us confidence that they've actually had hands-on experience?”

Weber already had a well-established online portal for delivering webinars. However, engagement was a challenge because these often ran live during retail hours. The webinar environment also didn't give Weber a way to verify that people had gone on to try the new range for themselves. That hands-on experience was key to Weber's sales approach and its ability to sell through genuine storytelling.

Putting managers into the coaching loop

The answer was RedSeed SkillsCheck, giving Weber a way to take the practical part of development beyond the traditional face-to-face environment.

“SkillsCheck meant we could utilise managers to form an integral part of the coaching-feedback loop, and it took a lot of pressure off our relatively agile Talent and Capability team.”

With SkillsCheck, Weber could deliver key product knowledge online and set practical challenges for teams to complete. Trainees filmed examples of themselves cooking on a Weber barbecue at key steps within a recipe, then uploaded those videos to RedSeed. A coach or manager could then verify the skill and provide feedback.

This meant managers could play an active part in reinforcing learning and developing practical capability within their teams, while Weber's Talent and Capability team could support the approach at scale.

The results

The approach gave Weber a way to scale practical development without adding pressure to its Talent and Capability team.

For Weber, building capability goes beyond giving people the right product knowledge. It's about giving them the opportunity to put that knowledge into practice, with managers there to coach, give feedback and reinforce the skills that matter. By bringing managers into the coaching loop, Weber can build practical capability across its retail network while giving its Talent and Capability team a scalable way to support development. Read more customer stories.