Distributor Partners of America unveiled DPA University, an online educational portal that offers free product training and soft-skills courses to all DPA distributors and their employees.

“Studies have shown that people are more likely to sell what they know. That’s why we are investing in our distributors and manufacturers with this powerful technology. Product training and knowledge is an integral part of our members’ sales growth and success,” said DPA CEO Zachary Haines.

DPA partnered with BlueVolt, a Learning Management System to create a online learning platform for its membership. It was designed with the intention of enhancing employee knowledge, building DPA manufacturer brand awareness, and increasing sales. There are currently more than 70 product specific courses on the platform, each ranging from 5-minutes to over an hour in duration. Several of the courses contain recap summaries and quizzes at the end of the presentation to ensure knowledge is retained.

In addition to product training, DPA distributors also have access to over 1,000 soft-skills courses that include customer service, sales training, workplace safety, leadership training, courses on finance, technology, time management and human resources.

DPA University is free for all DPA distributor members. Owners and department heads will have the ability to customize individual learning tracks for their team members and track their completion results.

A phased rollout of DPA University began with the group’s safety, industrial and automotive membership.  In the coming months, the group will open the doors to all distributors in the janitorial/sanitation and packaging divisions.

The DPA Buying Group is a North American buying & networking organization comprised of over 1,200 distributors and 240 preferred suppliers in the industrial, safety, packaging and facility maintenance industries.