Like every DIY project, preparation is the most important step in the process. Preparing your surface for paint and ensuring you’ve done your prep work will only help the end product. At Ricciardi Brothers, which has almost 50 locations throughout Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, making sure their customers are prepared for projects is of utmost importance. Ensuring their employees are trained and prepared to help those customers with their projects is also essential.

For Gerard Ruggero, manager of the Morristown, New Jersey branch of Ricciardi Brothers, training his employees is the key to success in the primer and sealer category. Ricciardi Brothers carries a wide range of primers and sealers, including multiple private label brands, oil-based and acrylic primers and sealers, which requires Ruggero’s employees to be familiar with each type and how it works on various surfaces.

Employee training for primers and sealers is structured as a hands-on process. Ruggero starts by working with
employees to familiarize them with products and the information on their labels, then expands to online resources and manufacturer sessions.

“Our wholesaler offers training close to our location,” Ruggero says. “They have hands-on product rollouts where we get to send a few employees at a time to see how a new product works for the company that produces them.” Ruggero says these manufacturer training sessions are one of the best tools for new products as they haven’t been in the hands of professionals at their store yet. Being able to attend these trainings allows his employees to inform customers about how the product works and what they should expect if they want to purchase it.

Aside from product rollouts, Ruggero says his manufacturers will also host other training events and will set up role-playing sessions, where employees get to interact with fake customers, learn how to sell a certain product and receive constructive feedback on how they dealt with that customer.

Ruggero says he’s seen a lot of value in having a great working relationship with his manufacturer representatives so as new products are launched, everyone on his team sees how they work.

Ruggero’s employees also spend time on their own at the store during slow periods to test products on scrap substrates so when a customer says they’re working on a specific material, they can show them how a specific primer will look.

Conversing with frequent customers about what products are their go-tos and which products they stay away from is another helpful tool in his training.

“They’re the ones using our products in the field and they’re the ones who are going to give us real feedback,” Ruggero says. “I always stress to my employees to ask questions, because there’s always going to be something that even I don’t know and they won’t learn if they don’t ask questions.” Once an employee learns the basic information about a product, it’s easier to ask questions and talk with customers
about them, Ruggero says.

“A contractor would rather we ask them questions than give them incorrect information and act like we know what they’re doing and recommend them an incorrect product,” he says. “I’ve found it’s always better to ask questions because that’s how you really learn.”

Building up his staff’s knowledge has also allowed him to not have to be as hands-on during the day-to-day store operation.

“My assistant Victor has been with us for over 12 years and he can run this store with his eyes closed,” Ruggero says. “It’s nice to have a knowledgeable staff so I can trust them to run the store if I’m not there.”

His focus on training has contributed to the success of both his team and his store, and many former employees have risen through the ranks at Ricciardi Brothers.

“Multiple former employees that started with me are now running their own stores,” Ruggero says. “It can be bittersweet to lose them but it’s great to see how we’ve helped them grow.”

Efficiency and Excellence

Ruggero’s store has a unique structural aspect—an elevator and conveyor belt located behind the checkout counter that leads to a basement, where Ruggero mixes and tints orders without distractions from the sales floor.

“We do all of our primer tinting in the basement because it allows me to concentrate on the order and make sure it’s right before we send it back up the elevator,” Ruggero says. “A lot of customers will be waiting upstairs and don’t understand that we work downstairs and will ask where their order is. It’s cool to see their faces when the elevator doors open upstairs and their order is right in front of them.”