General Motors and Dubai Men's College set new and innovative sales training approach

This approach takes form in a pilot project which involves a significant amount of input by Communication Technology students in terms of deliverables and production materials. The programme kicked off in Dubai on 12th November and will be rolled out to dealer locations in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Kuwait City.

"World of Vehicles comes as part of General Motors' commitment to supporting local education and investing in the development of local talent in the region," said Pierre Gruwez, sales training manager at General Motors. "It is a whole new way of looking at training techniques, and by involving the students they are then able to harvest the results through sales figures and market research, which in turn will boost their confidence at a young age."

Students will be given the opportunity to stage manage huge parts of the production, which includes access to senior GM staff for pre-event video filming and the design and development of all support material. The students will be required to produce a short feature that reflects the lifestyle of each of the vehicles that will then be presented to 150 GM dealer sales staff in Dubai and to over 800 across the region.

"This radical and new approach offers students a 'real world' commercial experience," said Dr. Bill Vega, Director Dubai Men's College. "There is a need to expose students to real life experiences and introduce them to new and innovative programmes. This programme will pave the way for new curriculum for future students, and help in their progression in the corporate business world."

World of Vehicles started in the beginning of the current semester and will be completed in mid November. It involves all third year students who are majoring in Communication Technology. All the skills applied to the project such as photography, print design, video editing and multimedia were obtained in previous courses.

Students were required to produce printed passports that will be handed out to GM staff on the day of the training event, photography of the four Chevrolet vehicles, video footage of each of the four cars shot in studio and on location, interviews with both GM dealers and executives and a video documenting the entire production process. All these materials will be utilised in training GM sales staff throughout the region on promotional tours.

"This is considered an extremely exceptional opportunity for our students to showcase our abilities and talents for a great show for a big and reputable company like GM," said Joseph Blake Chamberlain, Communication Technology Faculty.