One of the North East’s leading home improvement specialists has invested more than £150,000 into a new training academy and taken on six new staff.

Pennine Home Improvements, which operates showrooms in Durham and Newcastle, is looking to build on a record year that brought in £10m of orders.

Salespeople are now employed directly by the company and will all complete a 14-module course at the Pennine Way Sales Academy that covers product knowledge, building regulations, codes of conduct, softer selling skills and how to use digital tools to provide an enhanced customer experience.

Jonathan Young, Managing Director at Pennine Home Improvements, said: “Covid-19 has been a very difficult period, but it has taught us many different lessons, some of which gave us food for thought on how we could deliver even better levels of service,” explained

“This gave us the confidence to press the button on the Pennine Way Sales Academy, a new way of selling that could transform our sector forever.

“The emphasis is on creating salespeople who take an even greater consultative approach, have excellent product knowledge and are employed by us from the start, meaning we have the best possible chance of nurturing talent and they have access to excellent training and mentoring from experienced staff.

“It’s the people that really make Pennine different and our recent investment will ensure we continue to set the standard."

The new six members of staff are completing all 14 modules, with one of them using their initial training to secure a £40,000 sale.