Training Courses

Book our live courses
below

6/4/2026

Managing Stock & Controlling Shrink

Location: Virtual The comprehensive course provides delegates with an understanding of how stock affects profitability, and how to calculate the most economic levels to hold on the ground

6/8/2026

1 Day Finance for Non-Finance Managers

Location: Virtual This course is designed to give a basic but informative overview of the finance side of a business, specifically for those not directly involved in the day-to-day function of financial management. This course is a must for anyone with the need to fully understand financial reports

6/9/2026

1 Day People Management Skills

Location - Virtual This course focuses on the importance of the effective management of people within any business. It will equip Managers with the skills to professionally lead individuals or teams, whilst maintaining productivity and meeting company objectives.

6/16/2026

1 Day Effective Sales Presentation and Demo Skills - Supplier

Location: Coventry This course is designed to enhance the presentation and demonstration skills of sales professionals. This course provides a comprehensive, hands-on learning experience to enhance the essential skills required for effective sales presentations and demonstrations, aimed at empowering sales professionals to achieve better results in client interactions.

6/16/2026

1 Day Principles of Buying & Purchasing

Location: Virtual This course will add profit to your business through effective stock turn.

6/17/2026

1 Day AI for Building Material Sector

Location: Virtual This course is designed for merchants & suppliers wanting to understand and explore what AI means for them and how it can support and enhance the business.

6/19/2026

1 day - How a House Is Built

Location: Virtual The course details the various stages of building a house from the groundworks, to first fit, second fit and through to the roof and decorative finishing and explains all of the products that are used at each stage of the process.

6/23/2026

2 Day - Copilot for Business Strategy

Location: Coventry ***THIS COURSE REQUIRES YOU TO BRING A LAPTOP*** This highly practical, hands-on workshop is designed specifically for builders’ merchants and construction material suppliers who want to harness the power of Microsoft Copilot within Office 365.

6/23/2026

2 Day - Selling Into Merchants - Supplier

Location: Coventry Aimed at suppliers, this interactive workshop will help you understand the merchant structure, the difference between independent and national merchants and how buying groups affect purchasing decisions. By the end of the workshop you will understand how to use your unique sales proposition (USP) to increase profitable business.

6/26/2026

1 Day Creating and Applying a Marketing Strategy

Location: Virtual Having a product that solves a particular problem or a service that provides value is just one part of running a profitable business. If no one knows about it, you have a Marketing problem.

6/29/2026

Key Account Management

Location: Virtual This sales training course will help you develop an account management plan to build lasting client relationships and maximise sales opportunities with your key accounts.

7/1/2026

2 Day - Warehouse Supervisors Toolkit

Location: Virtual This course is designed to assist in developing the necessary skills and understanding of what the role of a Warehouse Supervisor requires to ensure success. The training content will be interactive, thought provoking and enjoyable and aims to keep delegates interested and engaged, particularly as many of the delegates may not be used to a classroom environment. This should in turn lead to a change in behaviours upon return to the workplace and subsequent improvements in leadership styles. Who would benefit? Warehouse or Yard Supervisors and Managers. This workshop can also be adapted for Trade Counter Supervisors, Office Supervisors and anyone else in the team in a supervisory position.

7/2/2026

1 Day Introduction to Social Media Workshop

Location: Virtual A one-day introductory workshop exploring key social media platforms and practical ways to start using them effectively for business. Delegates will gain the confidence and skills needed to build an online presence, engage audiences, and promote their products or services across Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

7/7/2026

1 Day Increasing Sales on the Telephone - Supplier

Location: Coventry This course is designed to show delegates the best way to increase sales using telephone contact. It will allow delegates to identify telephone sales opportunities and how to turn them into profit.

7/8/2026

1 Day Transport for Non-Transport Managers

Location: Virtual This specifically designed course will provide delegates with an informative overview on the requirements for operating from one vehicle to a fleet. This can address any concerns over legislation and requirements relating to business transport

7/9/2026

1 Day Creating and Applying a Marketing Strategy

7/9/2026

1 Day Essential Sales Skills

Location: Virtual This engaging and interactive workshop explores the fundamental sales skills for internal sales staff that are essential in the modern marketplace.

7/14/2026

2 Day People Management Skills

Location - Coventry This course focuses on the importance of the effective management of people within any business. It will equip Managers with the skills to professionally lead individuals or teams, whilst maintaining productivity and meeting company objectives.

7/16/2026

2 Day - Warehouse Supervisors Toolkit

Location: Cheddleton This course is designed to assist in developing the necessary skills and understanding of what the role of a Warehouse Supervisor requires to ensure success. The training content will be interactive, thought provoking and enjoyable and aims to keep delegates interested and engaged, particularly as many of the delegates may not be used to a classroom environment. This should in turn lead to a change in behaviours upon return to the workplace and subsequent improvements in leadership styles. Who would benefit? Warehouse or Yard Supervisors and Managers. This workshop can also be adapted for Trade Counter Supervisors, Office Supervisors and anyone else in the team in a supervisory position.

7/21/2026

1 Day Key Account Management - Supplier

Location - Coventry This sales training course will help you develop an account management plan to build lasting client relationships and maximise sales opportunities with your key accounts.

7/23/2026

1 Day Basic Excel Training

Location: Virtual We all understand that strong foundations are essential in many areas of both business and social life; learning a new software product is no different. Whilst this course is aimed at those delegates who are new to the product, more experienced users may find it useful to refresh some of the "basics" before progressing on to the more advanced levels.

7/28/2026

1 Day Sales Training for Sales Representatives - Supplier

Location: Coventry This in depth sales course will enhance the expertise used by existing and aspiring sales representatives and provide new concepts and techniques to make the most of their sales visits. This will explore the requirements needed to ensure successful sales meetings, and show you how to engage your customer in product lines and services.

8/4/2026

2 Day - Selling Into Merchants - Supplier

8/11/2026

1 day - How a House Is Built

8/12/2026

1 Day Social Media for Beginners

Location: Virtual If you are new to using social media for business or want to learn a core set of principles for your use of social media, this is the right course for you. This course lays the foundations of knowledge so you can go away and apply this when you’re back at base.

8/14/2026

Managing Stock & Controlling Shrink

Location: Virtual The comprehensive course provides delegates with an understanding of how stock affects profitability, and how to calculate the most economic levels to hold on the ground

8/18/2026

1 Day Sales Negotiation Tactics - Supplier

Location - Virtual This course empowers participants to engage in productive negotiations with clients, ensuring sales discussions that result in mutually beneficial outcomes. Leveraging participants' current negotiation expertise, this training introduces advanced strategies and methods to elevate their abilities. Additionally, it nurtures the mentality required to become an effective negotiator.

8/27/2026

1 Day Effective Sales Presentation and Demo Skills - Supplier

9/15/2026

Excellence in Customer Service

Location - Virtual The course is designed to provide delegates with a view from the perspective of the customer. Various ways of improving levels of customer service are examined, and delegates are provided with an opportunity to express views as to how both they and the company they work for can improve.

9/16/2026

2 Day - Warehouse Supervisors Toolkit

Location: Swadlincote This course is designed to assist in developing the necessary skills and understanding of what the role of a Warehouse Supervisor requires to ensure success. The training content will be interactive, thought provoking and enjoyable and aims to keep delegates interested and engaged, particularly as many of the delegates may not be used to a classroom environment. This should in turn lead to a change in behaviours upon return to the workplace and subsequent improvements in leadership styles. Who would benefit? Warehouse or Yard Supervisors and Managers. This workshop can also be adapted for Trade Counter Supervisors, Office Supervisors and anyone else in the team in a supervisory position.

9/22/2026

2 Day Yard Supervisor's Toolkit

Location: Newark-on-Trent The Yard Supervisor's can be overlooked for formal training, but will often be one of the team members that would benefit most from external support. This individual will usually have been promoted because they were a hard worker, but this particular attribute alone is not enough to succeed when managing others.

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Please register your interest in any of the courses below that appeal to you. Click on the course, hit the 'Register Interest' button and a member of our team will be in touch as soon as new dates are confirmed. By registering, you'll be among the first to hear when your chosen course becomes available again.

1 Day Staff Engagement and Retention

Location: Coventry The costs associated with having a high turnover of staff are considerable. This is both in financial terms, and in time and effort when having to replace and train new people after key members of staff have left the business. This is a common problem across the industry and this course has been specifically designed to help meet this challenge.

1 Day Transport for Non-Transport Managers CH

This specifically designed course will provide delegates with an informative overview on the requirements for operating from one vehicle to a fleet. This can address any concerns over legislation and requirements relating to business transport

2 Day - Social Media For Beginners

There is nothing worse than feeling unconfident and unsure about what to do with your social media. It is easy to go round and round in circles and never make any progress. In this competitive industry you need to have an online presence but too often businesses throw themselves in the deep end before planning out the what, the who, the when, the how. Taking a step back and thinking more strategically about what you are doing on social media will help boost your confidence, make better use of your time, and bring you better results.

2 Day Yard Supervisor's Toolkit

The Yard Supervisor can be overlooked for formal training, but will often be one of the team members that would benefit most from external support. This individual will usually have been promoted because they were a hard worker, but this particular attribute alone is not enough to succeed when managing others.

Better Banter: Humour or Harassment?

What constitutes banter and what is acceptable in the workplace? Delivered by an employment lawyer with an understanding of the Building Materials sector. This course explores what oversteps the mark into harassment or bullying behaviour.

Better Banter: Humour or Harassment? - Supplier

BMF Building Blocks

Providing our members the very best industry training has always been a key objective at the BMF. We recognise that highly trained and knowledgeable staff set our members apart from their competitors and in the fast moving markets of the 21st century it’s vital that frontline staff have the latest information at their fingertips.

BMF Campus

BMF Campus offers high quality and cost-effective product learning. Being on-line it offers an attractive and enjoyable way for employees to gain understanding of a wide range of product and technical issues. The easy administration tools enable member companies to put together personalised courses comprising hand picked modules for the individuals concerned.

BMF Essential Sales Management

Essential Sales Management is a course that aims to support talented individuals in successfully managing a portfolio of customers.

Data Protection

The General Data Protection Regulations introduce a greater protection for personal information and a greater burden on businesses to secure that data. We’ll help you to understand the data you hold, areas of risk exposure and how to update your data protection practices.

Digital Tachographs and Drivers’ Hours

This course will break down the full operational function of the tachograph, working with drivers and transport office staff. This is a very hands-on workshop using a simulator to ensure the highest level of understanding.

Driver CPC Training

By 10 September 2019 all goods vehicle drivers will have had to have completed 35 hours of periodic training and will need to have 35 hours of efresher training during every further 5 years. BMF’s approved transport advisers and its partner in the delivery of transport training are Prompt Training. They can help you identify the most practical, efficient and cost-effective way to manage your Driver CPC training programme to suit your business requirements and drivers’ training needs. We have a variety of courses available and the option to train drivers at your premises or at a range of venues nationwide.

Driving Performance

This workshop will provide attendees with the tools to enhance staff potential. It will show how to get the best performance from employees, through motivation, on the job development and practical support. Increasing staff performance can also improve staff retention through a mutual and professional respect.

Effective Time Management

This course emphasises the requirement for all to be effective ‘time managers’. It is a prerequisite to the efficiency and level of customer service in any business. This workshop will identify practical ways to pre-plan, prioritise and structure a working day and reiterate the importance of delegation and teamwork.

Finance for Non-Finance Managers

This course is designed to give a basic but informative overview of the finance side of a business, specifically for those not directly involved in the day-to-day function of financial management. This course is a must for anyone with the need to fully understand financial reports

Forklift Truck & Mechanical Handling Equipment Training

The BMF have signed an agreement with Train -a lift based in Coventry to supply Forklife Truck & Material Handling Equipment (MHE) training to members of the BMF.

Increasing Sales on the Telephone

This course is designed to show delegates the best way to increase sales using telephone contact. It will allow delegates to identify telephone sales opportunities and how to turn them into profit.

Introduction to Opening a Kitchen or Bathroom Showroom

Whether it’s a full on showroom, or designers selling from samples in the clients home, we can look at how best to progress. Recruitment and management of the kitchen designers and lead management tools will also be explored, along with planning for future growth of the business.

IOBM Diploma in Merchant Management

Location: Central Region The IOBM Diploma in Merchant Management covers a range of practical management issues including managing yourself, managing others, managing processes and managing change. Attendees will learn not only key managerial skills but also how to apply these back at work.

Key Account Management

This sales training course will help you develop an account management plan to build lasting client relationships and maximise sales opportunities with your key accounts.

Managing and Controlling Stock

Managing stock levels is the key to any merchant/supply business. This one day course will show how to maintain the required stock level, therefore leading to accurate stock takes, ensuring you are complying with the HSE and having a positive influence on overall customer service.

Managing Sickness Absence

It’s easy to shy away from conversations around sickness absence – but if you calculate lost productivity, team disruption and sick pay costs associated with sickness absence then those conversations would seldom be left unsaid.

Managing Stock & Controlling Shrink

This effective course will show how to maintain a high level of security, keeping loss and shrinkage to a minimum. It will cover precautions and everyday measures to ensure safety and security. This will suggest solutions for each individual problem area.

Margin Development Programme

The BMF offer a popular stand-alone ‘Maximising Margin’ training course which may well result in an improvement of margin upon return to the workplace. However, to ensure that changes in behaviour are ‘driven home’ and applied, a change of culture within the branches and the business as a whole is often required. Proven margin improvement has been witnessed when a training programme is delivered that includes all sales staff, including Branch Managers and Senior Management. This programme is tailored to suit the members individual needs and may involve a number of phases. This would involve examining current practices and delivering training for the staff, whilst providing practical advice regarding any potential staff incentives. Further support can be provided to ensure that the majority of staff fully embrace the ideology and concept of the programme.

Maximising Margin

It is all too easy to discount to ensure you ‘Get the Business’, but would you get it anyway? How many of your staff are unaware of the implications of discounting the sale? Margin erosion is a key problem affecting the bottom line and with the pressures of the customer expecting discounts should be a key focus for the business.

Menopause Awareness for Employee's

Location: Virtual This course is designed to build awareness and knowledge around menopause and create an inclusive workplace culture to support those that may be struggling.

Menopause Awareness for Managers'

Location: Virtual This course is designed to build awareness and knowledge around menopause and create an inclusive workplace culture to support those that may be struggling.

Mental Health Awareness

This 2½ hour session is suitable for any employee to increase their awareness of their own wellbeing and how to support others.  It would also ensure employers are taking a proactive and organisation wide approach to wellbeing by providing mental health literacy training for all staff, which also complies with the new ISO 45003 to support effective consultation with staff on managing mental wellbeing risks.

Mind Setting - Optimise your Performance

Mind-Setting is a new online performance coaching programme and step by step blueprint to help you optimise your performance.

People Management Skills

This course focuses on the importance of the effective management of people within any business. It will equip Managers with the skills to professionally lead individuals or teams, whilst maintaining productivity and meeting company objectives.

Positive Wellbeing Conversations

This ½ day course is suitable for anyone who has responsibility for managing others, HR professionals and Wellbeing Champions to help them feel more confident when handling sensitive wellbeing conversations with employees.  In addition to better understanding their management style to create a psychologically safe working environment.

Sales Coaching and Performance Management

This course is designed to enable Sales Managers to effectively manage the performance of their team, and learn how to use coaching as a development and performance improvement tool.

Sales Negotiation Techniques

This course will develop the skills and knowledge needed to be an effective sales negotiator. It will help delegates develop a win-win situation with different types of customers in different situations.

Search Engine Optimisation

This one-day interactive workshop will help you understand Search Engine Optimisation and getting listed higher up search engines like Google.

Staff Engagement and Retention

The costs associated with having a high turnover of staff are considerable. This is both in financial terms, and in time and effort when having to replace and train new people after key members of staff have left the business. This is a common problem across the industry and this course has been specifically designed to help meet this challenge.

Supplier Negotiation

This training course will help you prepare and conduct negotiations with suppliers to ensure you are fully prepared and able to negotiate a positive outcome for your business, while maintaining the supplier relationship.

Warehouse and Yard Layout

This practical programme will give the knowledge and understanding needed to develop a warehouse layout that will operate safely, efficiently and economically, so as to add contribution to the overall profitability of the organisation. Each area covered in the workshop will conclude with plans of action to help with implementation on the job.