Having trained over 2,500 retailers during the past three years, the retailers association has confirmed that its training will continue in 2011.
George Morton, the owner of Top Level Solutions and the provider of retra’s training, says that retailers attend his training courses because they are “completely different” from any sales training that has been done before. “I cover body language – such as how sales staff should stand when they are talking to women, men or couples – or the way in which they shake hands with the customer.“
In 2011, retra will be organising some 20 training days for members and their staff. The courses this year will cover sales training, shop manager’s training and delivery/installation training.
In 2008 and 2009, Mr Morton’s training concentrated on selling, and in 2010, delegates took part in the advanced selling course. In September 2010, Mr Morton introduced a course for shop managers because “one of the problems I encountered was that when staff got back to their respective stores after completing the courses, managers were not following up on what their staff had done.”
The shop manager training course includes a number of key areas of managerial responsibility including: what a manager is; the difference between leaders and managers; as well as performance reviews and appraisal questioning skills.
Bryan Lovewell, retra’s chief executive, said that retra has focused on training “in a very big way” and reminded that “2011 is going to be a tough year but it is very important, from our members’ perspective, that they maximise on every sale – the retra training courses are a vital tool in their arsenal.”
