Community College Workforce Alliance

Through a customized program of retailing, marketing, and related courses and other educational experiences, students receive focused preparation of a retailing career. The certificate provides tangible evidence of commitment and expertise in retailing. A certificate is presented to successful candidates at the completion of the coursework.

Non-credit offerings (Certificate)

Loss Prevention - Shoplifting, Robberies, and Theft (4-6 hrs)

This course teaches employees and employers not only what actions to take during incidents involving shoplifting, robbery, and internal theft, but also stresses a pro-active program designed to deter the same through planning in advance for such incidents.

Loss Prevention - Scams, Credit Card Fraud, and Counterfeiting (4-6 hrs)

This course offers a comprehensive review of scams likely to be encountered by retail employees and how to avoid losses incurred by such. It covers how to identify fraudulent credit card transactions and what actions to take when they do occur. The course concludes with a section on how to identify counterfeit currency.

Sales for Retail Employees (4-6 hrs)

A comprehensive course that teaches the sales process and how it applies to a retail environment. The course covers prospecting, lead generation, qualifying the buyer, overcoming objections, coupling sales for greater volume, closing techniques, and follow-up programs. The course can be customized for particular industries.

Cash Register Operation (4-6 hrs)

Covers the operation of various types of cash registers, both mechanical and electronic. The content includes instruction on the proper methods of handling cash and making change, closing operations, and dealing with customer-related problems.

Commitment to the Retail Customer (6 Hours)

This class enables the participants to take a hard look at their attitudes and their commitment to customers in a retail setting. They will learn to address their customers' personal and business needs and manage each service interaction by applying techniques to accomplish the following steps for customer satisfaction:

• 1. Welcome their customers
• 2. Make certain they understand their customers' needs
• 3. Meet or exceed their needs
• 4. Confirm satisfaction
• 5. Thank the customers and invite them back

Objectives:

At the completion of the class, participants will have improved their knowledge and ability to be able to:

• Assess their personal attitudes as retail customer service providers
• Describe the necessary ingredients for developing and maintaining positive attitudes
• Practice strategies for dealing with others' difficult attitudes
• Recognize the "do's" and "don'ts" that make or break customer relationships
• Develop techniques to make certain that customers continue to return
• Identify the characteristics of excellent customer service
• Describe the five expectations that customers have
• List barriers to excellent customer service in a retail environment
• Develop a personal action plan for projecting a more professional image to customers

Customer Contact (6 Hours)

In this workshop the participants learn to read subtle cues that let them know whether or not their customers are satisfied. This requires solid listening and observation skills-both in person or on the telephone. They will learn ways to improve their tones of voice and demonstrate self-confidence and better communication when helping their customers.

Objectives:

At the completion of the class, participants will have improved their knowledge and ability to be able to:

• Identify barriers to providing excellent customer contact
• Assess their individual communication styles
• Use effective, courteous communication to deliver excellent customer service
• Practice good listening techniques
• Recognize the forbidden phrases of customer service and know what to say instead
• Choose suitable words and phrases when responding to customers
• Demonstrate an improved tone of voice and appropriate body language
• Interpret their customers' nonverbal communication whether face-to-face or on the telephone
• Practice the necessary techniques to provide the customer with a positive impression of their organizations

Exceeding Customer Expectations (6 Hours)

The participants in this workshop will build a vision of excellence for their organizations by learning about the best practices of well-known retail customer service giants. This class will help the participants discover ways to maintain customer focus and uphold high standards and quality of service.

Objectives:

At the completion of the class, participants will have improved their knowledge and ability to be able to:

• List critical elements necessary to exceed customer expectations
• Identify "moments of truth" in the retail environment
• Discuss strategies to empower service providers
• Develop a model of excellence for a retail organization
• Develop a plan for service recovery

Managing Job Stress in Challenging Situations (6 Hours)

This class encourages its participants to assess and manage their own stress levels before taking on the stress of their customers. They will also examine their individual skills in dealing with customer-related problems and with difficult customers.

Objectives:

At the completion of the class, participants will have improved their knowledge and ability to be able to:

• Practice techniques for preventing, controlling, and managing stress
• Determine the impact of stress on performance
• Defuse emotional behavior of customers with targeted verbal responses
• Demonstrate specific strategies for responding to conflict
• Become more creative when thinking about solutions to common problems
• Describe why complaining customers are valuable resources and what they can learn from them

Customer Service Courses

• A Winning Attitude & Commitment to the Customer
• Grammar & Oral Communication
• Phone Power and Active Listening Skills
• Problem Solving Techniques & Confidence with Difficult Customers
• Managing Job Stress & Exceeding Customer Expectations
• Coaching for Great Service
• Visual Merchandising
• Focus on Retail: "Express" Customer Service
• Loss Prevention (2)
• Retail Sales
• Customer Relationship Management
• Cash Register Operation
• Teller Training
• Branch Management
• Consumer Lending
• Receivables Management

Other Contract Courses Available

• Retail Mathematics
• Inventory Control
• Visual Merchandising
• Retail Advertising
• Merchandise Information
• Mortgage Lending

Certificates

• Certified Retail Professional (6 courses)
• Certified Master Retail Professional (10 courses)