Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Customer service has long been one of the ways independent home improvement retailers differentiate themselves from their competitors. For many years now, retailers have turned to NRHA’s training courses to teach employees basic selling skills. Now, that course has an exciting new look as NRHA recently released a refreshed version of its Basic Training Course in Selling Skills.
“At NRHA, we are always developing new training content, but we also want to ensure our current material is up-to-date and relevant to our members,” says Allison DeWitt, director of member services at NRHA. “The updated Selling Skills course has a new look and feel, with features specifically designed to better engage the learners, allowing them to retain more information and apply their learnings directly to their role in the store.”
While the content of the refreshed Selling Skills course is largely the same, the course gives learners a brand new experience sure to increase learning and retention. It uses photos of retailers in the U.S. and Canada to put a personal touch to the training. Audio narration and interactive elements guide students through each module, allowing them to learn at their own pace and to engage the content in a new way. For example, the module on engaging the customer allows students to choose how they would respond to a particular customer, and then learn why or why not that was the best response for that particular situation.
The course covers the entire selling process, from greeting customers to helping them out the door with their purchases. Modules include:
- The Elements of Good Selling
- Making a Good First Impression
- Different Customer Types
- Meeting Customer’s Expectations
- Engaging the Customer
- Dealing With Customer Complaints
- Providing Product Knowledge
- Overcoming Objections and Closing the Sale
- Telephone Skills
- Add-On Selling
“These are the basics every employee needs to know to deliver top-notch customer service,” says DeWitt. “This course is ideal for the new hires, but also a great refresher for long-time employees.”
The Selling Skills course is a perfect fit for NRHA’s Basic Training suite of courses, which includes the Basic Training Course in Hardware Retailing and the Basic Training Course in Building Materials Retailing.
Students have access to a printable study guide, and can take a 50-question test to gauge their proficiency. Training managers can easily monitor each student’s scores.
For those already using NRHA’s training, the transition to the new course will be easy. Trainers will not need to re-register students or create new passwords. All of current log-in information remains the same. Students will access the course through the member’s only section of nrha.org.
The Basic Training Course in Selling Skills is available now for NRHA members in the U.S. and Canada. To join the association, visit the NRHA website or contact Kamille Stokes at 800-772-4424 or kstokes@nrha.org.
