MORGAN HILL, CA (BRAIN)—Specialized Bicycle Components University (SBCU) has just launched a Retail Masters Class, coauthored with The Friedman Group.
Designed as an in depth follow-up to the SBCU Core or past SBCU Product course, the Retail Masters course is a continued education for retailers who want to offer the highest level of customer service.
With a strong emphasis on developing professional and knowledgeable sales people with a strong eye for merchandise presentation, the three day class focuses on equal parts product updates, sales techniques and merchandising.
“The course content for the Retail Masters Class was developed for our dealers based on requests that we have received over the past two seasons from managers and
employees in SBCU classes. The feedback indicated that dealers are looking to provide the best rider experience through professional presentation and salesmanship,” said
Andrew Hammond, SBCU program manager.
“One of our primary objectives at SBCU is to listen and react to dealer feedback and build classes that they have asked for," he added. "This new class is a great example of that feedback helping us evolve our curriculum.”
The curriculum for the course has been developed as a partnership between SBCU, Specialized’s Retail Services team and Harry J. Friedman of The Friedman Group Retail
Consulting & Training of Culver City, CA.
Friedman, who assisted with instructing the inaugural class on November 13, said the class is designed to take Specialized dealers beyond the traditional bike shop sales
model.
“Typically, the biggest challenge in the bicycle industry is getting customers back in the store after they have bought their bike. What we want to get dealers to do is build sales on ‘perishable’ goods to get them back in the store,” Friedman said. “We need Specialized dealers to transition from being a Bike Shop to becoming a Bicycle Retailer. We ask simply ‘Are you a bike store that makes sales, or are you a sales organization that sells bikes?’”
In subsequent classes, SBCU instructors will translate Freidman’s message and enthusiasm for sales into their own voice and help usher Specialized dealers into a brand new age in bicycle sales. SBCU instructs the course with a strong emphasis on hands on merchandising lab work
with the Specialized Retail Services team (the same people that design and merchandise Specialized Concept stores nationwide) and role playing for experience on the sales floor.
By the end of their three days at SBCU, attendees are equipped with enough knowledge to lead their sales staff into a renewed enthusiasm for sales and, more importantly, the hands-on experience and techniques they need to affect a marked change in their shop’s bottom line.
