Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM MAY 2015 64 W hat makes anyone good at what they do? Some words come to mind like intelligence, knowledge, desire to learn, experience, support, and a genuine interest in their field of endeavor. What are the key characteristics of your best people? Other descriptive words that come to mind are dedication, striving to improve, wanting to be the best, willingness to learn and helping others learn, constantly striving for perfection, seeking increased responsibility, and enjoying problem solving. The big question is how do you keep these great people rewarded and challenged? The answer is to try your best to keep their knowledge and skills constantly improving to handle what they should need to know today and also what they will have to know for their jobs in the future. That is a big job and thank- fully we have Industry support to help our people stay as sharp as possible. Where does the training for your people come from? Well, that's an ongoing problem because there is less training supplied by the military and the government in the basic skills that repair technicians need. Technical schools do provide some very basic levels of general training in areas like electronics but even those curriculums are becoming less popular and more costly to provide in educational institutions today. Right now most of the specific service industry training done is by manufacturers, on the job training, and industry organizations that have been formed to help provide industry support for independent service companies. These Groups provide the much needed training and certifications to help develop and then grow the skills of all technical and support personnel. Development and ongoing training of technical, customer service, and service management skills will always be the key ingredient in the success of any company. We need all three training resources to help develop and keep personnel up to speed on the constantly changing technologies that exist in every service industry today. Every year, Industry Associations like PSA, USA, TRNI and ETA hold national conferences that are geared to provide a forum where companies in like industries can meet and secure important industry information, view vendor exhibits, secure manufacturer training, plus attend specific training programs for technicians, customer service, and management personnel. For example we have the International Wireless Communication Expo (IWCE) that includes a large exhibitor display and also some very valuable wireless related training provided in conjunction with The Electronic Technicians Association (ETA) and The Total Resource Network International (TRNI). The Annual Service Training Institute (ASTI) hosted earlier this year by the United Servicers Association (USA) was a solid four days of manufacturer and other specific training programs to help train all levels within a company servicing the appliance service industry. At the Professional Servicers Association (PSA) NASC conference held in late March and early April they will be offering training and certification programs for technicians, customer service, and management personnel. Needless to say these organizations have made it a point to recognize the importance of more training at all levels in our electronic service industries and then develop and present training programs that are designed to improve the skill levels of individuals within your companies. The best thing that we can all do is to support their efforts by attending these conferences and taking advantage of the critical training that these associations and the manufacturers provide. Without their efforts where will our future training come form? I think we all know the answer to that question. SKILLS DEVELOPM ENT: PREPARING FOR TODAY & INTO THE FUTURE S E R V I C E D E P A R T M E N T RO Don Pierson, President , Certified Service Center

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