In an economic downturn, it is vital that each prospective customer that walks through the door is greeted and given excellent service by sales staff who are well versed in product knowledge, know how to assist multiple customers when working alone and understand customer comfort zones while shopping.

Customer Service – it is something that department stores, retail stores and boutiques believe that sales personnel instinctively know before they are hired. It is taken for granted that customer service is simply common sense; and that every sales clerk hired knows how to serve the customer. From the sales clerk's point of view, they see their role as being there to ring up the sale once the customer has decided on his or her item of purchase. Nothing could be further than the truth.

These two vastly different views of retailer and sales clerk immediately set up the business for potential lost sales. Prospective customers may leave the store as a result of the sales staff's failure to acknowledge them or for not knowing how to ask the right questions to determine what the prospect needs and how to serve them.

The retailer expects the clerk to know what they are doing and the clerk believes that their role is to either wait for a sale or follow the customer around the store like a shadow.

Confidence, product knowledge, being a good conversationalist, asking open-ended questions, and a desire to serve will help sales staff avoid or easily handle the famous “No thanks. I'm just looking .” Those five words can be the death of any future sale if your staff doesn't know how to overcome this.

Retailers can significantly improve their sales by investing in their human capital by providing them with the techniques to be and do their best . During a recession when sales are low, it's difficult for retailers to send their entire sales staff to attend much needed sales training. The Delivering Excellence in Retail Customer Service is aimed at educating and empowering retail managers so that they can in turn convey their learning to their sales team.

In this one-day workshop, retail management will learn the techniques that will significantly enhance the sales associate's performance with prospective customers.

The course defines the role of the sales associate and what is means to give excellent customer service that results in a happy customer and sales for the store with multiple items purchased. Through a series of mini lectures, demonstration, worksheets, exercises and role play the participants will put into practice techniques to elevate their level of confidence, product knowledge, greeting techniques and probing questions for enhanced customer service which will in turn increase in-store sales.

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Pamela Wigglesworth is the founder of Experiential and is an accomplished corporate trainer and consultant for fashion companies and corporations. She has developed training courses for the Textile & Fashion Federation (TAFT Singapore) Training Centre, the Malaysian Textile and Apparel Centre. The success of her fashion related courses has broadened into more general branding and marketing training for a regional telecommunications company and retail development training for Club Med.

Pamela's international network and experiences have enriched her understanding of the global apparel industry and helped her become an excellent cross cultural communicator and problem solver who is able to view issues from both an international and Asian perspective. She was a founding board member of the Primetime Business & Professional Women's Association, is an Executive Committee Member of TAFT and is the Singapore Alumni Coordinator for the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles.

She has been active in the Asian fashion industry since 1989 working at major international buying offices in Hong Kong. She subsequently developed a boutique sourcing company introducing smaller US apparel companies to the increasingly adaptable regional garment factories. Relocating to Singapore in 1995 she went on to establish a retail boutique and an internet and wholesale kids' golf apparel brand.