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Education Plus
The right sales pitch
BINDU GOPAL RAO
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NIS Academy offers short-term courses in customer service.
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Photo: Mohammed Yousuf
inspiring confidence: Sales force competence is vital to retailing.
NIS Academy, a division of NIS Sparta, a Reliance-ADA Group company, recently launched a couple of short-term retail courses. NIS Academy has a wide network across the country with 28 centres and offers training and learning solutions to students in sales, customer service and leadership domains. The methodologies used in imparting education include instructor-led training, VSAT-based training and Experiential Learning.
An ever-expanding requirement for skilled manpower in the retail sector has prompted the Academy to design tailor-made short-term retail courses that will ensure employment to candidates. These include the Retail ACT (three months) and Retail Lead (six months) aimed at fulfilling the need for skilled manpower in the retail sector.
Speaking on the launch of their new short-term retail courses, Muralidhar Rao, COO and president, NIS Sparta, says, “There is a huge gap between requirement of skilled manpower and availability of it. With the launch of these courses, we aim to fill this gap and provide employment to a large section of society.” A Structured Curriculum Approach to Learning Effectiveness (SCALE) has been used in designing the three-tiered programmes for the role in the retail industry. Each programme equips the candidates with skills related to domain and personal effectiveness.
Retail ACT
A certificate programme, it comprises two-month classroom and one-month internship project work that will provide skilled sales and customer care Floor Ready Personnel (FRP) to NIS Sparta partner clients.
Retail ACT includes domain skills such as Understanding of the Present Retail Scenario in India and Modern Retail Formats; Effective Selling Skills, Customer Care and Service; Merchandise Knowledge and In-store Marketing and Promotions; Skills in Personal Effectiveness including Personal Grooming; Hygiene, Attitude and Behaviour; and Communication and Inter-personal Skills.
The prime objective of the Retail ACT career-oriented training and empowerment module is to create successful retail shop floor professionals who will be well groomed and aligned with the broader vision of the organisation.Candidates must have completed 10+2 / graduation in any discipline with 1-2 years work experience (preferable but not mandatory) and basic English-speaking skills.
A written test for basic aptitude, and personal interview and counselling for attitude and personal profiling will be held. The programme is expected to develop skilled Frontline Sales Executives and Customer Care Associates. “Retail ACT will develop students to take on the role of skilled sales and customer care professionals,” says Manoj Chawla, vice-president, NIS Academy.
Retail LEAD
This programme is aimed at developing professionals who will manage stores for efficient operations; supervise teams; sell effectively in a retail environment; and manage customer relations and in-store promotions. Eligibility is graduation in any discipline, basic English-speaking skills and preferably 1-2 years of work experience. A written test for basic aptitude, and interview for assessing spoken English will be held to screen candidates.
The programme is expected to develop Assistant Store Managers, Floor Supervisors and Team Leaders. “RETAIL Lead will build supervisory skills and make effective supervisors and team leaders out of aspirants,” explains Mr. Chawla.
NIS Academy offers placement assistance to its students. In the past, the Academy has had a successful “School of Employability” initiative with ITC Ltd Lifestyle Retail Business Division (LRBD), under which the Academy sourced and trained frontline Customer Associates for the Wills Lifestyle Retail stores, and placed them at the retail outlets.
According to a recent study, the retail market is set to double in three years to $ 30 billion (FICCI-Ernst and Young report 2007), with organised retail occupying 30 per cent of the market size in the next 10 years. With two million jobs expected to be created by 2010 (as per a study by Elixir Web Solutions, 2007), the industry needs a workforce that is skilled and groomed for different levels.
The situation, however, is that most retail programmes that are being offered today are available largely to graduates, leaving majority of under-graduates/ 12th pass-outs from tier-II and tier-III cities with no option and inadequate skills.
The new retail courses from NIS Academy are aimed at bridging this gap and meet the specific retail industry requirements. A third programme, RETAIL Peak, will be launched shortly.
So, if you are looking for a career in retail, check out these courses.
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