Training

People are at the heart of specialist retail and will be your greatest asset. Making the most of your people will be a crucial factor in the long term success of your business.

Training is now an increasingly important area for cycle retailers.

There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, better trained staff can provide a better service which equals increased turnover with greater efficiency and improved profitability. Investing in training helps develop staff to enable them to offer customers the right services, whilst also demonstrating to your staff that they are a valuable part of your business.

Secondly, promoting recognised qualifications and your investment in training is a great way of telling customers you care about high standards and good service. It will help give customers peace-of-mind and its also a useful way of attracting new members to your team.

Recognised aualifications and accreditations also help to differentiate your business from the competition, especially non-specialist cycle retailers. Qualifications also provide useful back-up for retailers in cases of fault and error where expertise is called into question.

At present the majority of training and qualifications focus upon technical skills; which is no surprise given the nature of the products and services specialist cycle shops offer. Retail training courses are coming online under the Cytech banner.

Cytech is the industry recognised training and accreditation scheme for cycle retailers and their staff, and is endorsed by ACT and leading cycle manufacturers and suppliers. Cytech is the only qualification which has been developed specifically for cycle retailers, offering a range of options all with varying levels of complexity to meet the needs of your business.

Cytech qualifications can be obtained via Government funding - where candidates are under 25 yrs old - and also by self-funding. ACT members - and ActSmart subscribers - can save money on the costs of training courses.

When considering undertaking any form of training it is important to explore your reasons for doing so and what benefits you wish it to bring to your business as well as the time and costs involved.