Issue 7 - September 2007

This month I have some exciting news to share. Mike Petersen and I have just returned from presenting our online courses to the NHFA’a membership and education committees at Lake Tahoe, California. I'm happy to report the NHFA board has selected the Furniture Training Company as an official NHFA service provider. This recognition by one of the important leaders in our industry is greatly appreciated.

This expands our discount program, making all NHFA, WHFA, HFIA association members eligible to receive discounts on future purchases. It's exciting to know that even more furniture retailers will be using these courses to develop their sales staff and increase sales.

Issue 7 - September 2007

In This Issue...

• Feature Story: Training Makes the Difference
• Article: Principles for Implementing Effective Training – Part 2
• Did You Know...

Feature Story: Training Makes the Difference

From the desk of Mike Petersen

One of the ways I monitor the pulse of the industry and especially the customers of the Furniture Training Company is by regularly having conversations with FTC customers and other retailers. While talking with Tommy Davis of Olinde's Furniture in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I asked him if he could quantify the improvement in his sales associates since they began using our training. Although he was unable to apply an exact figure to the changes, he told me "There is absolutely a change in the confidence level or our sales associates." He went on to say that "I am a believer in performance based training, and this training is perfect for changing performance."

Principles for Implementing Effective Training – Part 2

In last month's article, I introduced the principles of Keeping the Goal in Mind and Transfer of Training to Practice (click here to see last month's article). This month I will discuss two additional principles for implementing effective training programs, Chunking and Accountability.

Principle 3: Chunking

The field of cognitive psychology has provided some very valuable insights into the human capacity for learning. It has been demonstrated, for example, that there are definite limits to short-term memory that govern the number of different pieces of information a person can remember. The principle of chunking acknowledges this limitation. Chunking refers to organizing the information to be learned in such a way as to not exceed the capacity of short-term memory.

Read the full article...