BDC and partners bring sales expert to South Coast

National expert on selling and merchandising Bruce Baker will be in Coquille and Reedsport later this month presenting a workshop on visual merchandising, sales techniques and customer service.

The workshop, “Visual Merchandising and Spontaneous Buying: Sales Techniques to Make Your Cash Register Ring,” is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon on March 21 at the Coquille Community Center, 115 N. Birch St., in Coquille and again from 3 to 6 p.m. the same day at the Port of Umpqua, 364 W. Fourth St., in Reedsport.

In the visual merchandising portion of the workshop, Baker discusses how to create displays that attract attention and make customers want to buy. Retailers, crafters, growers and producers will learn techniques that provide displays with an impact to draw customers and set products apart from the competition. Baker focuses another segment of the workshop on spontaneous buying techniques. Business owners learn what staff members should do from greeting the customer to closing the sale. Participants will learn to convert customers into repeat loyal buyers, what to say to capture customers’ attention and reading body language.

Baker is a consultant, business owner and jeweler who has conducted more than 500 seminars throughout the United States and Canada. The workshops are sponsored by the Umpqua Community Development Corporation in cooperation with the Coquille Farmer’s Market, Port of Umpqua, Reedsport Chamber of Commerce, Southwestern Oregon Community College Business Development Center and Umpqua Bank. The training is funded with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and is made possible through cooperation with Connecting Oregon for Rural Entrepreneurship.

For more information or to reserve space, those interested can contact the Southwestern Business Development Center at (541) 756-6778.

Press Release Date: March 12 , 2007