The Spring River Area Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a free training for any business in the tri-county area of Sharp, Fulton and Izard Counties that deal with tourists or other visitors to the area to a professionally presented and prepared seminar in customer services skills. The class will be held at Ozarka College in Ash Flat on Wednesday, December 1, and participants may choose the morning class from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., or the afternoon class from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The program is geared towards owners, managers and key employees to help them train their staff in better customer service.
The topics include understanding how customer service is linked to economic viability for both businesses and the community, awareness of what customers need and want, and the importance of positive first impressions. Customer service is an integral part of increasing local tourism.
According to the 2019 Arkansas Tourism Economic Impact studies tourism in the tri-county area alone generated $1.63 million in local taxes and created $8.69 million in jobs. Creating a positive, welcoming atmosphere for visitors also helps bring new businesses to the area.
“Through collaborations with the Arkansas State University’s Delta Center for Economic Development (DCED) and the Create Projects Initiative, the SRACC can offer this training that is specifically geared toward our local community needs for free,” said SRACC President Lauren Siebert. “We highly recommend anyone who deals with the public, especially tourists and visitors to the area, to attend one of these classes. Presenting a positive attitude toward the customer and the region will help our region not only by encouraging tourists to return, but also by encouraging companies scouting our area to look closer at what we have to offer. A great example of this is a company like Emerson Professional Tools MFG LLC, that will be bringing close to 250 new high paid jobs to the area.”
Dr. David Pearlman, Associate Director of the Hospitality Management Program at Arkansas State University and Dr. Cliff Jones, Deputy Directory of the Delta Center for Economic Development (DCED),have developed and will be presenting the class. Learning objectives include defining, understanding and demonstrating customer service and will include some role playing and techniques in handling difficult customers.
The program was funded by a grant from the Create Bridges/Create Projects initiative designed to help rural communities work together to build and develop rural innovations for economic development. Additionally, the DCED discounted their services to accommodate the grant limitations to make this training economically feasible to bring to the area.
To assure enough materials are prepared, attendees must reserve their space by Nov. 29 by calling 870-856-3210 or emailing [email protected].
