COSTA MESA, CA (BRAIN)—The NBDA Board approved a three-year partnership for Growth Cycle to create a dealer-focused staff training program for U.S. bicycle retailers.
Selling Cycling, Growth Cycle’s current program that’s been purchased and used in over 1,600 stores, contains training for sales and customer service, as well as brand-specific product training.
The new brand-neutral program, which rolls out in January 2011, will focus solely on retail topics such as sales technique, customer service, store branding, bike fitting, selling service, merchandising and marketing.
“The list of potential training topics is long,” said Growth Cycle president Ray Keener. “We’ll poll NBDA members to find out where their biggest needs are, then create fresh training to match.”
The agreement calls for Growth Cycle to produce two hours of new content for each of the 2011, 2012, and 2013 seasons. Ownership of the program is 50/50, with pricing to be determined as the content evolves.
“This new initiative fits in perfectly with the NBDA’s Independent Concept program, as well as our long-term mission in training,” said NBDA executive director Fred Clements. “We’re looking forward to reaching more retailers and standardizing industry best practices.”
Dealer surveying will begin in May, a steering committee of training-savvy retailers will form, and a meeting at Interbike in September will finalize content for production in October and November.
NBDA Board member James Moore of Moore’s Bicycle Shop in Hattiesburg, MS, has agreed to serve on the steering committee. “We already use many of the Selling Cycling principles in our store, and we’re happy to be involved in expanding those concepts,” Moore said.
