Creative Channel Services has retooled its CE Smart consumer electronics retail sales associates training program. It will have a more customized education format and is being relaunched in June.
CE Smart, which debuted last fall, will be held in six cities starting June 8-9 at the Burbank Airport Hilton in the Los Angeles area. The other cities and tentative dates are: Chicago, Sept. 1-2; Dallas, Sept. 14-15; Washington D.C., Oct. 5-6; San Francisco, Nov. 2-3; and New York, Nov. 9-10.
Here are highlights of the new format:
- CE Smart is now a two-day event: 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. the first day and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the second day.
- There are three venues from which to choose: product pavilion; a half-hour training room; and/or a one-hour training room.
- Manufacturers train only those retailers that distribute their products and vendors determine which departments they are interested in training: audio, video, audio/video or personal electronics.
- Manufacturers will now only pay for the sales associates that they train, along with a lower setup cost by venue.
- And an “Integrated Training Solution” is available, which is a CE Smart annual package for manufacturers. The package includes one featured product on the CE Smart Online, providing online product training for all national, regional and specialty stores.
A preliminary list of manufacturers participating is: Bose, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Monster Cable, Philips, Sony, Thomson, Yamaha, Zenith, Recoton, Sima, VTech, Fuji and Yamaha.
In the six events sales associates from Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears will have sessions that are designed specifically for them. Other retailers who will be participating include: Fry’s Electronics, Good Guys, Ken Crane’s, Montgomery Ward, Douglas TV, United Audio, Tweeter etc., Brad Ragan, 6th Avenue Electronics, J&R Music World, Nationwide, P.C. Richard & Son, The Wiz and Tops Appliance.
For more information on CE Smart contact Penny Catanzaro, consumer electronics VP of Creative Channel Services at: 310-306-5640 ext. 305, or [email protected]
