Wollongong City Council is joining with the NSW Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services to run free workshops in retail trading.

Council’s City Centre Revitalisation Manager Mark Grimson said the Council is part funding these free retail workshops for all retail businesses in the Wollongong Local Government Area.

“These workshops are aimed to provide retail businesses with an opportunity to further polish their skills in areas like customer service, professional selling and merchandising displays,” Mr Grimson said.

Business owners will need to book a place in the workshops.

Participants will also have an opportunity to book a free one-on-one session with presenter, Bob Johnson at their place of business on the day following the workshop.  Please note that the number of available sessions will be limited.

The workshops will offer free advice on the following:

Professional Selling Skills:  Some people think that salespeople are ‘born’ – this is not true.  Selling is an art involving a collection of unique communications skills which can be learned.

Visual Merchandising & Display Techniques:  Visual merchandising and display are probably two of the retail industry’s best kept secrets.  Excellent merchandising can attract more customers and does not need to entail a large capital outlay.

Presenter for the workshops is Bob Johnson; he has a wealth of experience in the areas of management, marketing, service, selling and merchandising.  He is a training facilitator and keynote speaker at conferences and is known for his energetic presentation.

Workshop locations, dates & registration info:

Professional Selling Skills
Date:  28 September 2011
Time:  5.30pm to 8.30pm
Location:  Wollongong Golf Club
Address:  Corner Corrimal and Bank Streets Wollongong
RSVP:  22 September 2011

Visual Merchandising and Display Techniques
Date:  2 November 2011
Time:  5.30pm to 8.30pm
Location:  Wollongong City Gallery
Address:  Corner Burelli and Kembla Streets Wollongong
RSVP:  27 October 2011

All enquiries and registrations are to be directed to Linda Sekulovski on (02) 4225 9055 or via email to linda.sekulovski@business.nsw.gov.au .

For more information you should visit the Council’s website at or contact Council’s Customer Service centre on (02)  4227 7111.