Finding and hiring the right teacher—and setting standards and expectations for current and future instructors—is a lot easier when you have an official job description.

1) Product Knowledge

Teachers must have comprehensive knowledge of a variety of scrapbook tools, from punches to patterned scissors to die-cuts and patterned papers. A teacher will field a wide variety of questions in a class, and not all of them will be directly related to the topic at hand.

Allow teachers to foster a specialty, too: if an instructor is an expert on punches, let that expertise shine—but not at the expense of your other merchandise.

2) Store Knowledge

Teachers should have an understanding of the store’s policies on returns and exchanges, and acceptable methods of payment. She also needs to know about (and promote) the stores’s special services, like punch cards, gift registries and in-store events. Offering these services to students will help fill dead air while students are working.

The teacher must know where merchandise is located in the store—yes, even those materials she’s not using in the class.

3) Sales Skills

Classes sell product—but only if they’re done correctly. The teacher must be aware of sales opportunities that will occur during the class and take advantage of them with suggestion-selling.

Suggestion selling does not only apply to products, but to other store services and classes. Now is the time to tell students about other classes and pass around the sign-up sheet. Now is the time to ask if everyone has a punch card, receives the store newsletter, knows about the Anniversary Sale or any other upcoming event. Now is also a perfect time to cluster all your newest merchandise into one section to give students a sneak peek at the very latest items.

Because you don’t want students to feel as though they’ve paid for a sales presentation, offer the bulk of the sales information while students are working and at the class wrap-up. Presentation is important: offer suggestion selling as suggestions and information—scrappers consistently report that they want to know more about new products and how to use them. If the teacher is excited about a product, that enthusiasm will translate to the customer.

4) Respecting Customer’s Time

The teacher should incorporate time-saving tactics:

• Pre-cut/ pre-punch paper pieces. Customers often complain of signing up for a class, only to have most of the time consumed by cutting or tracing patterns. (At Hot Off The Press, we Xerox patterns directly onto the paper, so there’s no measuring involved!)
• Pull materials together prior to the class time. All consumable materials should be placed at each student’s seat; all tools to be shared should be placed within easy reach of each student. Students should be able to walk into the classroom and be ready to work, unless they’ve been notified in advance that shopping time will precede the class.
• Teachers must begin and end the class on time. All projects that were advertised must be completed in the class.

5) Student Encouragement

The best way to end a class is on a high note, so customers feel good about their completed project, their new skills and their relationship with the teacher (and the store). One Washington retailer holds up each student’s page to the rest of the class and announces something wonderful about it—whether it’s color combination, beautiful handwriting, or perfect matting. Find something good about each student’s page and share it—this reinforces the customer’s new-found knowledge and the whole concept of scrapbooking.