Building Blocks for Success

The Klamath County Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Klamath Community College to bring you Building Blocks for Success - an exciting program that helps strengthen workforce, professional, and management development. The courses were chosen with a broad audience in mind. "We wanted the courses to be suitable for both small and large businesses, for staff as well as management," says Heather Tramp, the Chamber's program and marketing coordinator.

The classes are scheduled the first Friday of each month around the lunch hour and will be held at Klamath Community College. Because of the unique timing around the lunch hour, students are encouraged to bring their lunches. Coffee, tea, cookies and fruit will be provided.

The following is the schedule through June 2009:

• Delivering Outstanding Customer Service
  February 6, 2009 (1 p.m. to 3 p.m.)
  Course # BUSX752P.02
  Customers are looking for more than just good service, they are seeking an outstanding customer service experience. It is said dissatisfied customers share their bad experience with seven other people. To earn customer loyalty, service must significantly exceed customer expectations. This workshop will focus on tips and techniques for meeting - and exceeding - your customers needs!
• Cultivating the Spirit of Leadership
  March 6, 2009 (12 p.m. to 2 p.m.)
  Course # BUSX752P.04
  This workshop is grounded in Peter Drucker's philosophy that Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things. Leadership is a quality that can be developed and encouraged in both yourself and others. Learn how to identify and cultivate leadership skills that motivate employees and values dedication, collaboration, creativity, and caring.
• Communication Basics
  April 3, 2009 (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
  Course # BUSX752P.02
  Basic communication skills are critical to every job and relationship and being an effective communicator takes skill and practice. This workshop will focus on understanding communication styles, generous listening concepts, the importance of verbal and non-verbal cues, common barriers to communication, email etiquette, and techniques for building agreement.
• Effective Interviewing Techniques
  May 1, 2009 (1 p.m. to 3 p.m.)
  Course # BUSX752P.04
  Job seekers are more prepared than ever for the traditional questions employers usually ask in interviews. Learn about the importance of pre-interview screening strategies, explore the concept of behavioral interviewing, gain experience in the use of probing questions and discover tools for selecting a candidate that will result in matching the right person to the right job.
• Delivering Outstanding Customer Service over the Telephone
  June 5, 2009 (12 p.m. to 2 p.m.)
  Course # BUSX752P.06
  The telephone is an important first impression for your customer; in fact, it's taken the place of face-to-face contact in businesses all over the world. Topics covered in this workshop include: effective phone greetings and meaningful messages, assessing and checking vocal quality, call processing strategies, handling the I don't want to hold button, tips for dealing with the irate phone customer, ways to help the customer when you aren't the one they want to talk to and even includes some stress management tools for phone people!

Chamber members receive a significant discount - classes are only $30 for Chamber members, $45 for non-Chamber members. To register or for more information, please call Klamath Community College at 541-880-2240.