University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Science (UF/IFAS) Extension Master Gardener volunteers assist extension programs in Walton County by reaching over 5000 clients annually. Many interactions clientele have with extension are withMaster Gardeners, thus it is imperative that Master Gardeners be trained in customer service techniques. Since these skills were not addressed in the initial training course for Master Gardeners, an advanced training/tour series was devised to teach andreinforce those necessary skills. The series, to date, has consisted of nine, two-hour training sessions and was designed for an audience of 25 Master Gardeners per class. Intended outcomes were for 75% of participants to gain knowledge on topics including resources available to Master Gardeners, presentation delivery, office administrative skills, customer service techniques, plant propagation, landscape design, soil test analysis, and plant production/marketing systems. In addition, 50% of attendeeswere expected to use these techniques in interactions with clientele. The workshops included a one-hour presentation on customer service topics and a one-hour, hands-on component that allowed participants to navigate resource sites on their computers, prepare a presentation, field clientele questions in a live scenario, and demonstrate proper email and telephone etiquette. In total, 153 Master Gardeners attended the events and 27 completed an end of program evaluation. Evaluations indicated an average of 85% gained knowledge across all programs with a follow-up survey indicating that 100% of participants have used the knowledge gained in clientele interactions.
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