What is FlexQuiz?
FlexQuiz is a way to help new staff members learn some of the basic pet store product knowledge mostly on their own, as a prelude to years of using the store as a learning tool. Experienced people will enjoy FlexQuiz as a review, or to help them improve their knowledge of areas outside their main expertise. Stores that use FlexQuiz can develop a more cross-trained, less departmentalized and more efficient staff.

FlexQuiz is available only to members of NexPet.

Train People Using Almost No Management Time.
With FlexQuiz, you, the owner or manager, give the employee the FlexQuiz book, which contains both quizzes and answers. The person being trained can study on his/her own. The owner or manager quizzes the person being trained section-by-section, module-by-module, according to a schedule we suggest you determine in advance.

An experienced employee can substitute as tester for the owner or store manager. We suggest you develop criteria in advance what constitutes passing a module, e.g. 100%, 70%, etc. Be prepared with a policy for employees who can’t answer most, or many, of the questions accurately, or who fail repeatedly.

“Keep Track of What You Learn” At the end of the book is the chart “Keep Track of What You Learn.” This chart can be used to record each person’s training schedule, and when he has passed the quiz for each module. Two of the column headings have been left blank for flexibility of use. A loose copy is provided to each store and additional copies are available at www.nexpet.com.

Administering FlexQuiz in Sections.
For people with limited knowledge, we suggest you ask them to look at each module separately and to start with the area they are most comfortable with or interested in. Tell them you expect them to master one module first, and that you will cover the others in the future. Assure them that as they are spending lots of time with these products, they will learn about them more easily than subjects in school. Remember that a 100+ page course might be intimidating to some people.

FlexQuiz as a Management Tool.
Some employers tell their people they will not be eligible for raises until they pass, or that they will receive a bonus if they do pass (or a smaller bonus for passing each module) Providing a Certificate Of Completion is a good idea, and enclosed is a blank certificate. Your local copy shop can copy this onto good beige or gray stock providing you with a quantity.

Train Your People with Your Own Ideas.
At a few points in the program, blank lines are provided for you to enter your own ideas, e.g. product recommendations and other directions to employees. To save time you may ask the people being trained to figure out what to enter in the blanks.

Care Sheets
The FlexQuiz workbooks contain samples of NexPet’s collection of care sheets. Our care sheets are unique; they can be downloaded from our website or the enclosed CD and then customized. A complete collection of hard copies is in your membership kit.