4 Key Areas Any Retail Training Program Must Address

Retailers invest time and treasure in recruiting and hiring new employees.  But with a national average turnover rate of 70% or more many of these retail team members leave or fail within the first year.  Studies have shown that when retail employees take part in an on-going retail training program they are up to 4 times more productive and are at least twice as likely to stay with their new employer than those who do not receive regular training and feedback.

 

With those statistics in mind and based on our experience as retail training consultants here are four key areas that your team members will need training on in order to become successful and reach their maximum potential.

·         Customer Service and Retail Selling Skills:Many companies think of these as two separate areas, but the truth is that great sales people are great at customer service.  So you need to link both aspects into an integrated approach to how to successfully work with a customer.  This includes how to make initial contact,  how to determine the customer’s needs, offering complete solutions, motivating the customer to say “yes”, closing the sale, handling objections, adding on, and following up after the sale.

·         Product Knowledge:Having a complete understanding of your products’ features and benefits gives your team members the confidence to sell effectively.  It also ensures that your customers will be sold the right product at the right time and for the right price – thereby improving customer satisfaction and reducing refunds.

·         Operational Knowledge and Skills: This include how to use the point-of-sale system, how to process special orders, checking-in stock, maintain the store in a sales-ready condition, opening and closing procedures, and other key aspects of running the business on a day-to-day basis.

·         Understanding Company Policies:  Too often, team members are given their employee handbook the day they are hired, but it is never reviewed with them.  The same goes for other key policy documents.  Team members should not only understand the Company policies, but also why those policies are in place.  This includes everything from attendance, to customer service, to vacation, to payroll policies.

Every one of these areas is critical to your team members’ ultimate success.  No one area is more important than the other, so make sure you spend a few minutes today thinking about your retail training program and how it can be improved and if you think our team might be able to lend a hand, contact us today!

Want to learn more about how you can improve the retail training programs?  Contact us for a free one-hour consultation!