Retail Training Topics: The Five Core Areas for Improving Retail Skills
Many retailers seek our firm’s guidance with regard to designing retail training programs. And virtually every retailer that we speak with – whether big or small – tells us that they believe in the importance of training their team. Yet, when we dig in we often find that their training programs are solely focused on product training. They know that product training is not enough and that they need to improve the retail skills of their team members, but they struggle with getting their retail training programs off of the ground.
In many cases the issue is that they may not have access to high quality content for retail skills training. At other times it simply is a matter of prioritizing and creating a list of core retail training topics that their trainers can focus on. With that in mind, here is a list of the five key topics on which you should focus your retail skills training:
1. New Company Orientation Training
- Company history, mission, and values
- Customer service standards
- Basic retail selling skills
- Handling difficult customers
- Your role in the company
- Goals /Expectations and understanding key performance metrics
- Using the point-of-sale system
2. Retail Selling Skills Training
- Preparing for selling
- Greeting and building rapport
- Understanding customer needs / Qualification
- Motivating your customer to buy / Presentation
- Closing the sale and overcoming objections to the sale
- Building the basket / Suggestive selling
- Follow-up and building referrals
3. Retail Management Training
- Time management / Getting things done
- Setting goals and coaching team members
- Recruiting, interviewing, on-boarding new team members
- Understanding the P&L
- How to run a store meeting
4. Retail Operations Training
- Inventory management / Product lifecycle
- Visual imaging / Retail merchandising standards
- Payroll management and scheduling
5. Product Training
- Key features and benefits
- Competitive landscape
- Product-specific objections
- Accessories and attachments
Good retail skills training is essential to increasing your business’ sales and profits. It is a great way to boost the morale and confidence of your team members and it helps you to hold your retail associates accountable for their results.
Would you like to learn more about how you can increase your retail results through affordable retail training programs? If so, contact us for a free one-hour consultation and needs assessment!
David Goodwin is the Principal of the Retail Advocacy Group. As a 30 year veteran of the retail industry he has hired, trained, and performance managed thousands of retail sales representatives and retail managers. You can learn more about instructor-led, e-learning, and other training solutions for retailers at www.retailertrainingservices.com