Retail Customer Experience: Training for Unit-Level Success for Holiday 2009
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from Retail Customer Experience, a daily news portal devoted to helping retailers differentiate the shopping experience.
A study published in the July 2009 edition of the Journal of Applied Psychology linked people processes, such as selection and training, with unit performance measures, such as retention, customer service and profitability.
The study looked at 681 fast food franchises within the same parent system all of which sold the same products. The stores that most effectively implemented their people processes saw a 15 percent improvement in retention, an eight percent improvement in customer service performance and an 11 percent improvement in profits over expectations.
These findings become highly significant for retailers who added seasonal retail salespeople to their team. In many cases, retailers will not be able to provide seasonal salespeople with the same the amount of training as permanent team members. However, training must extend beyond how to use the POS system and also cover topics which form the core of the customer experience:
- Greeting and welcoming customers
- Creating a bond
- Discovering the customer's wants and needs
- Overcoming objections
- Identifying additional needs and selling opportunities
- Closing the deal and thanking the customer
Here are a few tips:
Leverage existing training programs: Training programs create no benefits when they sit idly on shelves. If a retailer offers sales training and customer service training programs, they should not sit stagnant and unused. Even seasoned professionals can go through a refresher of some of the best content.
Segment roles and training: Seasonal help should not be expected to become experts within a few weeks. One smart approach is to segment customer service roles. Key sales tasks can be identified that newly hired individuals can perform successfully. Associates should be coached on when to seek help from a more experienced team member.
Share war stories: Leverage the knowledge of seasoned sales professionals who have worked through previous holiday seasons. This type of training is known as error-exposure training. It may seem counter-intuitive to teach learners by asking veteran salespeople to share mistakes. However, interactions with customers can be complex and require people to adapt at a moment's notice. Research shows that when rookies learn through error-exposure training, they become better at making situational judgments themselves.
Aligning people processes: Customer-centric training programs should align with all of the people processes: how salespeople are selected, trained, motivated and managed. If programs need a tune-up, the gap can be filled in several ways, including purchasing from an established off-the-shelf vendor, or working with professionals who can build custom training materials that fit a retailer's organizational values and selling style.
Discussion Questions: What are some key strategies in training seasonal sales help? What are the expected limits in training and motivating seasonal versus regular staff? What do you think of the suggestions offered in the article?