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Bluemercury spends several days training store associates ahead of a new store opening, including conducting skill-based scenario selling.
“We will run a scenario, like, ‘Susie is walking in and asks you for this product that is either not available or we don’t sell. How would you handle it?’” Jenna Goldberg, head of stores, omnichannel and strategy at Bluemercury, recently told Glossy.
Ongoing brand training, including where a founder or a rep spends face time with staffers or brand representatives in store or via online video sessions, is also seen as essential in associate training. Glossy wrote in the article, “Bringing sweet treats for the staff, like cookies or cupcakes, is an unspoken requirement ubiquitous across retail. It’s also a sign of respect in some retail circles.”
Other advice about training sales associates in Glossy’s article, which also included insight from Goop’s retail team, included matching new associates with a mentor different from their direct manager and monthly visits from a brand’s field support teams for product education.
A blog entry from Yoobic, an operations platform for frontline retail teams, pointed to some common shortfalls in retail associate training, including training only being focused on the employee's first few days or week or involving reams of information irrelevant to the associate’s specific role. Training sessions often are also seen as more “passive and one-sided” than a “social and collaborative” approach that can improve retention.
Bob Phibbs, CEO of the Retail Doctor and a RetailWire Braintrust panelist, in a blog entry highlighted the importance of behavioral retail sales training, or how to greet a stranger and build rapport. He wrote, “All of the product knowledge in the world coupled with the most cutting-edge payment technology is useless if your sales associates don’t know how to greet a customer with an open heart.”
In overcoming challenges in keeping trainees - and trainers - engaged, Phibbs suggests:
· Give plenty of heads-up to your team so they feel comfortable.
· Be patient. Changing behavior takes time.
· Allow time for employees to be off the sales floor and away from distractions.
· Make continuous improvement a brief, daily topic of conversation with your crew.
He further touted the value of sharing deeper metrics, such as average ticket, average number of units per sale and conversion rates, to further connect the training payback to sales. Phibbs wrote, “That goes much further than ‘How much did we do today?’ or ‘How did we compare to last year?'"