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Financial success for today's small retailers, selling virtually any group of products, is dependent on a variety of factors. These including store location, fixed overhead costs, product lines and competitive pricing, controlling variable expenses and loss control. There are other factors, of course, such as the strength of the local economy but sadly there is one critical area that many owners and managers seem to pay little attention to. If you find yourself among those who ignore this basic detail and if you are concerned about an economic downturn or if you are competing against big box stores, you can not afford not pay attention any longer.
This area is the "shopping and buying experience" you are providing to your customers. Are you ignoring the number one factor in creating customer loyalty and the resulting repeat business that is your business's lifeblood? There are two basic elements that go into creating the shopping and the buying experience for your customer.
The first factor is your physical presence, meaning your store, your location, your product lineup and your pricing structure. The second and at least of equal value, is your level of service and the level of friendship created by your staff.
As you know, business owners spend thousands of thousands of dollars on creating nice looking stores with attractive displays and powerful merchandising. Many spend thousands on advertising to entice new customers to their place of business. Yet when it comes to properly training the people who create the buying experience, that is, their cashiers, clerks or their on floor sales staff they totally drop the ball. They drop the ball only if they fail to realize the importance of the buying experience to their customers and only if they fail to understand what their staff members really are.
Like it or not, your staff members who engage your customers are all salespeople. Yes, they are all salespeople and they require basic training as such. While most self serve style retail stores do not rely on salespeople in the exact same way 'big ticket' sales organizations do, your clerks and cashiers need to possess many of the same skills as those successful big ticket salespeople have so they do not inadvertently Alienate repeat business or word of mouth referrals.
In light of that, why is it that most retailers and store managers neglect to properly train their low level or entry level sales clerks and casiers? I believe the answer has four basic components, time, knowledge, perceived cost and poor employee retention. The fact is, these four components are excuses not due to avoid proper training. Let me explain each in turn.
1- Time: Owners and managers are busy people who usually do not have 30 to 40 hours to devote to effective sales training. That's a fact in most stores, especially the very busy ones. The solution is not difficult. Instead of using management people to train, you can outsource the training using a variety of methods. Provide sales training books. Bring in outside trainers. Find sales training through local colleges or continuing education facilities. Find sales training online. Plan regular short sales meetings that do not require large blocks of management time. Even 15 minutes a day will provide amazing results if handled correctly.
2. Knowledge: Let's face it, not all store owners or retail managers have sufficient sales knowledge to be competent sales trainers. That's not a knock on anyone, it is simply reality. The fact that someone might have sufficient money to own an airline does not qualify them to fly the plane, does it? The smart move would be to acquire some sales training along with or in addition to your staff. It can never hurt. In fact it can go a long way in shining a light on areas of your business that could use some improvement.
3. Perceived Cost: Sales training is often thought of as being too expensive. Some training is. In fact, some of it is ridiculously expensive, but effective sales training should not be. It could be as simple as a couple of good sales training books, a nearby community college selling course or an online course that can be studied at a pace that you or the employee fees is most appropriate. I will say this. The cost of lost repeat customers and lost sales caused by under training staff who do not know how to create a positive buying experience will far exceed your training investment in your people. How many customers would you need to lose before you would qualify a small investment in sales training?
4. Employee Retention: One of the comments I have heard from most business owners is, "I just get them trained and they go somewhere else and I've lost my investment." The statement has some validity for sure but so do a couple of others, such as this one. "Non-trained staff leave as well but at an overall faster rate than trained ones do." This is because trained staff enjoy a higher level of job satisfaction. Or, how about this one? "At least while trained people work for me my customers received the best possible buying experience and are more likely to return time and again."
Recruiting is expensive. You can use the fact that you train your people as a recruiting tool. It is something that employees value and it shows your commitment to them. Many will reward you with their loyal service in return.
What kind of shopping and buying experiences is your business providing to your customers?
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