Ni Aug09 PG14-15.PASSED:NOV_08_p.6-13_News_legal.qxd 23/07/2009 09:23 Page 15
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Managers should observe staff on a busy day and ask customers afterwards
whether they received a satisfactory level of service. If you are a one man band,
you can ask the question yourself: “Have I done everything I could do for you
today? Is there anything else you would like?”
We also look at how the customer is greeted. A customer should always be
acknowledged. In the Nursery market I imagine this is particularly important as
it may be the first time someone has ever walked into this kind of
environment, so you need to make as much effort as possible to get to know
your customer.
When it comes to external product training, some manufacturers are very
good; others will come down and tell you all about the product but are just
not able to fully engage the retailer or their staff with it. It’s about establishing
a good relationship with the manufacturer and making training as fun and as
accessible as possible. People in retail like to learn on their feet. They want to
touch a product and have a go at it themselves. People learn in three ways –
kinaesthetically, visually and aurally. In our training we touch on all three and
will include exercises that allow trainees to do all three.
After care is also an important part of the training process. Is that customer
confident enough to come back and ask questions? In your market, a sales
advisor should be caring, concerned and technical. If a person is not passionate
about the product, it is difficult to train them.
behaviour led; staff should be aware, approachable and available at all times.
People with smaller businesses will ask themselves whether or not it is worth
We create a culture of behaviour, training employees to serve our particular
spending on training. In answer to that, training must be intentional and ROI
customer. We always use positive language – if you know somebody is really
must be measured. If you invest in your staff they will be motivated and
bad at something you don’t tell them, you explore what is going wrong and
engaged – they will be happier at work if you respect and develop them.
have faith in their potential to learn.
Shops nowadays face stiff competition from online retailers, so the customer
Part of our managers’ training is geared toward understanding the target
service element is more important than ever. If someone has made a decision
market. They must know who their customer is and demonstrate good market
to come into your shop, it is because they are looking for a certain level of
awareness – this can be achieved through customer profiling and feedback.
customer service and if you train your staff effectively they will get exactly that.
We will assess a manager when they join us and suggest a suitable programme
All training should be geared toward driving the business – stock loss, security,
of training to help them build on their skills. Many companies make the
health & safety.
mistake of failing to align their training with the overall goals for the business.
Ask - what does our customer want and what will drive more money into the
Then of course, there is Silent Service. What does the store look like? Is this
business? We do a proper analysis of a store’s training needs because we see
product where you would expect it to be? Is the shop full? Silent service is all
the benefit of it every day.
about what the customer can see. If a customer does not need help from an
advisor, he or she will still need help from the shop. It is vital that you ensure
I agree with your findings so far, often the first thing to get cut in a recession is
that staff are motivated to provide an excellent silent service, in addition to
training, but this should always be the last. Staff need to be motivated for the
more direct customer care.
shop to make money and if you invest time in training them, they will be. It
costs less to train and retain staff than it does to keep starting from scratch
It’s all about training people to make a good impression. You know your staff
with new employees, so it makes total commercial sense. I have conducted a
and industry – there is nothing a costly external training advisor could do to
number of ‘exit interviews’ over the years and the most common reason for an
train your staff better than you. It doesn’t have to be expensive, or even
employee leaving is because they have received little or no training, leaving
require employees to work overtime. You can carry out role play exercises
them feeling unvalued and demotivated.
advising on best practice on an ad hoc basis. Or perhaps even a team building
evening with nibbles and drinks. The only external training that is of benefit
In smaller independent shops, the manager/owner will very much know and
will be the product training offered by manufacturers.
understand the customer. They will probably have had conversations with them
and know a bit about their background. Our training is very much geared
At some stage the recession will end and if you are to emerge from it
toward the ‘bespoke customer’ and in your industry; I imagine it is much the
even more successful, you must invest in your pool of talent now with
same. You must never presume that you are dealing with customers in the
a programme of training that works.
correct way, unless you actually ask.
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