Last week we started the conversation about how to re-imagine our approach to training on the front lines of our retail stores. We are dispelling the myths about the excuses we’ve all embraced for years and opening our eyes to an entirely new mentality. It’s all about empowering our staff, building them up and giving them what they need to feel good about the roles they play in the business and be successful.
We looked at the issue of TIME last week, so let’s de-bunk the other top obstacles we hear all too often:
The Staff Thinks They Don’t Need It
We hear this one all the time. Many managers are faced with overcoming this objection. We find that it’s the top sales people in the store or the veteran members of the team who don’t think they need to work on their selling skills. No doubt, these strong personalities are making it difficult for the store manager to engage the entire team. Don’t despair. There’s a way to turn this around just by changing your approach and making the training less about actual sales skills and to humanize it a bit.
Top sellers and veteran team members are typically the ones the rest of the team look up to, so who better to help you coach the rest of the team! Get these people on your side by giving them a role in training. Your staff will enjoy learning from the peers they admire and your top sellers will be motivated knowing they are helping develop the rest of the team. In the process, your top sellers are still learning and growing themselves. Everyone wins and there’s a real comradery that you couldn’t achieve any other way.
The Training Is Out of Date and Boring
This actually may be true, but it’s more likely that the training content your retailer has provided is solid it’s just the approach or delivery that needs to change. It’s the way you frame the training that will make the difference here.
Make it fun! Get the entire team involved! We all know that the end result to training is improved store performance, but make sure your staff understands the benefit to them as people. How will it help them in their role out on the sales floor and in life in general? Shift your thinking and you’ll get a different reaction from your team. You’ll quickly find that training isn’t boring at all!
Join us in changing the approach and mentality we have about training out in our stores! We are looking to share your success stories, so please email us at [email protected] and tell us how you are relating to your staff in your day-to-day training moments…we want to hear your voice!
Blog Authors: Mary & Kim
Mary Gordon and Kim McCutcheon have been supporting retail front lines for as long as they can remember. A dynamic duo, Mary and Kim understand what it takes to make training work at store level and know how to inspire, coach and support retail teams in all of their training endeavours.