Factors to improve staff training, performance, sales and customer services.

 

                                       Figure :1 Source: Google:selbststaending.de

Do you think your company could use more motivated, top performing employees? Do you feel as if your staff could do better at selling and serving customers? Below points tackles staff training and offers best practices on how you can facilitate effective learning to ensure that your staff performs at their best.

Hire for attitude, train for skill.

The success of your training program doesn’t just rely on your teaching methods, it also hinges on the inherent attitudes and values of your staff. As Bruce Nordstrom puts it, “We can hire nice people and teach them to sell, but we can’t hire salespeople and teach them to be nice.” (McNamara, 2008)

That’s why it pays to hire trainable individuals with the right attitude. It’ll be much easier to train a positive person who’s open to learning and who shares your values than it is to modify someone’s default attitude and disposition. Nordstrom is one company that hires people based on attitude rather than experience. In the book The Nordstrom Way authors Robert Spector & Patrick McCarthy talk about how the department store puts the attitude over aptitude concept to practice. “The company hires nice people and teaches them to sell rather than trying to retrain salespeople taught other methods. Nordstrom believes the best people are have been trained by their parents while growing up.” (Oregon, 2004)

 

Another notable example is JetBlue. According to the Disney Institute, the airline believes that you can train for skill, but not for attitude, and it “has embedded this conviction in its front-line hiring process.” To find individuals who have a natural service inclination, JetBlue conducts group interviews and observes how candidates interact with one another. This allows interviewees to assess applicants’ people and communications skills in a way that can’t be done during a one-on-one interview (Oregon, 2004).

Get to know each employee and tailor your training programs accordingly

Once you have some new hires, take the time to learn more about each individual so you can figure out the best training method for them.

“The first thing I like to do is learn about my new employee; who they are, why they chose this job, what motivates them, how they learn best in school, their interests, etc.,” (McNamara, 2008)

“Learning about their motivations for working in their role helps me figure out how to motivate them during training. Knowing their preferred learning methods helps me customize my training approach based on how they best retain information,” he adds.

Use a mix of learning tools and methods

“People learn and retain information best when they are using several aspects of their brain simultaneously,” (Trevor, 2009)

“So first they may hear the information from me, then they will read about it in a book or manual, then they will see it demonstrated in person, then they will role play it themselves, and finally, they will teach what they’ve learned to others. The more I can incorporate various aspects of their brain during training, the greater they’ll be able to learn and retain information.”

 

To ensure that your employees can internalize what’s being taught, utilize multiple learning methods to train them. For example, if you’re training your staff on how to use software such as your POS or inventory system, it’s best to demonstrate the programs in person, and then refer them to how-to videos that they can come back to.

Or, if you’re training them on customer service, you can verbally teach your staff about company policies, reinforce the information through handouts or videos, then practice everything by role-playing.

Role – play with your employees regularly

Role-playing can be quite effective, especially when it comes to sales. As the team at Graff Retail notes, role-playing “can be your 1 key ingredient to help bring your sales training to life and it will be the very thing that makes your staff finally just ‘get it’” (Oregon, 2004)

Role-playing “helps them crystallize their training through practice and repetition. This also helps when looking for opportunities to develop their skills further.”

 

                                          Figure 2:Source : Google:entrepreneur.com

 

Pressed for time? Implement modular training

Running a retail store can be time-consuming. If you or your staff have issues with completing the training sessions, consider modular training. This entails offering short and flexible training segments instead of long and winding sessions.

 

“Because of scheduling and the cost of including staff not scheduled when the training occurs, it may be helpful to have training that is modular and can fit into 1-hour segments, as opposed to having training that requires long periods of time,” says Hank Boyer, President & CEO Boyer Management Group.

“Modular training enables staff to be brought in prior to store opening, or stay after store closing, if it cannot be accommodated any other way,” he adds.

 

       Figure 3:Video:Source:You Tube: improve staff training

 Conclusion:

 

After practicing mentioned factors, find the better outcome as, individual contributors become more productivity, organizational performance improves, sales reps report increase skill enhancement, increase employee engagement and improve employee retention rates to the organization.

 

References

McNamara, C., 2008. Employee Training and Development: Reasons and Benefits. New York: LLC.

Oregon, L., 2004. Staff Training and Development. 1st Edition ed. New Jersy: Pearson Publishers .

Trevor, W., 2009. Staff Training and development. 2nd Edition ed. New York: Pearson Publishers.