The people whom you have hired to sell your products and services are crucial to your store’s success. If they are disengaged, untrained, or unhappy, they will be poor ambassadors for your brand and will fail to give your customers the individualized, specialized shopping experience they have come to expect in this era of cutthroat competition. Fortunately, there are concrete steps you can take to encourage your staff and foster a positive environment that will ultimately mean added profits for your business.
1. Use your point of sale system effectively.
Your POS might do a great job at securely taking customers’ money and completing the tasks involved in retail payment processing, but that is only scratching the surface of what it can bring to your store. It is also outfitted with a robust suite of employee management skills that enable you to send information about schedules and shift changes in real time. Furthermore, the system can track each individual sales associate’s performance, giving you numerous opportunities to reward success or initiate training if there is a gap in a person’s skill set.
Once you see where someone is succeeding, you can give them more of that type of work, leading to higher levels of satisfaction that customers can see, hear, and feel. Believe it or not, this positivity translates into sales.
2. Foster an environment of healthy competition.
Your goal is to create a milieu in which your staff will strive to do their best. Often, this will mean surpassing other colleagues. Make contests and publish results in a way that promotes your overall company goal. Celebrate the victor, but never overlook an opportunity to tell others what they did right as well.
3. Emphasize continuous learning in your company culture.
Constantly encourage everyone on your sales team to keep growing. There is always room for more product knowledge, territory and merchandise management, prospect exploration, and professional communications. When everyone learns together, they can process their new knowledge collaboratively for the greater good, leading to higher morale and increased cooperation even among diverse groups with divergent priorities.
4. Treat every member as an individual.
Just as customers like to be given a personalized shopping experience, so do the members of your sales team. The support strategies that work with one person may fall flat with the next, so never assume that everyone is alike even if they are on the same team and are friends. Believe it or not, one of the best ways to create efficiency in your staff members is to take the extra time required in getting to know each one of them personally.
5. Be transparent.
People thrive when they have a clear idea of what is expected of them. While there are some things you can’t possibly predict, most of the variables people encounter on a daily basis can be controlled. If you haven’t done so already, create a comprehensive staff manual that contains all of the human resources, internet security, staff rights and expectations, policies, and best practices for your company.
When your sales team is informed and engaged, they become more than just successful. Additionally, they are transformed into partners who are ready, willing, and able to help you to further your company’s goals and provide stellar customer service each and every day. Happy associates really can become a force of nature that helps to move your store to unparalleled levels of success.
