How to Train My Retail Staff
The question “how to train my retail staff” repeatedly crops up in the Google searches of many retail store owners. You do not have to spend your precious time on the internet anymore; we have listed a number of approaches that you can use to effectively train your retail staff.
Observation/Job shadowing
The power of a great example matters a lot when it comes to retail staff training. Show your junior retail staff how to go about their duties by encouraging them to observe your best and most experienced retail employees in action.
Classroom training
At times, many retail store owners ignore this training method because it leaves the stores understaffed. Additionally, some retailers claim that this method is quite expensive – paying for space, reimbursing mileage for those who attended, food, drinks, etc. However, when you want to make sure that a message is efficiently delivered, nothing beats the face-to-face training approach offered in a classroom setting.
Role Playing
The saying, “Practice makes perfect” and this applies perfectly to retail training. Role-playing entails having your retail employees assume different situational roles and have them practice different customer scenarios that may potentially arise in their line of duty. What better way of assessing how well the learner understands what he/she has learned than watching their behavior?
Social networks
The average age of people employed in retail stores is less than 30 years. This is the group that is extremely comfortable communicating via Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social media channels. Why not try delivering your training via these channels? After all, your employees spend a lot of their time refreshing their social media apps for new updates.
Training videos
Whether delivered via DVD or online, videos are a perfect way to convey a regular training message about your services or product’s features.
Online Courses
Online training is an ideal technique to communicate your practices, standards, and product benefits to your retail team. Employees can complete these online courses independently, though you can always monitor their progress and results via the web. Programs with bite-sized information can be developed to engage learners during the slower hours of the day at the store.
On-the-Job training
On the job training allows retail staff to put into practice what they have learned. Training occurs within the workers’ normal job setting and may take place as they perform actual work. As a trainer, the success of this approach is grounded on observing your staff's behavior and then providing corrective actions or praise as they work.
These are not the only methods retail owners can use to deliver training. What matters most is to employ a training method that will best suit your budget, staff, and organization procedures. Also, remember, training is an ongoing process. Regularly updating your retail staff on their training will always keep them razor-sharp.
If you’d like to know more about how SC Training (formerly EdApp) can help your internal training practices with all of the above features, get in touch at enquiries@edapp.com. You can also try SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Mobile LMS and authoring tool for free by signing up here.
Curated course examples:
Related:
5 tips on retail training
Onboarding retail staff with training
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