What every single small retail store owner and Store Manager needs to know

The financial success for small retailers of today, sell virtually any group of products, depends on a variety of factors. These included the location of the shop, fixed costs, product lines and competitive pricing, control of variable expenses and loss of control. There are other factors, of course, as the strength of the local economy, but unfortunately there is a critical area that many owners and managers seem to pay little attention. If you are among those who ignore this crucial detail and if you are worried about an economic crisis or if you are competing against big-box stores can not afford not to pay attention for longer.

This area is the "shopping experience and purchase" you are providing to your customers. You're ignoring the number one factor in creating customer loyalty and repeat business which is resulting the lifeblood of your company? There are two key elements that contribute to the shopping and buying experience for your customer.

The first factor is the physical presence, which means your store, your location, your product line and pricing structure. The second and least of equal value, is your level of service and the level of friendship created by your staff.

As you know, business owners spend thousands and thousands of dollars to create a nice looking store with attractive displays and merchandising powerful. Many spend thousands on advertising to attract new customers to their workplace. Yet when it comes to properly train the people who create the shopping experience, namely, their cashiers, clerks and their staff on the sales floor not completely drop the ball. They dropped the ball only when they fail to understand the importance of shopping experience to their customers and only if they can not understand what their employees really are.

Like it or not, the staff members who engage your customers are all sellers. Yes, they are all sellers and require a basic education as such. While most self-service style retail stores are not based on sales in the sales organizations 'heavy' in exactly the same way, your employees and cashiers need to have many of those same skills of successful salespeople have great tickets so they do not inadvertently alienate repeat business or word of mouth referrals.

In light of this, why is it that most retailers and store managers abandoned properly train their clerks and cashiers to low or entry level? I think the answer has four basic components, time, knowledge, perceived cost and poor employee retention. The fact is that these four components are not excuses for avoiding adequate training grounds. Let me explain one at a time.

1 - Time: Owners and managers are busy people who do not usually have from 30 to 40 hours to devote to effective sales training. This is a fact in most shops, especially those frequented. The solution is not difficult. Instead of using people for the management of the trains, one can outsource the formation using a variety of methods. Provide training books of sale. Bring in outside trainers. Find sales training courses through local colleges or training facilities. Find sales training online. Schedule regular meetings short sales that do not require large blocks of time management. Even 15 minutes a day will provide amazing results if handled correctly.

2 - Knowledge: Let's face it, not all owners or managers of retail sales have sufficient knowledge to be competent trainers for sale. This is not a shot at anyone, it is simply reality. The fact that someone might have enough money to own an airline does not qualify to fly the plane, right? The smart move would be to acquire a sales training with or in addition to the staff. It can never hurt. In fact it can go a long way in a bright light on areas of your business that could use some improvement.

3 - perceived cost: Sales training is often thought of as too expensive. Some training. In fact, some of which is ridiculously expensive, but effective sales training is not necessary. It could be as simple as a couple of good books on sales training, a nearby community college course in sales or an online course that can be studied at a pace that you or the employee feels most appropriate. I will say this. The usual cost of lost customers and lost sales caused by under the training of personnel who do not know how to create a positive shopping experience will far exceed the investment in training your people. How many customers you need to lose before you justify a small investment in sales training?

4 - employee retention: One of the comments I heard from most entrepreneurs is "I just get them trained and they go somewhere else and I lost my investment." The statement has some validity, but for sure so do a few others, like this. "Not well trained staff leave, but at a faster overall pace of those trained to do." This is because trained staff enjoy a higher level of job satisfaction. Or, how about this? "At least, while the people trained to work for me, my clients have received the best buying experience and are more likely to return many times."

Recruiting is expensive. You can use the fact that you train your people as a recruiting tool. It 's something that the value employees and demonstrates your commitment to them. Many will reward you with their loyal service in return.

What kind of shopping and buying experience is your business by offering your customers? ......