This post is part of Auntie Kate’s 35th anniversary of being a consignment shopkeeper, author, maven, and fan. Here’s the intro to our anniversary giveaway, and if you haven’t already posted a comment to win Monday’s prize, you can do so here, and Tuesday’s post is here.
What do you foresee for your business 5 years from now?
Whatever it is, it’ll probably involve more than just you. That means (saints and wizards preserve us!) training people to help your resale business grow.
Whether they are paid staff, NFP volunteers, or even relatives, you need to teach them how to participate in the growth of your shop.
Tell us today, to enter our daily 35th Anniversary Giveaway, what you train your helper to do first, second, and third. And why in that order? What can you share with other resalers about doing it, doing it right…and perhaps, a story or two about when you did it WRONG.
Share here in the comments on my blog, for a chance to win today’s Kate’s 35th Anniversary Giveaway Week prize. All you have to do is leave a note about what you teach your helpers and you can win Telling ain’t Training, a great workbook that will help you and your staff work better, happier, and more productively.
Picture borrowed from Amazon, where you can “look inside”, and prize donated by The White Elephant shops in Virginia.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
[…] What do you foresee for your business 5 years from now? […]
[…] having help in getting there. Which means training your staff or volunteers well. You were asked what you train your helper to do first, second, and third. And why in that order? I particularly like Diana’s point about register training never should be early in training a […]
Monique-I have had problems with some employees during the first 30 days and have given them additional time to ‘work on it’. Sometimes it works and sometimes it’s a wasted effort. New employees who really want the job should be putting forth their best effort during that first month. You should see all the positive they have to put forth. When you see more negative than positive during that time, it’s time to stop wasting your time and let them go. Training is time consuming and expensive.
[…] September 23, 2010 by Auntie Kate This post is part of Auntie Kate’s 35th anniversary of being a consignment shopkeeper, author, maven, and fan. Here’s the intro to our anniversary giveaway, and if you haven’t already posted a comment on this week’s messages to enter each drawing: Monday’s is here, Tuesday’s is here, and Wednesday’s is here. […]
Love the idea of a 30 day probationary period Donna! I can definately “borrow” that one…thanks!
#1-Service equals Sales and Sales equals Service. Starts with the right hire…they need to truly BELIEVE that they are offering a valuable service to the client through the cross-sell/up-sell. If they think they are being pushy or intrusive or a schmarmy (official term there) car salesman, then they will struggle with this and as owner, you will struggle as well. Provide daily reinforcement by discussing examples of “suprise and delight” —- “Did you see how happy we made both mom and child with that add-on of Silly Bands?” OR “That outfit was perfect from head to toe. From the hat and dress, to the tights and shoes. Now mom can make her way straight home to focus on homework and dinner and not have to worry about another stop to the competition to try and match colors and find the shoes”
#2 Ditto all the great points from Tanya and Diana – each is an absolute must!
#3 “External” training. OK, new employee, so now you understand our service philosophy, our policies and procedures, our products and our mission. Now let’s get outside of these 4 walls and sell it. Who do you know and how can we get them in here to experience this? Give the employee your elevator speech (how you explain what you do to a stranger in an elevator or in line at the grocery store or at soccer practice or at the church picnic in 30 seconds or less). Then practice with them on creating and personalizing and perfecting their own elevator speech. Telling it from the customers perspective – WIIFM. It’s not “I work at a resale shop for kids and we have great prices you should stop in some time” Rather, something that sings…no….something that SHOUTS – You’ve gotta’ get in this shop because it rocks!! Have them include the attributes your shop is known for and bring it to life: Unique finds? Unbeatable personal service? Superb style? Saving the earth? Fun and Funky experience? Every shop has it’s unique personality and finding a way to get to those 9 out of 10 that don’t shop resale is an important role for every employee to be responsible for from day one!
First of all, I hire the nicest people I can find. You can teach skills but you can’t teach ‘nice’. You either are, or you’re not. I need people who can be just as sweet as and polite as their good old fashioned momma made them.
Then I explain my business philosophy-Speak to everyone you pass. This isn’t typical retail. There is lots of spleenin to do here. Talk talk talk…We have markdown tags, layaway, 24 hour holds, and free delivery!!! IF the customer gets all the way to the register(and past all the signs) and still thinks they are getting the item at the lowest price and the item hasn’t marked down yet, we may lose the sale. Or worse is vise-versa. If a person thinks the item is still at the top tag price and its already almost half off, they may never even bring to the register!!! Or worse than that, that nice old lady who doesn’t want to bother her son to pick up the sofa she wants, doesn’t realize we have free local delivery!!! OMG and we can bring the old one back to sell it for her or put it out to her curb. We try not to miss any opportunity to sell it. I spend a lot of time teaching this point.
I send new employees home with all of the printed material I normally give to customers and consignors. Then I quiz them. If they can’t explain our consignment procedures to the customer they can’t work for me. If they can’t approach people, and some people can’t, they can’t work here. I hire everyone on a 30 day probationary period.
I usually start them with tagging and putting out new items. They don’t price them, just place them. I make them clean everything in the place. Dust, wipe, Windex, and Fantastic. This way they get familiar with the store and how we merchandise and the fact that everything MUST sparkle. I teach them to watch and listen.
After a few days of that I teach them how I want them to handle cash, checks, and charges. ‘Talk it back’ to the customer but don’t chat while you have the money in your hand. I once had to fire a person who could not talk and count at the same time and could NOT be quiet.
As for sales, everyone has their own personality but the employees who make the most sales are the ones who are the best listeners and are very attentive. I give them sales tools and teach them how to use them. Then I turn them over to a ‘mentor’ employee and let them take over.
I expect all employees to be able to handle all customer/consignor tasks. I need flexible people. I can’t afford specialists although when I realize someone has special skills I definitely exploit them. For example, I have someone with a background in interior decorating and I have her do dining room table displays. She has fun, and they look amazing.
I hold employee meetings to get some unity going and listen to their ideas and what they feel are issues that need to be addressed. With 10 employees it helps to keep us all on the same page…
…it’s constant. I can usually tell if an employee is going to work out in about the first 10 days. I am blessed with some very good people who are committed to their jobs, me, and my business, and I might add, to resale shopping.
Thanks Diana and Tanya,
@Diana, EXcellent advise, especially about letting them SEE good service in action. And I LOVE the twist about the register training coming last…good approach there.
@Tanya, Making Lesson #1 about WHAT your shop is all about, and meeting the needs of customers. Basically this is teaching new helpers your shop’s “mission” but that term is SO overused…
Others, got comments?
Ahh Training, here we go:
1) What we define as customer service, about meeting the need and recognizing the need. Tools they can use to enhance the visit such as rewards cards, wish list, thank-you notes etc..
2) How to greet a customer, again tools they can use to greet a customer, this includes the phone.
3) Fundamentals of the cash register and ending the visit in a positive manner.
There is a lot more to training… and what we train on but that is a good start.
Even though my shop is new I’ve been in retiail management for over 20 yrs. It has been my experience that the most undertaught, underlearned and underestimated (ok don’t lecture me on grammar I’m on cough medicine with codeine) aspect is sales/customer service. Without it you got nothin. You can teach someone to make the most beautiful displays, run the register/computer system like a pro, polish fixtures and organize racks until your store looks like a million bucks, but if your staff doesn’t know how to sell you got, well, nothin.
Role play with them, have them shadow you, then shadow them, take them on a lunchtime outing to a store in the area you know has a redhot sales staff. There are some who this comes naturally to, some need a little instruction and learn quickly, some need more personalized training to their personalities and yet some just can’t be trained. It’s essential you choose your staff carefully.
Educate them about your inventory, where everything is located and why (this will be valuable when they are placing items on the floor, and for directing customers). Teach them the daily, weekly and occaissional housekeeping practices.
The last thing they should be taught is running the register because if you do it first it becomes impossible to drag them out from behind the counter for anything else!
Staff who excel in certain areas may become “specialists” in that area if your store needs such staffing and should and can be taught in more depth the unique aspects of that position.
If your staffing need involves a specialty task like prepping items for sale then that is what you will teach them, otherwise you’ll have a well rounded and prepared for almost anything staff if you follow the steps above.
In closing I could write a novel on what happens when training goes south, but I’ll need another dose of cough medicine for that.