Pasta Perfect!!

I was in my local Italian restaurant the other day and it suddenly occurred to me that all retailers could learn a thing or two from your friendly local pasta parlour!

Despite the continual ‘warnings’ around the recession, this eatery was full to the brim and people were actually queuing outside for a table.

So what does this restaurant have, that keeps it not just surviving, but a full, thriving, exciting and busy business, despite the doom and gloom warnings from the government and financial papers?

Well, as always, it comes down to customer service!

Is the food fantastic? Well, it is good traditional Italian comfort food. The best I’ve ever eaten – I would have to say - No! So why do we keep going back?

As I watched the waiting staff glide between tables, smiling, flirting, bearing outsized pepper grinders and real parmesan, it occurred to me that they were almost ‘putting on a show’ for us. The flair and speed with which they were serving their happy customers was almost theatrical. Most retailers talk about ‘the experience’ that they want to give their customers – but I had to wonder if they do it in the same way and with the same passion.

The other thing I noticed, as I observed them dealing with a busy Saturday night, was that every single one of them seemed to be really enjoying themselves. It was a great example of giving 100% whatever you do. Many people that work in the service industry seem to do so with an attitude or a lack of willing to actually serve their customers. All basic skills you might think – but a visit to most High Streets’ on a busy Saturday would show you a different picture.

So – they acted like they wanted to be there and they were giving ‘service with a smile’, but what else made this casual dinner such a treat?

They were managing to serve a busy restaurant, with what appeared to be minimal staffing and yet, no one was waiting for their food and everybody’s drinks seemed to be overflowing.  What was their secret?

My conclusion was that the restaurant was – very simply – well managed! It was staffed with people who wanted to be there and who all took a huge pride in what they did and it was managed by someone who seemed to believe the customer was king! In short – it was a recipe for success!

So next time you are looking to deliver some training to your team and hopefully inspire them to demonstrate some service skills and passion for what they are doing – perhaps a quick trip to your local Italian may have the answers?

Serve the one you’re with!

Everyone has heard the expression ‘love the one you’re with’, but I think it is high time that retailers started to ‘serve the one you’re with’.

I am talking about the age old irritation of being put second when you are in a store or restaurant, by the person that WAS serving you.

It can be something as small as a phone call and sometimes (and in my opinion far more worryingly) a request from a senior manager – but each interruption is not just annoying, but incredibly rude!

The other day I had queued for some time in a well known fashion retailer. Arms filled with clothing, I waited patiently until I finally reached the front of the queue and then suddenly....the phone rang. I had expected the Sales Assistant to ignore it – but to my horror she picked it up! I then waited a further 5 minutes whilst she responded to what appeared to be a product search from another store in the chain. Whilst I appreciate the ‘other’ store was trying to help THEIR customer – it did not exactly ‘enhance’ my experience!

As I stood there – waiting and wanting to give my hard earned cash to this retailer and feeling more and more that maybe I should ditch my purchase and go elsewhere – it made me wonder why we, as consumers, put up with this kind of behaviour?

Why are so many people in the service industry so quick to forget the person actually standing in front of you? I was always taught that the person in front of you – who is actually waiting to give you money and is also known as the ‘Customer’ is the most important person that there is. I am not sure if it is today’s digital age, with the increases in technology and ‘now’ culture, that means everyone seems to forget the old fashioned style of ‘serving the one you’re with’ rather than chasing potential custom of the future.

Likewise on a recent trip to the Country’s biggest Supermarket, I was somewhat bemused to be unable to get to some fresh produce, as a group of suits (a swarm? a stampede?) talked to each other about the visual look of the stand and the best selling lines it contained. As a customer it continually frustrates me that I am ‘sidelined’ for a store walk through by the management team. I cannot be alone in feeling like this.

When I was an Area Manager, I remember, on a store visit, talking to one of my Managers at the Till Point. To my horror, as a customer approached and she started to ring through their purchases, she continued our conversation. I immediately cut her off and saying, “I will let you serve your customer”, I walked away. When I spoke to her about her behaviour after the customer had left, she seemed to think that OUR conversation had been more important?

So – it seems to me that putting the customer first, is an attitude and culture that NEEDS to come from the top. In other words, don’t answer the phone when you are serving, don’t talk to other staff and ensure that you ALWAYS make your customer feel that they are your Number One priority!

If more retailers can remember that the customer is the person who pays their wages and is the reason for their job and if Management can create a business where they train their teams to maximise face-to face sales – we may just get there!

So remember – If you don’t ‘serve the one you’re with’ – they may choose to be ‘served’ by someone else...

The Plump Pound!

The terminology of the ‘Pink Pound’ is well known, but I wanted to speak out in defence of the ‘Plump Pound’ a far lesser known phenomenon!

As a larger lady, it has always been an enormous frustration when shopping, that so few retailers have anything to offer anyone over a size 14!

It seems to be assumed that anyone bigger than a stick insect only wants to wear a sack and has absolutely NO interest in fashion. I am here to tell you (very) short sighted retailers that this is far from the case.

Tanya Gold in the ‘Daily Mail’  writes ‘Clothing shops don't cater for me. In fact, they detest me. In Bond Street, I am literally waved away from the racks of precious clothes.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1088455/In-defence-fatties--Let-eat-cake.html#ixzz0Q9nH9yLF

Unfortunately, Tanya is not alone.

All retailers are currently in a battle for survival and with the news this week from ‘BDO Stoy Hayward’, that a further 5,000 retailers will go bust next year, it seems astonishing to me, that this larger (in every sense of the word) area of the market goes so unnoticed. Surely having a full range of clothing up to a Size 18 or 20 would be a canny move for any business and would only help to increase your market percentage.

It may be news to retailers; however people over a size 6 are fully able to have a career and therefore a pay packet, along with a life! Like everyone, they also like to spend – so why is this area of the marketplace constantly ignored?

I have always worked in fashion and could tell you about numerous occasions when new product has come into the store and I have been unable to actually wear the clothes, as they seemed to be designed for people with no curves at all. Yes – certain outfits are better on both the slim AND the young, but the prevailing attitude that anyone a little bigger can’t look good or fashionable is a myth!

When I recently lost weight, I remember the BIGGEST pleasure was being able to walk into any store and be able to find clothes that fitted. Shopping suddenly became about buying something you loved and that made you feel fantastic, rather than just about finding something that fitted! Retail therapy indeed!

But surely this is a massive opportunity for stores to start widening their appeal and broadening their customer base and therefore, by default, ensuring their continued survival?

There are some stores which do cater for the 16 plus customer, and I would mention Evans, as a retailer who, over the last couple of years, has made big inroads into both fashionable and wearable clothing. www.evans.co.uk

However, as a woman, I don’t always want to ‘have’ to go to a specialist retailer, particularly when I look around me and see that as a nation we are getting larger and larger. How ‘special’ are we, when over 40% of the female population is a size 16 plus? Maybe we should look upon the tiny Size 6 girls as ‘special’?

I would also address the Sales Assistance view of the more curvaceous Customer. A recent study by Bianca Price, of the University of South Australia found that many Customers were put off by ‘pretty staff’,  She concluded that ‘The key for retailers was to hire “women of all shapes and sizes - someone for each of your potential customers to relate to”.’www.retail-week.com/retail-sectors/fashion/pretty-staff-may-put-off-shoppers/5005419.article.  Added to this, as Tanya comments above, the attitude of your average Sales Assistant can also be stumbling block to sales.

So what can you do to ensure that you cater for EVERYONE that comes through your doors? It is more difficult to have a massive impact on what sizes your business stocks, however, I was always a big champion of improving this and did manage to have some influence in a well known fashion chain, who finally accepted that their product range could go up to a Size 18. So you can make a difference!

Training your team on product knowledge and having a good understanding of how your clothing fits and looks is also a key driver and is only delivering the basic service that any client might expect. Also spending time with your team around understanding body shapes and nurturing in them a strong desire to send your customers out of the store feeling great is another good start!

Don’t forget – the ‘Plump Pound’ pays your staffs wages just as much as the next persons.....

Maybe this could be the key to many retailers continued success and an opportunity to prevent some of those predicted retail insolvencies?

.

Why “The Detail” is not just for Retail!

How does any business know when they have delivered a ‘wow’ customer experience?

B2B Customers may initially seem to have a different set of requirements to a retail environment, however, isn’t customer satisfaction, loyalty and return business what all industries should be striving towards?

In these challenging times when all customers have a lot more choice and potentially less money to spend – it is vital that you look at what you offer and how you can do it better. The retail business talks a lot about ‘The Detail’ and most of us experience a level of service in the retail/hospitality sector on a regular basis and could easily describe what equates to both good AND bad service. I believe that when ‘The Detail’ is applied in the right way it can be equally relevant to B2B.

When trying to improve service it is important to review each and every area where you and your team come into contact with the customer.

The phone can be an extremely beneficial tool and is often the first contact you may have with a B2B prospect, it is however, an often overlooked and undervalued device. Smiling when answering the phone, showing that you are really listening to the person on the other end and re-capping any information or future actions are all basic and easy to do things – so why is this not always the case or what the actual customer experiences?

Face to face contact also utilises many of the same skills and it is always worth remembering the old cliché that ‘first impressions count...’ Though this may at first appear trite, remember, it is far easier to start a business relationship the right way, rather than spending huge volumes of time struggling to change or improve an initial perception.

After spending some time in the USA I saw how even the most simple service experience can be enhanced and, as always, it seems to be the small things that are the most memorable. When you visit a supermarket – someone brings a trolley over to you and the American consumer would be deeply shocked to be expected to return this after they have finished their weekly shop – instead it is either taken from them or left by their car to be picked up. It all makes the shopping ‘experience’ far more enjoyable or at the very worse less hard work!

How does this relate to B2B service – well, it is a great example of ‘delighting’ the customer.

When asked what attributes contribute to customer service, it may seem deceptively simple – but the best description I can give is ‘... give the customer what they want, when they want it and do better than anyone else’.

How do you get your whole team to do this? Well, the key to this is training, developing and honing some simple skill sets within your organisation and ensuring that everyone in your business delivers this time after time.

Delighting the customer is the fundamental difference that you can offer your end user and it is what can set you apart from your competitors. Look at ‘The Detail’ that your clients require and realise that this will be different for each of your customers, however if you use the above skills set to really understand and recognise what your customer wants – you are half way to be able to deliver it!

After all, all businesses know that retention is less expensive than finding new customers!


This article was originally published in 'Tomorrow's Cleaning' September 09 Issue.
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/a0eeda79#/a0eeda79/70

The ‘Tick Box’ Trainer

When you have a large amount of staff to train it can often seem an enormous and uphill struggle. Many retailers today have a dedicated ‘Training Program’ that staff go through in their first 13 weeks of Induction, to support and aid them in this task. So it would seem that this should easily deliver an effective and competent team with great selling skills?

Sadly, this doesn’t always seem to be the case and it made me start to think about why not?

Having worked for many retailers – all with highly comprehensive training programs - it seemed to me; that what you saw the team doing on the sales floor didn’t always match the level of training that the in store Management team felt (or told you) had been given.

As an Area Manager, it was often part of my role to go through stores ‘Induction & Training Workbooks’ and review what level the individual staff members had reached. I would often, initially, be pleased with the level of ‘training’ that seemed to have been presented. Crucially this would differ vastly from my experience whilst out on the sales floor.

The best way of really finding out the skills set of anyone in your team tends to be the old fashioned way – and by that – I mean to actually have a one-to-one conversation or to observe their behaviours whilst working.

I remember reviewing the effectiveness of a companywide training program that had been rolled out to the entire business. In order to ensure that every single member of staff within the whole business had received this training, there was a form at the back for the management team to get their teams to sign and date when their training had been received. Pleased that the Manager at one of my largest stores had implemented this very quickly, I eagerly went onto the shop floor to see the new ‘scheme’ in action. It was quickly apparent that either the quality of the training had been compromised or, even more worryingly, had not happened at all.

When I began to probe deeper and started to question the team around their view on this new initiative, I found that my initial suspicion had been correct. The majority of the team had been rushed through this, with no time to really understand the key messages. Worse still, I soon discovered that several of the staff from that store had not even attended the session, but had signed the piece of paper that their ‘Manager’ had popped in front of them.

This brings me back to the ‘Tick Box Trainer’. Many Managers view training programs as a ‘chore’ or something that needs to be done to keep the Training Department or company happy. I believe they are doing themselves, their teams and their stores a disservice!

With today’s ever discerning customer having much higher expectations of service in an increasingly competitive market, the levels of service that you and your teams can deliver can be the deciding factor in a purchase. Customers are talking (and walking) with their feet and are simply no longer prepared to purchase if they feel the service is not there.

Training your team – and by that I mean, really giving them skills, confidence and knowledge – is the only way you can really deliver a serious service proposition and have any chance of also retaining your staff.

Rushing through Workbooks and deciding that your staff members have ‘passed’ a level of competence, when they obviously haven’t, is compromising your business at every level.

Slashed staffing budgets and ever increasing tasks make training and development more and more challenging.  Experienced Managers will use a combination of utilising other team members and prioritising training, mixed with sales floor training to ensure that their team fulfil their potential and are able to ‘serve’ their customers in every way.

But remember - If you become a ‘Tick Box Trainer’ – no one is a winner!

When Tasks can Torment your Customer...

Today’s busy retailers are ever more challenged to achieve amazing sales, a fabulous visual proposition and deliver exceptional customer service – and all on a shoe string budget.

As more and more retailers fall by the wayside in today’s harsh climate, the watchword has become more and more about saving costs. As the old saying goes...’Sales for Vanity and Profit for Sanity’

The workforce is the biggest cost that any retailer has and is also the key cost that can be really influenced and controlled by a good Store Manager; however this has led to a severe slashing of staff and is now being keenly felt by most Customers that walk through your door.

We all accept that tasking is a necessary evil and Customers would sometimes be staggered by what goes on behind the scenes in order to ensure a shop is ‘customer ready’. Indeed, when I was a Store Manager, I remember one of my friends asking me if I would be finished at 5:00pm. I can still see her amazement, when I told her, that firstly we did not close until 5:30pm and that then we would need to recover the sales floor, do a small visual move of the product, cash up and prepare for the following day. Therefore escaping at 5:00pm was highly unlikely!

With the current cull of staff, this is becoming more and more apparent to the Customer and we are beginning to create a culture where the Customer can be ignored when staff are so busy and tasks have become a priority.

Whilst I appreciate that there is an enormous amount of work that needs to go on ‘behind the scenes’ to get a store ready for business, I am sometimes left wondering, ‘how high on the task list is Customer Service?’

I recently visited a store at lunchtime, only to find them in the middle of preparing for their sale. The whole team was fixated on identifying the sale product and starting to move the sales floor around and separate sale from non-sale. Whereas I understand that this needed to be done, this was at the expense of the customers that were in the store and wanting to buy something there and then. They were 'tormenting their existing customers' and potentially losing sales...

So what is the resolve?

The simple answer would be to increase staffing to ensure that both service and tasks. This isn’t always an option – so what else can you do?

Well, firstly it is always important to try and task in your quieter timeslots – review your traffic and ensure that when Customer footfall is at its highest – that you are maximising all opportunities.

Secondly, is to try and prioritise your tasks into what is and isn’t business critical. Also be mindful about what tasks can disrupt your sales floor and be overly obvious to your Customer. The analogy of the swan is a good one – the customer should never be able to see all the frantic paddling which is going on under the service.

Think about who is best suited to a particular task and can therefore do it the best and also the most efficiently. Matching the right people to the right job is one of the keys to effective management.

Finally and most importantly, it is always critical to remember that the Customer is the real reason why you are there and they should ALWAYS be the priority! If that is not the case in your store – perhaps you need to review this.

And try not to ‘torment your customers by tasking’???

The Wonder of Westfield...

Whenever a new Shopping Centre opens, I am always filled with a huge sense of excitement!  I like to think I am a bit of a connoisseur of Retail Malls, having visited the majority of key outlets in the Country, including Bluewater, Thurrock, Meadowhall, Manchester Trafford & Arndale, not to mention major city centres such as The West End, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Southampton and Brighton, to name just a few.

Often, however, when I have visited the Centre in question, I can be very disappointed – thrillingly, that was not the case with the new White City development in West London!

From the clear and easy road signage pointing us in the right direction, to the sophisticated car park (which marks free parking bays with a lit green arrow), even the journey there and initial impression was a delight!

The design is impressive and the high ceilings of both the entire centre and the retail outlets within made for an exceptionally awe inspiring view.

Both design and ease of journey apart – the reason you go to Westfield is to shop! So did our retail experience match up? I am so pleased to be able to tell you – the answer was an unqualified YES!

Although the Centre had been open for some time and the visit was on a busy Saturday, every single retailer we visited really did enhance our shopping trip.

I can rarely remember when I have had the pleasure of being acknowledged and said ‘hello’ to in every single store I went in to. Whether it was fashion, electrical or even the food outlets, everywhere we went, we had a sense that staff and management really were wanting, and more importantly, were prepared to work, for our custom. Staff were happy to answer questions and queries and more importantly, knew their product! We were even offered some free samples in one of the Malls 3 Department stores, with none of the ‘snootiness’ that can sometimes be felt in those environments.

This should be the norm and it is almost sad that I am writing about such basic Customer Service as if I had discovered something special. So often, however, the retail stores in a centre can really make the difference on whether or not the consumer will make a return visit. These were all retailers that you find in every High Street across the Country - but Westfield seemed to have sprinkled a little magic across them all...

The visit to ‘The Village’, the designer part of Westfield was really something memorable. From sipping a glass of bubbly at the ‘The Champagne Bar’ as we listened to the pianist and browsing such brands as Gucci, Tiffany & Co and Prada, you really did feel that you were in the lap of luxury!

But it was the main part of the Shopping Centre that really over delivered around service, product and overall store visuals.

So, what can other Centres learn from Westfield? Well, it is a great example of when design and a serious commitment to delighting the customer in every single way, really do come together. I suppose the only question it leaves me posing – Is why can’t every Centre deliver this?

So arms full of shopping bags and full from a delicious lunch at ‘The Spaghetti House’ and a late bite at ‘Crepeaffaire’ we staggered back to the car, exhausted but happy!  Will we be going back – just try and stop us!

www.uk.westfield.com/london

Can you Conduct?

The art of ‘managing’ has become more and more challenging within the retail environment. So how do you know when you are getting it right?

The dictionary states that a Manager is:

One who handles, controls, or directs, especially:

a. One who directs a business or other enterprise.

b. One who controls resources and expenditures, as of a household.

c. One who is in charge of the training and performance of an athlete or a team.The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/manager

So – it would seem initially very simple – right?

Unfortunately today’s modern retail Manager has many challenges and with many staffing budgets being slashed to the bare minimum to save on costs, it has become more and more critical that the team that you DO have is deployed in the best way. The key word for me in the above description would be ‘to direct’, as this is the task that ‘some’ retailers seem to be so poor at.

The art of Helicopter Management is one that is often spoken about and the best interpretation of this would to imagine you are conducting a large orchestra and have to be aware of every instrument or, more relevantly, aware of what every member of your team are doing at any given time.

Most Customers will be aware if a store is being ‘well managed’ almost immediately they walk through your door – even if this almost an ‘unconscious’ awareness’. This manifests itself in a well run store, in many ways. From the Customers perspective, there won’t be long queues at the till point as the ‘conductor’ will have ensured as many as possible will be open. Customers will find that staff will be available at the Fitting Room as the ‘maestro’ will have scheduled the correct volume of staff and will be ever ready to move the team around the sales floor, as required.

Being ready and aware enough to move your staff around the sales floor, as needed, is key to ‘Conducting’ your team and is the base for the smooth running of any store. This also means that as the Manager – you need to be ON the shop floor in order to manage it!

The below map shows the areas you should ALWAYS be ‘conducting’ and should give you some food for thought about how you can better plan your team to always be there for the Customer to deliver the best service that you possibly can!

I am reminded of walking into a large and busy store on Oxford Street and being instantly conscious of several things...


The Store Manager was ON the sales floor and was clearly ‘in charge’ of everything that was going on. I instantly knew that she was the Manager as she had a huge presence on the sales floor. Her staff were being clearly ‘directed’ or ‘conducted’ and she had a great talent of quickly spotting areas of the store that were either under staffed or getting busier and then reacting immediately. The result of this was that the shop was being run as efficiently and professionally as it could be. A great example of someone ‘conducting their orchestra’!

So ask yourself ‘Can you conduct’? And if you think you can – ask yourself whether you are a ‘Maestro’ or merely a Conductor without a clue?

The Final Countdown...

I was talking to a friend last night who was relating an experience she’d had in a well known young fashion chain.

She had been shopping with her niece and they had rushed to this particular store to try and find a specific item of stock. It was 5:25pm and concerned that they had only got 5 minutes before the store closed; they grabbed the nearest member of staff and asked what time the store closed. When the team member replied ‘6:00pm’, they breathed a huge sigh of relief.

With 35 minutes left to browse and buy, it initially might sound like a story with a happy ending? Sadly – that was not quite the case! What happened next really shocks and surprises me – although, sadly, I believe it is an extremely common occurrence in many retailers.

The store had already pulled the front door grill to the half way point and my friend was staggered to find that the Fitting Rooms had been closed. Staff were starting to cash up and it was made crystal clear to my shopping friends that absolutely no one was interested in them or what they as Customers might need.

This store was completely uninterested in making a sale and was in fact (which is one of my pet peeves in retail) treating the Customer as a total inconvenience and a barrier to them closing their store and getting home as soon as possible.

The retailers amongst you may challenge me and say – ‘it is very difficult when a customer comes in at closing time!’

My response to that would be that the Customer is coming into your store within your trading hours and I fail to see the issue!

I often ask myself whether the people at the top have knowledge of this common working practise.

Certainly in my experience as an Area Manager I would frequently ‘drop in’ to a store around closing time, just to ensure that this was not happening in the stores I managed. Key Shopping Centres, such as Bluewater, Thurrock, Meadowhall etc are also known for fining retailers for this kind of behaviour.

Your staff are being paid and you are advertising that you are open, so why in this difficult retail climate, do staff feel this is an acceptable way to treat a customer who actively WANTS to put some money in your till?

My friend and her niece never actually made a purchase – the item they were looking at was a bikini and without being able to try it on – they were unable to see if it was right for them. A £35 sale lost...

So I would ask any retailer reading this - Is the ‘Final Countdown’ actually your biggest opportunity and in fact a very simple way to differentiate yourself in a positive way from your competitors?

A Coach too far....

When I looked at the dictionary definition of ‘Coaching’, I was surprised by what I saw. It simply read:

‘To train or tutor or to act as a trainer or tutor’.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Coaching is a widely used term in retail and is usually used to describe a more individual one-to-one training - and is normally completed on the sales floor rather than in a more traditional training environment.

So what contributes to ‘successful coaching’? As always, there is not a clear cut answer to this question.

It can be argued that it is good ‘business practise’ for a Retail Manager to spend time on the sales floor with their team. As most retailers can tell you about Managers who barely came out of the office – is it always what today’s employee experiences?

To really be a successful coach, you do need to find the time to work with your teams. You will reap the benefits. Successful coaches use their communication skills and will feedback quickly and simply to their team members and will always notice and give praise when they observe something has gone well. This to me is one of the main differences in a good or bad coach. It is always better to ‘catch someone doing something right...’

I remember watching a Manager in one of my stores ‘coaching her team’. She really hadn’t grasped the concept of what she was trying to achieve and it was very painful to watch. She also had failed to understand that a successful coach NEVER switches off and is always ready to feedback - both in a positive and constructive fashion. Her first mistake was to ‘coach’ a large group of people at the same time, who were all at very different levels. Her negative comments about a particular individual – though correct, were crassly expressed and had a very poor impact on the entire group.

The best coach I have ever seen was an Assistant Manager I worked with in a large fashion retail chain. He always seemed to be aware of what his team were doing and always MADE the time to comment on it. Watching him ‘work the team’ was really a big lesson in how effective coaching can be if it’s done in the right manner!

He would never walk through the sales floor without making comment to staff on what he saw – the effect of this was to create a team that really strove for his approval and had a desire to get things right. He had, almost unconsciously, created the very best environment to train and develop his team!

It is vital for today’s modern retailer to recognise when it is appropriate to coach a member of staff on a one-to-one basis and when it is more suitable to hold a training session.

How can you be sure that you are getting it right? Well the best coaches guide, inspire and motivate all through effective communication. Take the time to observe your team in action – catch them ‘doing something right’ and let them know you ‘caught’ them and see what results this can give you! You really will see the difference and your team will feel respected and respect you!

So – are you the best Coach you can be??

The Retention Trap....

The hardest thing in the world for most retailers is retaining their staff. With fashion retail retention running at a frightening +75% staff turnover, it must sometimes feel like a thankless task to train and develop your team, only to see them move on and take those skills to a rival competitor.

So, can you stem the tide? And is it even worthwhile trying?

Of course my answer to both of the above is yes – and it is worth remembering that without training and development, how much higher COULD this figure be?

When times are tough, the Training and Development teams CAN be the first to go, however with ‘Retail Week’ reporting that ‘Customer service expectation soar in recession’ and Nicola Harrison reporting that ’The recession has changed consumers’ shopping habits so much that three quarters of shoppers would leave a store without buying if they received poor levels of customer service.’

It seems critical that training your teams to give fantastic service is the base of delivering and meeting your customer’s expectations!

You may ask what retention has to do with training. Well, if you are struggling with a constant stream of exit interviews and recruitment, you may want to find out where you are going wrong!

When you follow the right process with any member of staff, it can be possible to increase retention and alongside that provide a future pool of talented individuals that will grow WITH your business.

So, how do you achieve this? Well, the most important thing to remember is the Induction that any new member of staff receives within your business. This sets the tone of their employment with you and a rushed and hurried introduction can make an employee at best, feel nervous and unprepared and at worst, feel that they may have made the wrong employment choice!

Setting out a clear Training program at this stage with regular performance reviews also goes a long way to making a member of staff feel wanted and that they have a place in your organisation.

So what happens next? This can be when, after a very positive start, things start to go wrong. All too often staff training programs can become a tick box exercise and Managers push people through some of the basics of retail, without ever really checking that they have understood or grasped the skills needed to succeed.

This can also lead to talented, but inexperienced members of your team being underdeveloped and mean that potential Management of the future is left disillusioned and looking for pastures new.

Customer Service is such a critical part of any retail business and I have been surprised over the years, how often staff can fail to make the correlation with the people they serve every day and the money that contributes to paying their wages!

If you can get your staff to understand this and they aim to deliver a better standard of service, you will find yourself in a win / win situation.

Some movement within retail is positive – staff being promoted, for example, should always be viewed as a good thing and no movement at all would be an extremely challenging work force to manage. This is where a strong Succession Plan is key and the clever Managers are usually always looking for the next personal to fill those upcoming and important roles.

When you are looking to fill a ‘sales floor’ position, it can sometimes be seen as less important. I would remind any retailer to take a different view around this. Usually your ‘Sales Assistants’ are the front line personnel and will represent your brand and store to the majority of customers who enter your threshold. Baring this in mind, maybe we should all view these positions as the most significant and strategic of all!

The final caveat I would remind you of, is that if you recruit the right person for the job in the first place, you will have already increased and improved your chance of retention!

Service with a Smile...

Supposedly it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown, however, that may not be the impression the average customer gets in today’s High Street!

I am always flabbergasted by how few people who work in retail seem to be actually enjoying what they do!

With unemployment at a record level, it seems to be high time that Retailers start to employ people who have a vested interest at actually being in a service industry!

Customer Service is sometimes used as a blanket term to describe anything to do with interaction with the public. If you look up a dictionary definition you would get the below:

‘assistance and other resources that a company provides to the people who buy or use its products or services’

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I would, however, suggest that service at its most basic level, is about just acknowledging the customer! This may be an extremely low base to insist on – but it is still woefully lacking in many of the major retailers.

The basic common courtesies that may seem ‘unfashionable’ these days are still the cornerstone of ensuring that your customers are dealt with in the best fashion.

I am amazed, that even in this difficult retail climate and with many businesses going under, that I can still be served in a store, without the member of staff even offering me the most basic of service. This may include eye contact and a smile - right through to stopping a conversation with a colleague about their night out!

It doesn’t sound much to ask – but a straw poll amongst friends and family would reveal that the above basic courtesies are rarely the norm!

It is widely known that is you smile at someone – they tend to smile back. It also shows the person you are dealing with that you are paying attention to them and implies that you are receptive and willing to give them your full focus. It also makes you far more approachable. All the things that would enhance the shopping experience for the Customer.

With staff hours becoming more and more limited and some stores replicating a ghost town with not a member of the team in view – it is even more critical that the customer can identify and feel confident about approaching staff with a query or question.

If you have a team that is uninterested in the customer or unwilling to provide ‘service with a smile’ – perhaps it is time to dip into the ever widening pool of unemployment to find staff that will!