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October 1998 |
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| In-store Associate Training Can Make, or Break, Your Success |
by Stephen J. Alexander
President, Automotive In-Store Marketing |
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| Stephen J. Alexander |
I WON'T BORE YOU with the details of my most recent horrid shopping experience. It didn’t happen in your store, but it could have. (I hope not. I hope your training program would prevent what happened to me.)
Here’s a quick recap of Store No. 1. A store clerk was perturbed that I bothered him with a question. The merchandise was out of stock. The clerk was unwilling to check on the item to see when it might be in. “A few days” was the answer I received when I asked.
I went across the street. Trust me, Store No. 1 had its first and only chance at my business. From now on, I’ll always turn left into Store No. 2’s parking lot.
Here’s Store No. 2’s story. It had a smiling clerk. The item was out of stock there, too. But, the clerk called three area stores, found the item and had product sent to the store of my choice. When the item came in, the store called with a “come-and-get-it” message. I smiled, too.
The perturbed clerk at Store No. 1 and the store itself were the victims of bad training.
Training is teaching people how to work the store’s selling platform, and invigorating them for success.
Its purpose? As management guru Peter Drucker said, “The function of every business — and every employee in every business — is the acquisition and the retention of customers.”
Store No. 1 flubbed its chance to acquire me as a loyal customer — a chance it had earned with high-cost heavy local advertising to get me across the threshold. I was neither acquired nor retained as a customer. The chance missed. The store’s money was wasted.
Our automotive parts, accessories and service retailing industry prides itself on having the most knowledgeable employees. These in-store associates can tell Joe or Jane Customer all about the features of water pumps, polishing compounds and vehicle stereos, to say nothing about batteries, serpentine belts and truck bedliners. Many are quite competent on the basic how-tos.
Phooey!
For the most part, we’ve taught them incorrectly. Our in-store personnel haven’t been given sales training. Instead they’ve received product knowledge training. And, to make it worse, chances are our suppliers have taught in-store associates about product features rather than benefits.
We should be teaching our store associates how to communicate product benefits —how they satisfy a customer’s desires and needs. But training employees to sell product benefits and features comes far down in the list of training needs for our industry.
Knowing the in-store product is crucial, of course. However, our in-store personnel should be taught how to sell first. Teach them the basics of sales, not the basics of the products on the shelves.
We also should train our in-store personnel on how to talk to customers and how to greet them. That’s part of Wal-Mart’s secret of success. Wal-Mart wanted to set customers up from the moment they enter the store. In merchandise, in price, in variety, in employee attitude, Wal-Mart is personified by the greeter. The position was created because Sam Walton wanted a smile greeting people the minute they walk in the door. He was smart.
We should train our in-store personnel how to talk, how to greet and how to assist customers.
We should teach them how to walk with the customer on the sales floor and how to act as a guide without being overbearing.
We should teach our in-store associates how to take advantage of this guided tour. The guided tour, on the way to an identified customer desire, can suggest seasonal ideas: “It’s getting closer to winter. Have you thought about the possibility of a new battery to avoid problems on the day when you MUST get someplace on time?”
We should teach our in-store personnel how to establish a rapport from the first greeting and how to elicit information from the customer.
In-store personnel should be taught how to observe and read customer body language, how to read facial expressions and how to listen for key words when the consumer’s confused.
A whole group of them is an orchestra just waiting to be heard. That orchestra is the people who work in the store; folks who see and hear first-hand what your “audience,” your customers, do and say while shopping in the store. They are the listening posts.
Talk to your in-store sales staff every day. Ask them what they observe about your customers. Your sales staff will know you care about them and the customers.
Look for changes in shopping patterns, attitudes and opinions. But, that’s not enough. You must also actively participate in this customer observation and communication process.
Your ability to rapidly respond will make the difference between everything from lost sales to correcting the causes of unhappy customers.
Research affirms that customers are absolutely responsive to your positive attention to their concerns.
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In-store personnel should be taught patience. They must also be taught proper attitude.
They should be taught the self-confidence needed to come out from behind the parts counter to be more accessible to the customer.
All this means that automotive parts retailers need to bring a sales trainer into the store. He or she needn’t be an automotive specialist, nor a national figure. This can be a local person. Check out the local yellow pages for sales trainers, ask for references at your Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce meeting. You’re choosing someone to train people so that they can relate to customers and can sell anything.
The key is not to find somebody who can say, “You need to use me because I have done this in other similar stores.” The key is to find somebody who trains sales people to sell. It’s wise to check his or her results by walking into the other local store as a customer to experience the results.
When you have found the right sales trainer for your operation, the training should be hands on, done in small groups and be heavy on role playing. It should have critiques. And it should have rewards for the in-store associates going through the training.
Despite my earlier “phooey!” comment, product training is essential, too, in our business. Our in-store associates need to know everything about what they’re selling as well as how to sell.
Interpersonal skills and product knowledge are a one-two punch. After we’ve taught in-store personnel how to sell, then we should teach them about the merchandise, but from the benefit rather than the product feature approach. Suppliers have excellent product training personnel and materials. However, check for the benefit perspective rather than the features training. If need be, ask the supplier to modify the training to your specifications.
Why?
For example, most people really don’t comprehend what the numbers on a tire mean. They want to know how the tire will work for them on their vehicle. Is this tire particularly good for off-road or for snow use? Customers buy tires every so often. Most people don’t choose to learn tire technology when they buy. They want benefits rather than features so they can choose what will work best for them.
The result of this generic sales and customer relations training, combined with a thorough understanding of the products in your merchandise mix and a company attitude that rewards and reinforces good sales efforts, is an unfair advantage. Then, your in-store salespeople will have a clear understanding of the goals and objectives for their in-store work. And, they’ll make your store my No. 1 choice.
Know what? They’ll also enjoy working there. You’ll enjoy seeing the rewards of their work. And, it translates into a bottom-line reward for your store.
Stephen J. Alexander, president of Automotive In-Store Marketing, is a member of Aftermarket Business’ Retail Advisory Board. To reach him at his Sanibel Island, Florida headquarters, call 239-395-9203, or e-mail, salexander@autoinstore.com.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE:"Reprinted with permission from Aftermarket Business, October, 1998, page 42. Copyright by Advanstar Communications, Inc. Advanstar Communications, Inc. retains all rights to this material." To subscribe to Aftermarket Business, call 1-218-723-9477 or email fulfill@superfill.com.
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