The most effective way to train employees is to stick to the fundamental reason of “why you need employees?”. As said by all the successful store owners we have interviewed, employees are essential to a store to achieve efficiency, scale-up, and improve the profitability.

Your employees need to be trained from fundamental functions to value-adding tasks, depending on the role you want them to perform.

Fundamental functional training includes store up-keeping tasks such as cleaning, security, inventory management, basic bookkeeping and record keeping. The fundamental training gives the employees the objective and the set of instructions to follow and the goal is to achieve functional efficiency and consistency.

Store owners prioritize the fundamental training on:

• Customer Assistance - Employees provide personalized assistance to customers, helping them find products, answering questions, and offering recommendations. Their presence enhances the shopping experience and fosters customer loyalty. With ShelfPerks Store OS, the employees can easily look up for the products, provide necessary details and transact to give your customers the best shopping experience. The ShelfPerks App enables your employees to be equipped with all the tools through their smartphones and work error-free.

• Product Management - Employees are responsible for stocking shelves, organizing displays, and ensuring that products are well-presented and easily accessible. They help maintain a visually appealing and organized store layout.

• Cash Handling and Transactions - Employees operate cash registers and process transactions accurately, ensuring that customers can pay for their purchases smoothly. This also involves handling returns, exchanges, and providing receipts. Being device-friendly, ShelfPerks Store OS enables the store owner and their employees to turn their smartphones, laptops, or tablets into a transaction terminal and can be connected with any cash drawer.

• Safety and Security - Employees help enforce safety protocols and maintain a secure shopping environment. They monitor for theft, handle any emergencies that may arise, and assist in evacuations if necessary.

Knowledge bases such as store policies, and federal or government regulations can be provided in the form of physical and digital documents to the employees for easy and accurate reference.

Value-adding role training is aimed at giving the store a winning edge and helping the store to grow in revenue and scale up. This is a crucial phase where the store owner treats their employees as the vital factor for the store’s success and is geared to give the employees the autonomous power that should result in revenue-related metrics such as:

1. Increasing the average purchase value

2. Increase the number of repeat customers

3. Improve customer satisfaction

4. Build thought leadership

The employees are trained to:

• Observe customer behavior and create standardized scenarios that will help them service faster and more accurate

• Manage vendors for better deals, and product mix and reduce the errors and delays. A healthy vendor relationship is essential for optimal supply chain and product management

• Conflict Resolution: Teaching employees how to handle conflicts or challenging situations with customers or coworkers in a professional manner

• Product recommendation

• Running promotions, cross-selling and upselling

An effective training schedule or practice starts with hands-on training and shadowing over a period of 3 to 4 weeks. Store owners insist that successful employee training should be a dynamic and ongoing process to ensure that all of them are well-prepared and confident in their roles. Adapt the training program based on feedback and evolving needs within the store.

As the employees get familiar with value-added functions, they need to be trained in using their skills to achieve greater responsibilities such as:

• Merchandising and Promotions: Employees help execute marketing strategies, such as setting up promotional displays and ensuring that pricing is accurate and consistent with ongoing offers.

• Freshness and Quality: In departments like produce, bakery, and deli, employees assess the quality and freshness of items. They remove expired products and ensure that only high-quality goods are available for purchase.

• Cultural Sensitivity: In diverse communities, employees with cultural awareness can cater to the preferences and needs of different customer groups, contributing to a more inclusive shopping experience

• Community Connection: Employees often become familiar faces in the community, building relationships with regular customers and contributing to the store's locality

In essence, employees are the heart of a store, providing a range of services and support that contribute to the overall success of the business and the satisfaction of its customers. And with ShelfPerks Store OS, you can streamline the functions, standardize all the processes and access all the relevant information to empower your employees to make the right decision and work efficiently without any stress.