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Is there a science behind making a sale? Here’s a rundown of foolproof ways to improve the sales performance of retail staff—and how to make these tactics stick.

1. Begin each shift with an optimistic outlook.
2. It can be easy for retail staff to get stuck in a rut, particularly after a day in which it was difficult to close a sale. Noted sales and retail expert Bob Phibbs is a proponent of staff “talking themselves up” before a shift. He even goes as far to say that employees should be mindful of what they’re watching or listening to before work, as it may affect their mood and have a negative impact on their sales performance.
3. Research has shown that when people perform interrogative self-talk, like ‘Can I do it?’ they outperformed people who simply talked themselves up in a declarative way.
4. First impressions are highly important at the start of any interaction, whether it’s a personal or professional one.
5. Retail staff only have a fraction of a second to make a good impression on shoppers. With such a short frame of time to work with, it’s very easy to completely lose someone and make them disengage.
6. To get someone on your side, be genuine and refrain from being pushy. For instance, allow them to speak first by simply asking them how they’re doing. Sharing something positive with them - for example, remarking on how nice the weather is, will led to organic small talk. Shopify points to research that indicates that five minutes of chatting increases the amount of value created during a negotiation.
7. Rehearse potential scenarios or interactions.
8. In the retail industry, quick-thinking and thoughtfulness can easily save a sales situation that has turned sour. Employees should be prepared to mitigate or resolve any conflicts or misunderstandings. Think about envisioning certain scenarios and how you’d react to them in the most professional way.
9. During a busy shift, it can be instinctive to quickly provide an answer without thinking it through, or simply brushing someone off because you’re serving someone else.
10. For example, if you don’t know the answer to a question, assure the customer you’re going to find someone who does. Simply acknowledging a concern or question and then finding a solution often goes a long way.
11. Be mindful of your body language.
12. While it’s certainly important to use discretion when speaking with colleagues and potential customers, it’s also equally important to ensure your body language conveys friendliness.
13. For instance, unclasp your arms and hands, as people who cross their arms generally look unapproachable.
14. If possible, greet someone with a handshake - Shopify cites research that proves that people are twice as likely to remember you if you shake hands with them.
15. Finally, maintaining a ‘power pose,’ (standing with arms and legs open) will give you a confidence boost and convey that self-assuredness to others
16. Cutting down on choices is key.
17. Steer clear of overwhelming potential customers with too many choices - Carmine Gallo, a communication and presentations expert, says that people’s short term memory can only retain three bits of information at a time. By providing shoppers with too many choices, it can run the risk of frustrating them to the point that they won’t buy anything.

Retail sales performance training

Many employees have their own style or technique of building rapport and ultimately selling to customers. While it’s great to see staff inject their own personality, it may be necessary to have them brush up on strategies or new best practices to keep their sales performance up to snuff.

Bob Phibbs notes that many retail staff are complacent and set in their ways, making them non-receptive to new training. In addition, staff may have no inkling or desire to learn something new, especially when they feel that they’re forced into it.

As well, front-line staff can feel that training and their real-world experiences are two vastly different things.

Tackling resistance to employee learning can be simple. Put an incentive system in place that not only encourages engagement with the training material, but also motivates staff to adopt the behaviours necessary to boost their sales performance.

Making the training process simple, effective and worthwhile for employees by attaching incentives will also go a long way in terms of employee retention.

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Discover more resources on employee engagement and performance incentives by visiting Qarrot.com!

Implementing an eLearning program in retail and franchise businesses will improve the effectiveness of front-line staff and positively impact overarching business objectives.

There are several elements that eLearning programs combine that make them particularly effective when deployed in organizations to train staff.

The gamification of eLearning programs means that competition is encouraged amongst staff, and points are accrued for carrying out desired actions. Employees are incentivized with perks, like gift cards, and are accordingly rewarded when they’ve achieved a high level of performance.When searching for an optimal eLearning platform, the following attributes should be considered:

• Interactive and engaging: Is the platform easy to access from mobile devices? Is the interface and user experience inviting, or would it be difficult to use the platform for a long period of time? Does it provide staff with clearly outlined goals and does it adequately convey rewards?
• Ability to customize: Are there facets of your business that need to be emphasized? Look for a platform that allows for flexibility.
• Administrative view: A robust platform should allow for management staff or corporate to analyze the progress of staff. It’s critical to have a clear view of the impact the platform is having, in addition to having insights on how employees are progressing. For franchise businesses, this would be especially important to track how various locations are faring compared to one another.

Ultimately, eLearning programs prep retail staff to best serve customers and mobilize them to work towards achieving sales and revenue objectives.

‍How to ensure the success of a virtual learning program

‍Prior to rolling out an eLearning program, businesses should assess the types of KPIs and metrics they will be focused on measuring. Bob Phibbs, a thought leader in the sales training industry, notes that businesses should be looking at not only higher sales, but also at the number of items per transaction and the average sales per employee per hour of work.

Once metrics and benchmarks are set, businesses should remember to frequently check in with staff to gauge their progress and their level of engagement with the platform.

‍Training programs deliver unparalleled results

‍In the same piece by Phibbs cited above, he explains that investing in a training program for front-line staff will produce results that a discount or marketing program wouldn’t be able to. What’s more, the training will stick with staff and improve their performance well into the future, as opposed to simply boosting sales for a temporary period of time.

‍Neglecting staff training is detrimental to businesses in the long run

‍As it turns out, businesses who believe there’s not a significant enough ROI on front-line staff training programs are mistaken.

Emad Rizkalla, CEO of Bluedrop Performance Learning, explains that companies failing to “develop their employees could be doing damage not only to morale, but to the bottom line as well.”

He cites a finding by HR Magazine that says “companies investing in $1,500 or more per employee per year on training average 24 percent higher profit margins than companies with lower yearly training investments.

Further findings to illustrate his claim include stats from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), including one that states that companies who offer comprehensive training have a 218% higher income per employee than those who offer lower quality training.

For companies with training programs, Rizkalla also points out that there are other less tangible, but equally important, outcomes. This includes “happier employees, better leaders and enhanced teamwork.”

Accordingly, Phibbs stresses that employers who invest in training programs will experience lower levels of turnover in their organizations.

Learn more about how to create an eLearning initiative that your front-line staff are motivated to complete!

Employee retention and motivation remain a constant problem for retailers and franchises. Here are the reasons why churn is so common in retail - and steps businesses can take to prevent it.

Mitigating High Turnover in Retail Businesses

Low employee retention among front-line staff in retail businesses is prevalent - according to a study by Hay Group, retailers reported a median turnover rate of 67 per cent in 2012.There are a number of reasons why retailers need to make a concerted effort to reduce high turnover among their front-line staff.

Why is high turnover so damaging to retail businesses?

For retail employees earning $10 per hour, it costs upwards of $3,000 to locate, hire and train a replacement, according to the Center for American Progress. Replacing several employees at once is costly financially, and dedicating resources to recruit new staff is a time burden that can lead to a disruption in day-to-day operations.

A 2015 Bloomberg article breaking down the tactics big box retailers are using to attract and keep front-line staff cites that new hires aren’t as productive as seasoned employees, “creating an efficiency cost that goes beyond the expense of finding and training a rookie.”

As illustrated both qualitatively and quantitatively, the repercussions of a front-line employee base with a high rate of churn are dire.

The causes of employee turnover in retail businesses

Here are some of the most common or most-talked about factors that lead to low employee retention rates in retail businesses:

• ‍Lack of recognition: Failing to acknowledge strong performance can lead to dissatisfied employees that are likely to quit. Coordinating a benefits program that rewards number of sales or revenue netted from upsells is a good place to start.
• ‍There’s a major disconnect between employee tasks and business objectives: Instilling a sense of ownership in front-line staff and conveying the importance of their role is essential. Retailers should give their front-line staff a clear picture of how their duties relate to overall goals.If a store is planning to promote a discount or special, it can be explained that the success of the campaign (which front-line staff are responsible for) is directly linked to meeting important quarterly or monthly revenue benchmarks.
• ‍There’s no variety in tasks: Employees who are assigned the same duty at each shift may get bored of the routine over time. Varying up training or responsibilities can prevent monotony and a feeling of stagnation.
• ‍Inadequate training may hinder an employee’s progress: If front-line staff don’t fully understand the nuances of a business, they may be unable to succeed at helping customers or effectively selling products.Writing about retail employee turnover, Bob Phibbs notes, “Just because an employee has previous experience does not mean they will understand what makes your store different.” It’s on the onus of an employer to properly and thoroughly train any incoming employees.
• ‍Lack of security or predictability: The nature of scheduling employees in the retail business can be volatile, but creating some sort of routine for employees can instill in them a sense of security. This could be a competitive edge among businesses that rely on employees calling in to be notified if they have a shift.

Retailers who take preventative measures to improve employee retention will enjoy less upheaval and consistent productivity.

Learn more about how to create and launch a network-wide program to reward and recognize your front-line staff!

Qarrot is a motivation, communication, and training platform for retailers and franchisers to motivate front-line staff to rapidly improve their sales performance.

Ottawa and Montreal, Canada—April 18, 2016; Qarrot, a motivation, communication, and training platform for retailers and franchisers, publicly launched today following a one-year closed pilot.

Qarrot’s mission is to help retailers increase sales by improving the performance of their front-line staff.  Easy sales data capture and tracking, training and communications capabilities, a catalog of hundreds of e-gift cards, plus proprietary gamification features make Qarrot a great fit for retailers with large, franchised store networks looking to boost their front-line staffs’ sales performance.

Vision Source, North America's largest franchise network of retail optometrists, piloted Qarrot in 2015 before rolling-out a full-scale program in January 2016 to their 4,000 locations across the United States with over 6,000 front-line staff participating on the sales performance platform.

Before implementing their front-line sales performance program powered by Qarrot, more than 60% of Vision Source patients were purchasing glasses or contact lenses from competitive providers and channels, resulting in hundreds of millions in lost sales opportunities.

“With Qarrot Performance, we launched one of the most successful and beneficial programs in the history of our company. Qarrot is my “go to” for incentive award programs," says Walt West, VP Practice Development, Vision Source.

By incentivizing franchise employees and rewarding sales performance, Qarrot helps retailers prevent lost sales opportunities and motivate their front-line to actively promote high margin add-ons . In the United States alone, lost sales opportunities cost retailers over $1 trillion annually.

Over $28 billion in spent annually by U.S. companies on non-cash incentives to motivate their employees. Of this, Qarrot estimates that $8 billion is attributable to retailers for front-line sales performance motivation.

Qarrot has been honing in on organizations with franchised networks in the L-SPARK Incubator. They’re now half-way through the four-month program designed to help early stage SaaS companies execute a go-to-market strategy.

With the help of the organization’s well-connected Directors, mentors and advisers, Qarrot has caught the attention of a large Canadian bank. The platform will be rolled out at all locations to incentivize staff to sell financial products.

About Qarrot

Qarrot Performance is a cloud-based retail sales motivation, communications, and training platform. With clients in both the United States and Canada, Qarrot is already motivating thousands of front-line retail employees at more than 1,200 store locations.

Visit us at Qarrot or email us at info@qarrotperformance.com to learn more!

About L-SPARK

L-SPARK is the only Canadian Incubator and Accelerator that focuses exclusively on Enterprise SaaS and cloud start-ups. With established relationships with key venture capital firms, angel investors, and the investment community at large, the goal is to support a deal flow of fundable Enterprise SaaS startup companies in Canada.  Visit us at www.l-spark.com, connect with us on linkedin.com/l-spark or follow us on Twitter @LSPARKGlobal.