Posted by Sue Easby on Mon, Dec 07, 2009
It really does fascinate me to no end how much money retailers spend telling their customers what their brand promise is. They promise to have the best selection of product. They promise to have the best price. Or they promise to have the best service. Yet somehow, someway, when we arrive at one of those stores we are inevitably disappointed by the fact that they really are not living up to their brand promise.
Why is that? Tons of dollars are spent each year in advertising, in logistics, even in customer satisfaction and analysis surveys. With all that data and understanding of their stores, I ask you, how much is spent on the staff that has to deliver on that brand promise? How much time, resources and even money is actually spent on retail training. In other words, how many frontline sales associates truly understand their retailer's brand promise and know how to live it on every shift?
It is scary to see how many retailers stop training after the first few weeks of orientation. Many have a great orientation program because they are "used to the turnover" or seasonal hiring cycles. The unfortunate thing I have found is how training tends to only be focused on orientation and/or for management. There isn't a lot of training or communication or coaching provided for associates (full or part-time) who have been with the company for 2 to 5 years but who have not aspired to or perhaps haven't chosen to go into management.
Retailers need to remember that the brand promise can be designed at head office or by the owner of a store, but it is the frontline associates who have to deliver that experience. In order to have associates truly walking the talk of the brand promise, training, coaching and communication have to be at the heart of everything retailers do.
Training does not need to be expensive. It does, however, need to be considered an ongoing process and not a single event. . How many of us actually learned to ride a bike by being shown once on a video and then told to go out and do it? Think of training more like this: message, practice, message, practice, message, observation, message, feedback, practice and start again. Training messages have to be communicated often and regularly and practice and coaching need to be an ongoing part of an associate's work life.
A brand promise is a beautiful thing when it is actually delivered on. What are you doing to ensure your associates are delivering on yours?