The Green Sheet Online Edition
November 11, 2023 • 23:11:01
Make the year-end holiday season shine
I expect you've already helped your merchants prepare for the coming holiday rush by making sure their POS systems are up to date, secure and capable of handling surges both in transactions and fraud attempts. You've probably reminded them of how to get timely help with glitches or worse that could tank their profits.
Have you considered addressing other areas such as inclusive marketing practices, employee training and customer feedback? You could prepare online and print infographics or basic bullet points to deliver key points tailored for specific areas of concern. For example, here are points an infographic for employee training might include:
- Product knowledge: In addition to working knowledge of the products and services offered, this includes details about holiday promotions, gift items and special features customers are likely to ask about.
- POS systems: Employees should be comfortable processing transactions, handling returns and addressing common issues that may arise at the POS.
- Cultural sensitivity and inclusivity: To help create a welcoming, inclusive shopping environment, emphasize the importance of treating all customers with respect and avoiding assumptions or biases based on cultural or religious backgrounds.
- Customer service: Educate employees on topics such as active listening, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and maintaining a positive attitude even during busy and stressful times. And empower them with the requisite skills to resolve complaints that may arise to ensure customers leave with a positive impression.
- Customer feedback: Educate employees on how to gather and document customer feedback, which is invaluable for making improvements and addressing customer concerns.
- Legal and ethical considerations: Familiarize employees with legal and ethical considerations, such as privacy regulations and anti-discrimination laws.
- Holiday promotions and marketing: Demonstrate how to effectively communicate holiday promotions and marketing campaigns, answer questions and guide customers to relevant products.
- Upselling and cross-selling: Encourage employees to suggest complementary products or services, which can increase the average transaction value.
- Time management: Offer training in time management to help employees cope with increased seasonal workloads, reduce stress and improve productivity.
- Loss prevention and security: Teach employees how to identify suspicious behavior and follow security protocols. This is especially important during the holiday season when theft and fraud can increase.
- Safety protocols: Make clear to employees what their role is in maintaining a safe shopping environment for customers and themselves.
- Emergency procedures: Ensure that employees know how to respond in emergencies and unexpected events and can implement evacuation plans. This includes knowing how to communicate effectively with customers during a crisis to help maintain trust.
To follow up, you could offer instructions on how to carry out the training. This could take the form of an email course. Employees would receive daily emails with information and how-to steps for one point on the list until they are all covered.
During busy times, merchants may be able to provide only minimal training for new employees. Providing an infographic and a follow-up email course could help them navigate the coming holiday rush. This would be a win-win for you and your merchants. 
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