Store staff; The face of any Retailer

The store is only as good or bad as the staff that manage the same and are the face of that retailer.

Over the last 13 plus years since corporate retail started getting staff, training them and ensuring that they present the right imagery has been a huge challenge and it is not becoming any easier.

Initially in 1996/ 97 the challenge was to overcome the bias of working in a store. Staff would not join or leave in a few days because of the label of working in a "dukan"or "kadai". The reason is very simple. Even today most of the traditional stores are manned by people who are usually relatives of the store owner or from their village. Hence, they are usually illiterate and are not the ideal poster boys for a career in retail!

One of the early initiatives to overcome this issue of getting store staff, especially trained staff was the start of RIRM (RPG Institure of Retail Management). Short term diploma courses with on the job training was given and every batch would be snapped up by not only the RPG retail stores but also other retailers. The idea being that a diploma and some class room sessions would communicate the difference between a job with a corporate retailer Vs being a "dukandaar" or "kadaikaaran". Usually the courses would start off very well and once the students graduated and started working in a store, many would stop after a few days. The societal pressure and conditioning came through very strongly when one person wanted to be posted to another store far away from where his home was or he would have to quit. His parents did not want him to be seen working in store by their neighbours!

Training store staff is a challenge as it is multi faceted. It involves three areas of inputs -
- Retail knowledge such as how to stack, how to do FIFO, etc.
- Product knowledge, which is crucial is some categories like electronics
- Attitudinal training and service orientation.

The key challenge is the fact that that most store staff come from a very economically challenged background and most of the inputs are not only alien to them but something they do are not exposed to in their day to day life.

For example, when product inputs regarding something as basic as rice used to be given, they would find it very difficult to relate to as their families would never buy the quality that was being sold. Therefore to try to understand what use and benefit is there in cleaned rice without any broken rice usually is a challenge. In fact, till a series of training sessions were held for every staff, most used to think that the store they worked in was very expensive. The happy outcome of the training was that the families of many of the staff started shopping. It is said that, You need to believe in the product you sell. Otherwise, your skepticism will be obvious to your customers. Nowhere is this more relevant than in retail.

The even greater challenge was the attitudinal training and service orientation. As a race most of us are not taught basic social graces like saying Please/ thank you or smiling or wishing. To change that conditioning and instill something as basic as smile at the customers was a challenge. One youngster innocently asked 'Sir, should we smile at the ladies also? Wont they mistake us?' This might sound very funny, but from his point of view, it was a very valid doubt.

Personal grooming was a favourite topic and I guess is even now a focus area. When a session on body odour and the importance of using powder or deodorant was being made an innocent comment was "Sir, is that not only for ladies?". Of course today it is the age of the metro sexual male and the penetration and use of these products have increased.

Lastly, the entire training bit has to be simple and easy to implement. At the end of the day, it is not rocket science and should not be made into one. One should never forget the background and conditioning these youngsters have and the challenge they face in first understanding and then implementing any training inputs. But still, it would do well if we remember these incidents as a reminder to KISS*!


(* Keep It Simple & Short)