As you wait impatiently for the brand new products you ordered to arrive, you rearrange the store to make room for them, empty shelves of current stock and stack it on your sale table, and create your next newsletter promoting “new” and “hot.” In the midst of it all, did you remember to tell your staff what’s coming in? Studies have shown that stores that invest in staff training are more likely to make a sale, particularly when the customer needs advice on his selection. Retail experts estimate that 85 percent of shoppers would leave a store in favor of a competitor’s if sales staff were unable to meet their standards of product knowledge and customer service.
Specialty toy store employees are the unsung heroes of product knowledge. They learn a lot of stuff, often on the fly, to help customers who ask, “Show me how this juggling kit works,” “What size firefighter’s costume will fit a 7-year-old boy?” “My yo-yo needs a new string,” “Do you carry Robert Sabuda’s latest book?” and “Where can I find a yodeling pickle?”
It’s hard to make time for structured group training at a small, independent toy store; but are there other alternatives? We asked our readers, and here is their advice.
Train one-on-one
If you only have a few employees who work at different times, one-on-one is best. “Training is easy because we currently have only three part-time people,” said Beth Ricker, manager of retail operations and visitor services at the Public Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “We train one-on-one for all new products. It’s mostly me sharing the info I received from the sales rep or manufacturer.”
Visitor attendance, up and down, impacts retail operations, and Beth finds herself shrinking or expanding staff as the need requires. When she has a larger staff, she breaks them into small groups and trains one group at a time.
At nonprofit museum stores, when hours are covered by a series of different volunteers, keeping up with training is key. Lauren Hall, gift shop manager at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen in Virginia, said, “As new volunteers are added to our schedule, we introduce them to some of the specialty products during their basic shop training. Because we have a small shop, training one-on-one works best, and has been successful for us.”
Encourage employees to train each other
When Rainy Day Games opened in Aloha, Oregon, in 1998, its mission was to provide gamers with the largest selection of games and puzzles in the region, along with the expert advice they needed to make a good choice. Since the store carries strategy, board, children’s and card games, plus jigsaw and brainteaser puzzles, training its seven employees is a tall order. To keep up, co-owner Steve Ellis told us, “We periodically hold staff game nights where we teach each other different games. It allows experts to develop within certain areas and then we can pass that knowledge along to one another.”
A large section of the store features tables for customers to use free of charge for casual and competitive play, and for tabletop gaming and trading. The store is open seven days a week and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Obviously, a number of well-trained employees is key to the store’s success.
Let employees take a product home
The owners of Math ‘n’ Stuff in Seattle have scoured the globe “to gather the most interesting, entertaining products that stimulate the mind.” They carry 15,000 of them.
“When we get a new game in the store and time permits, we let employees play the game together on company time,” said owner Tom Wingard-Phillips. “We ask for feedback from them on whether they like it or not and why.”
If some games require more time to learn, or a larger group of players, Tom lets employees take them home to play with their families. He’s found that it provides a better learning experience for his staff if they play the game at home with family members, the environment in which his customers typically play games.
“When we participate in school events as a store, we encourage the employees that go with us to spend time playing games with students and/or their families,” Tom added. “It makes them confident in recommending those games to customers when they’re back in the store.”
Create enthusiasm early
Retailers Gord and Sandy Nicholl, with three Play N Learn toy stores in Canada, give their employees literature about new products, so they can read about the items before they’re delivered. “We ask for their input on items to get the excitement going,” said Sandy. “Once they come in, we share ideas on what kinds of customers would buy them, and we list the features of all the items.
“I have also taken suggestions for a product’s usage off the POP the supplier sends, and put them in clear plastic and attached it to the stand. I send it to all the stores at the same time, so we are all on the same page.” She communicates with her stores daily by e-mail about new products.
When employees provide input about new products, Sandy passes the information on to the next shift. She also includes a question in the store’s logbook that invites employees of all shifts to participate. A recent example is, “What are your ideas for March Break?”
“Everyone has an opportunity to share their ideas, and then we have something to suggest to customers,” she said. “This way, we are prepared.”
Sandy added: “I think the best thing a specialty store owner can do for sales is to be enthusiastic about what she is buying. It gets your employees excited, too. My staff enjoys opening up the boxes when a shipment comes in – it’s like Christmas!”
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