Working in retail is challenging, and the salespersons are the first point of contact in every retail environment, making them vital in any retail environment. A retail salesperson help customers find what they are looking for in a store. They also help in building valuable relationships with customers.
So, if you are looking for a retail job, or you are on the other side of the table looking to hire a retail salesperson, questions like
1. what are the skills required in retail;
2. what makes a great salesperson,
must have come to mind. We understand how essential it is to hire a person with the right skill, so we prepared a post that critically looks at ten (10) must-have retail skills that all Salespeople need to excel.
The primary aim of retail organizations is to make their customer lives better through one product or another. So having a helping nature as a salesperson is very necessary. A brilliant retail employee needs to be naturally eager to help customers with everything they need. They should always be enthusiastic about answering questions, assisting customers in checking when stocks are coming in, also, recommending products when customers are confused. They ultimately should be interested in figuring what a customer wants and how to give it to them.
Empathy is the ability to understand or feel the experiences of another person from their perspective. An empathetic employee places themselves in your customer position and views the situation through the customer’s eyes to understand what they want.
If your salesperson struggles to identify or relate to the customer’s emotions quickly, they can easily miss it when giving recommendations, cross-selling, and upselling. Sales that could have been closed can get lost as a result of this. Empathy is essential because, without a relationship, there is no trust, and trust is the bedrock of how people make decisions.
Patience is crucial in delivering excellent customer service. A salesperson will unavoidably listen to the same questions and explain the instructions, product usage, alternative products, and sales offer dozen times a day. They will have to deal with customers that would take the information at a slow pace. All of these can not be when your salesperson is impatient and short-fused, so patience is the key in every retail establishment.
Active listening is a part of listening that absorbs the entire mannerism and body language, fully interpreting what the speaker says. Practicing active listening with customers makes them feel heard and makes communication more effective with both customers and staff.
Sales can be a very chaotic job role. Your salesperson needs to be able to work with multiple customers at once, from listening to making small talk and at the same time thinking of a product that will be a good fit. A great salesperson must be able to prioritize customers as well as other tasks with care and consideration. Multiple customers might seek your guidance at once, so possessing the skill of multitasking is required to be successful in such a fast-paced environment.
From the first day you resume as a salesperson, you get trained with information about work, how to attend to customers, make sales, place products, and there is usually a new catalog to memorize monthly. A salesperson must be a fast learner to adapt to the constant changes that happen in the retail environment.
A great retail salesperson needs to have deep knowledge of most of the products you sell. It enables them to field questions and proffer solutions for your customers. The team should know to make concrete recommendations based on the customer’s needs and price points. They should be familiar with the pros and cons of different items and know what is in store. These skills get gained after working hands-on with all your products and teaching the sales staff about your products.
One of the essential skills required of a retail salesperson is to think on their feet. Your sales team needs to be able to give exact and accurate pricing to customers. They also need to be able to work at the point of sale terminal, counting money.
Sales and customer service go together because a salesperson with customer service skills is a great salesperson. Your salesperson must know how to walk a customer through the stages of a sale. They should welcome a customer, access their interests/concerns, proffer a precise solution, and close successfully. Sales and customer service skills require knowledge and the ability to listen to customers and provide a solution to their needs.
Every retail store should have a point of sales (POS) system for an effective sales process. Being able to understand gadgets like touchscreen systems is another necessary skill a salesperson should possess. If a salesperson can not use technology tools provided to them, this could result in mistakes and inefficiencies, and they will struggle to perform their jobs. For example, if a retail salesperson finds it hard to use the POS system, they may delay the checkout process, thus diminishing customer satisfaction. So for long-term success, knowing how to use specific retail tech tools is inexcusable.
Conclusion
Running a successful business is not easy after all. It requires high-level expertise and intelligence. A good salesperson must possess a handful of the above qualities to be called successful. These skills needed to work in retail are not at all hard to adopt. With regular practice, you become perfect at the job. Remember to offer regular training for your staff, track sales performance and work hours with the ICG solution. ICG analytics helps you identify top sellers and gives you detailed reports on your top-performing employee. Learn more at pos@posshop-ng.com