Training Up Talent: The Art of Honing Employees’ Skills

When one of Karen Barry’s retail clients hired a teenager to do data entry, the store owners had no idea what a boon she’d be to sales. Young and energetic, with a friendly smile but no jewelry knowledge, she was surrounded by staffers with decades of sales experience.

Her enthusiasm was a bit “annoying at first,” laughs Barry, senior consultant for sales-training firm The Friedman Group, which has its headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. “But one weekend in a pinch, when everyone was busy, she stepped in to help on the sales floor. Despite probably knowing less about the product than half the customers, she outsold almost every other salesperson on the floor that day from sheer enthusiasm and effort.”

Naturally, the store gave her product training and a sales position — a move that not only served as a good fit for her, but inspired the established associates to sell with renewed vigor. “Her numbers re-sparked some of the competitive spirit that had been missing for a while, and as the energy started to lift, so did the store’s overall sales,” relates Barry.

The charismatic high-schooler’s story shows the pluses of hiring for personality over product knowledge. However, soft skills are not a guarantee in all applicants. “They’ve got to want to give their customers a great experience, but if they don’t sell jewelry, nothing else matters,” says author and training guru Peter Smith.

How can retailers mold that raw talent into effective sales? Barry, Smith and other professionals in the field offer their advice on training new staff.

Look for pleasant people

Over 60% of potential salespeople “do not have the essential wiring to be successful in sales,” says Smith, so even with a solid training plan, it’s important to seek out compatible individuals in the first place. During interviews, he says, look for “drive, empathy, and resilience…to mitigate the number of non-salespeople” you are hiring.

Kathleen Cutler agrees. As CEO of Private Client Method, a bespoke luxury sales-training company, she additionally advises her clients to look for active listeners and the ability to build rapport. “These skills are crucial for creating memorable customer experiences,” she says.

Merchants need associates who are pleasant, engaging, and willing to talk and be outgoing, not those who will “hide behind operational tasks when a customer walks in,” adds Barry. “Someone willing will be easy to train and coach because they’re open to learning and trying new things, and to doing things the company way. When it comes to customers, we need to teach [staffers] to connect in a way that feels more natural and conversational, and provide well-rounded product knowledge so they feel confident as an expert.”

Also important? Hires should have a similar culture to the store’s; ideally, they should live in the same area and understand the community. William Jones IV — chief operating officer at retailer Sissy’s Log Cabin and founder of the Jewelry Sales Academy in Pine Bluff, Arkansas — says one of the biggest mistakes he’s seen other merchants make is to “recruit a superstar sales associate from someone else’s culture,” as their experiences and values often don’t mesh well with the company’s customer base.

Provide a path to success

After you find the right personalities, offer them what people want in a position: opportunities for growth, and “a clear understanding of standard operating procedures that detail the sales process and customer interaction guidelines,” says Cutler.

To help them gain product knowledge, there are myriad training options, including the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the Diamond Council of America, Jones’s academy, brands themselves, trade articles, even YouTube.

When hiring young people, it’s important to remember that they work differently than the rest of us. “Training must involve explaining the ‘why’ between everything you’re asking of them,” says Barry. “They perform best when given opportunities to contribute ideas and be heard.”

They also need team sales training, a fun place to work (“You spend half your life there,” notes Jones), a sense of ownership in client relationships, and forward momentum in their positions, as well as “an avenue to learn at their own pace,” Jones says.

And it’s not just the new recruits who need guidance, according to Barry. Her company conducts “relationship-based sales training at all levels, but more importantly, we help managers and owners implement our fair statistic-based systems of accountability and coach their teams to success. We firmly believe sales training doesn’t work; sales management does.”

Keep your eyes open

Merchants can encounter valuable potential hirees in unexpected places, the experts note. Restaurants and luxury hotels are some of the likely locations, but Smith has seen bus drivers, teachers and stockroom workers become great salespeople as well. Cutler once saw a real-estate photographer transition to jewelry sales. So store owners should have business cards at the ready for sharing, as well as an elevator pitch on what their business offers to quality hires.

“There is great sales talent everywhere if we look for the right stuff and have the patience
and discipline to train and nurture them,” says Smith.

Image: Karen Barry, Peter Smith and Kathleen Cutler (left to right). (The Friedman Group/Peter Smith/Katleen Cutler)

This article is from RDI Diamond’s Welcome to the Future special report. View other articles from the supplement here.