This week’s conversation about employee training and giving the customer what they want versus what they need reminded me of a story I’d like to share with you.

I’m on the road a lot, giving talks and presentations to other independent retailers and professionals in the pet industry and pet food industry. Now, if you’re going to know one thing about me, you should know that technology is absolutely not my thing. I’m in the breakdown lane on the information super highway. The only reason I have a blog is I have a magic blogging gnome!

But I was going to give a great presentation, and I wanted to record it. So I went out to buy a digital recorder. I went to Tweeters , whose tagline at that time was “A Boatload of Knowledge”

I drove past several of Tweeter’s competitors; past the Circuit City and the Best Buy. I knew I’d need expert advice, because I didn’t have a clue!

So I get to Tweeter’s. Guess what? Nobody there had a clue about digital recorders. Not the first idea. But they worked with me on it. We futzed around, until I had some kind of idea how to operate the thing.

Still, I was a little miffed. These guys touted themselves as the expert, and they couldn’t show me how to use their merchandise! Had these employees been trained, they could have easily demonstrated how the digital recorder works. Not only that, but they could have explained the difference between different digital recorders, recommend which one was best for me, and helped me make a more informed purchase.

But that’s not the kicker. Oh no. That didn’t come until I was back at my hotel room, minutes before I was scheduled to appear. That’s when I discovered that my great new digitial recorder didn’t have any batteries! Not only didn’t it not have batteries, but it took some special kind of battery I couldn’t just get from the hotel gift shop!

That’s when the boatload of knowledge sank.

Employee training is critical to ensure not only that the customer gets what they want, but that they get what they need! We don’t want our customers getting home only to discover they need batteries, cables, or other vital component that our crew could have easily reminded them of. We have to make sure that our crew remembers, no matter what industry we’re in, to ensure that the customer has everything they need to enjoy their purchase.

Hey everybody! I hope you’re having a great week: we’re finally seeing some signs of Spring up here. Now I promised last time that we’d talk a little more about what I learned at the Global Retailing Marketing Conference, so let’s launch right into that.

One of the most important things I learned is the value of employee training. Now, if you’re like me, your skeptical meter just went off, because nine times out of ten, when someone wants to talk to you about employee training, it involves you having to buy something and spend a gazillion dollars.

This was a little different, though. This time, I learned about the value of getting your front line employees invested in the decision making process. If you want to make good retail decisions, decisions that are going to make your customers happy, it’s not a bad idea to actually talk to the people who talk to your customers: your front line employees. It’s your cashiers, your crew members, your csrs who actually interact with the people you want to please.

The more equipped they are to do a good job, the better results you’re going to have.

I know, duh.

But here’s the other part. Some of you might know this: we have our own line of Dog Food One of the things we carry is Delectable Dinners, a wet food. We need to offer more flavors.

Now, what’s the best way to decide what these flavors are going to be?

It’s not like I can ask a dog. Well, I can, but they don’t say much.

Instead, why don’t I have my crew talk with my customers, have them do a survey, and let the customers tell me what they want to buy? So simple, it’s brilliant: the first rule in retail is to give the customer what they want.

How does this relate to training? I want the new dog food flavors to be a big deal. I want my crew to be excited and enthused about it! If they’re excited, the customers will be excited: excited customers buy.

How do I get my guys excited? Training. I can’t afford to send everyone, else I would, but I’m going to send two or three crew members out to the facility where our dog food is made. They’re going to have the behind the scenes tour, the real inside scoop on dog food manufacturing. We’re going to video the whole thing, so the rest of my crew can see it too. This will help my crew feel connected to the new product: they were integral in deciding what was going to be made, they know how it’s made, and when the food finally arrives, they’re going to do an awesome job selling it.

There you go. The beauty of training, and involving your employees in the decision making process. Let me knwo what you think, and what you’d like me to talk about!