The good news is that, with technology, you can give your staff the tools to successfully service customers–the good, the bad and the flat out boorish–while sparking them up to do it with a happy attitude.  

Tech tools can be used to replace mundane operational tasks while enabling staff to better serve, motivate them to lean in with gusto and/or reward them for doing it. The BHAGs they serve fall into the following three buckets. 

Empower Them

Give them the data at their fingertips to answer the questions your customers expect them to know. Customer history, both on-line and in store, gives them the power to provide great service based on real-time info. What do they like? Who do they buy for? How often do they buy? What adjacent items make sense to offer?

Real time inventory availability across all channels ensures no out-of-stock offers. Help them get customers what they want, when they want it. Do you have my size? If not, does a nearby store have it? Does your warehouse have it and can you ship it to me by tomorrow morning? 

Up-to-date systems should have a real time, multi-channel, 360-view of your customers. If your associates can’t answer customer questions and fulfill their wants and desires, why are they there in the first place? 

Motivate Them

Can you set sales goals in your system? Can you track both individual, team, and store level goals? Do your dashboards then show (in real time) how they are achieving against their goals? Can stores and regions compete against each other over a holiday weekend in real time? This is what makes the job fun while also motivating staff to up sell, cross-sell, and achieve team goals that raise all sales levels. 

Technology should be used for more impactful training and tracking. It's more relevant, makes it more fun, and helps them process a customer engagement faster–while also proving if they are upselling and cross selling via personalization .

Reward Them

With the right platform, you can track everything each employee does and automate rewards with both expected and surprise incentives. You can quickly translate what motivated staff to turn their efforts into cold hard cash. The immediacy of the reward after a competition is paramount to pump up the excitement surrounding a contest. It nurtures a real sense of challenge and excitement and make them want to stick around for more–and thrive. Iron sharpens iron, right? And who knows...the good ones might even recruit their friends to come work for you too!

Tips From the Trenches 

√ Use good strategy to make the tech experiences more human, not less. 

Technology is not supposed to replace associates OR make the customer work harder...it’s supposed to make store experiences better by getting questions answered quicker, offering suggestions likely to be loved and making every engagement personally relevant. Done right, it removes the friction points and enhances the personal interactions. 

√ Make opt-in easy for shoppers! 

Shoppers don’t want to feel like they are being forced to give up private information or do the work for the staff...you want to make them feel comfortable ‘opting in’ to sharing details about their preferences and/or using self-serve technologies by making them super simple. For example, QR codes can be used to fill out their loyalty info on their phones and automatically update your system with their current info and opt in. 

√ Connect the customer data dots to make the experience as personal as possible  

No two customers are alike, and now, thanks to the web, they are accustomed to information and recommendations that are specifically geared towards their personal tastes. With the right retail platform, this info is a cinch to get into the hands of your staff–which helps them to quickly get your customers what they came in for.  

√ Offer upsell/cross sell options based on previous path points and preferences 

The fantastic part about an integrated platform is that it offers ‘one clear view’ on all points of your customer’s journey. With it, any associate can see exactly where a customer left off and close the deal with contextual suggestions, regardless of place or platform. 

√ Gamify it! 

There’s a reason people like to play games–our brains get hooked on the endorphins released from the competition AND the win! Same strategy works with both customers and employees. Whether it’s training or motivating, gaming can make it fun. 

√ Give staff a voice...and TAKE ACTION 

The younger generation cares as much about having a valuable influence on their place of employment as they do about pay. Talk to them, listen to their feedback and do something with it! they will reward you in an infinite amount of ways.