Opinion The importance of soft skills in retail

No sales tactics or glib dialogue: So what was the point in following Paul if his merchandise knowledge was so sketchy? Obviously his training was not just inadequate in facts and figures,but pitiful in soft skills. Unlike the proverbial garrulous British barber who engages you in a constant stream of chatter,salespersons in modern Indian retails have no sales tactics or behavioural skills. So they just tail the shopper,not just irritating,but intimidating him,resulting in no expected business conversion.

Clearly,modern retails require pragmatic soft skills coaching and a systematic review mechanism. India’s social culture accepts the casual aspect and people interpreting the same subject differently. So,following a Western model is difficult. Sales people have to be made accountable to respect every discipline till the time they are in the store. A service manual for productisation of training has to cover every moment activity of every salesperson at the retail.

Associative learning for retail staff: Ivan Pavlov’s 1927 theory of classical conditioning can perhaps be applied here. In normal course,a dog salivates on seeing food. Pavlov’s conditioning theory demonstrated that by simultaneously ringing a bell and giving food,the dog will salivate on hearing the bell even without food because it associates food with the bell. Training people by strengthening the stimulus-outcome association has proved very effective in the West. When teaching an individual a response,you need to find the most potent reinforcer for that person.

Reading the shopper’s body language: Retails design a planogram to evoke the shopper’s subliminal desire for merchandise offtake as he/she walks through the retail. A simplistic example is placing accessories like cuff links and neckties next to formal shirts. All types of shoppers walk in—a man sporting a ponytail or in traditional clothes,a woman with tattoos or one in a sophisticated outfit. How should the salesman approach these different personalities with appropriate soft skills?

Individualisation of service makes the retail great: On a recent US visit,my wife and I entered a large,crowded Walmart store. She spotted a walking stick—she was recently operated for a broken knee. Suddenly a woman came,hugged my wife with a smile,asked about her injury,and gave her an electric shopping cart with a seat. She explained how simple it was to drive the cart inside the store. What heartened us is that she brought the electric cart on her own initiative and made us feel welcome in an over-crowded store. This warm gesture is soaked in soft skills.

Another day at Walmart,I was looking for a video camera charger. The store keeper searched the store in vain,and then asked for my phone number. After two hours,he called to apologise that they don’t deal with this brand but he had made inquiries and found that his rival,Best Buy,has it. He asked me to visit a specific Best Buy,gave me the address and the saleswoman’s name who was keeping a charger for me. I was overwhelmed; I didn’t know how to thank him. He humbly said he thought it his duty to help his shopper. I went to Best Buy and got my charger,but my emotional bonding with Walmart increased substantially. I’ve now clearly understood how Walmart has grown to $407 billion revenue within 30 years.

Salesmen can radiate a dynamic ambience in the store: What’s the right mix for a retail to get quick ROI? The answer is low cost real estate,high spend in soft skills training for sales people,highly aspirational retail design and appropriate merchandise that caters to entry,mid and premium price tags and retails highly connected to their localities. For the store manager,the most important criterion is the retail’s fresh look. Ambience is the pull. How promptly can the merchandise be re-arranged after the previous shopper leaves? When a shopper appears to hesitate,can the salesperson help by taking on the role of a confidant?

India is slated to allow 51 per cent FDI for multi-brand retails. When retails like Walmart come,the shopping culture will change as international brands are already riding high here. Instead of driving every subliminal aspect of shoppers,retailers today are merely providing air conditioned lung space for them in summer when they are out buying unbranded products from street hawkers or mom-&-pop stores. Isn’t it time organised retailers started creating conducive sales environments for retail ROI to happen by understanding all the shopper’s soft corners and addressing that diligently in a country of wide disparity of culture?

Shombit Sengupta is an international creative business strategy consultant to top management. Reach him at http://www.shiningconsulting.com