Ecommerce is booming, but it’s been found that nearly half of customers still prefer to shop in-store. The retail industry thrives when it adapts to technological advancements and change in customer behavior. The pandemic has accelerated both, bringing some exciting new challenges for brands and retailers. People still want to have that in-store experience and need to be met with knowledgeable salespeople if you want them to part with their money. Fortunately, the latest retail sales enablement technology can help you empower salespeople continuously and maximize in-store sales.
What is retail sales enablement?
Retail sales enablement is the process of arming salespeople with information, content, and tools that allow them to sell more effectively. We’ve all seen examples of poor retail sales enablement when an employee can’t answer your questions about a product. The outcomes are a poor customer experience and a higher likelihood you’ll simply shop online in the future.
This is a tell-tale sign that employees are not receiving adequate training. Even if a brand representative had visited the store and trained them, most people forget half of everything they learn within an hour. That’s very worrying when you consider the cost of sending out brand reps. The pandemic disrupted in-person brand training, so virtual training sessions became standard, yet experts say that it’s harder to concentrate on video calls.
Remember, retail salespeople, need three things: information, content, and tools. Brands have all the information, but the challenge is packaging it into easily digestible content and delivering it to frontline workers with the right tools. What’s the answer?
Digital sales enablement platforms
Retailers and brands can adapt to the new challenges presented by the pandemic by leveraging the latest technology. The majority of us are carrying around a computer in our pockets that allows people around the world to communicate instantly – let’s make use of it.
By utilizing online platforms, a new product can be supported by enthusiastic salespeople for a long period, rather than losing traction shortly after launch. Even better, employees can learn at their own pace, which research tells us leads to improved learning outcomes. The ability to engage with the training anytime anywhere cannot be underestimated.
Everyone wins if retail employees can perform their job better, so it’s in your best interest to help them become better sellers. It’s easier than ever to do just that, but you need to make sure you’re using the most powerful platform. Let’s look at one of the most effective aspects of digital retail sales enablement platforms you should be looking out for.
Ongoing communication
It’s important to remember that although there are a lot of options when it comes to retail sales enablement platforms, they don’t all do the same thing. Many sales enablement platforms are simple Learning Management Systems that allow users to access information. This technology can have a big short-term impact, but it’s nothing new, and it’s not incorporating the full range of what’s possible.
The next generation of sales enablement platforms allows for a deeper level of communication than ever before. Brands can enable retail salespeople with ongoing learning strategies that are proven to be more effective and longer-lasting – up to 80% of content is remembered after two months. That means products can be sold to customers more effectively and for a longer period.
Perhaps an even more powerful feature to optimize your sell-through is the ability to open up two-way communication channels. This is an empowering feature for salespeople as it makes them feel like they’re part of the learning process, rather than it being forced upon them. In practice, that means that there will be less resistance to the adoption of these tools and regular training.
Making the training process less authoritative and more collaborative has benefits for both brands and retailers. After all, it’s the frontline workers that really know what information they need to best serve their customers. Salespeople can request specific information, give feedback on the learning modules, and highlight anywhere they need more assistance. This helps ensure that the content that brands provide to retailers is exactly what they need so that retailers can deliver correct and useful information to customers. It’s a win-win.
Myagi allows brands to do all of this and more. Our digital retail sales enablement platform connects brands with retailers, helping everyone sell better together. Uplift your sales through targeted training, and retail stores can enjoy an incredible recovery.
If you would like to find out more about how Myagi can help digitize your brand training and enable frontline salespeople, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us here.