RETAIL ENVIRONMENT IN MIND

Retail Environment In Mind

Retail Environment In Mind

Introduction

Retail environments are usually fast-paced, customer-focused businesses. In order to effectively meet retail employees, it may be necessary to find ways to fit a creative meeting plan into their busy days. Fortunately, meeting does not have to occur in a classroom setting in order for it to be effective.

Meet your employees via eLearning. ELearning is very effective for companies that do not have a lot of time to meet employees--retail establishments, for example. This method is cost-effective, and employees can take the meeting at any time from any location with an Internet connection. All types of learners, whether they are auditory, visual or kinesthetic, can benefit from properly designed eLearning courses. Workbooks can accompany the eLearning so employees can download them for later review and practice.

Discussion

Attend live meetings on the Web. Employees who are pressed for time can attend regularly scheduled meetings online. Programs are available which allow the facilitator and the participants to simultaneously log into a chat room where the facilitator can conduct the meeting, and the participants can watch from a remote location. Employees can use the accompanying chat feature to ask questions or clarify points.

Provide paper-based meeting such as hand-outs, manuals or guides which may be an alternative to attending in-person meeting. Meeting departments often create guides or manuals that cover vital information necessary for the retail establishment to run effectively. These guides could cover orientation, safety, customer service or new products. Holiday guides can help retail employees learn how to deal with special days such as Black Friday or events leading up to the Christmas season. In order to ensure employees are reading the manuals, include a section for the employee's manager to ask them relevant questions and then sign off on the material, indicating that the employee has completed the guide.

Use conference calls as an alternative to retail meeting. Schedule calls in advance, and employees can join in from any location. Provide slides, agendas, outlines or documents to accompany the calls. This way the employees can read over the documents in advance in preparation for the call. Have the facilitator take attendance to ensure everyone is on the call.

Spend quality time with your employees in morning meetings held before the store opens. Morning meetings can be effective if they are short and cover quality information. If you have special sales, coupons or deals that your retail employees need to know about, cover them in the morning meeting. Also, use this time to cover basic points of larger meeting sessions that employees have attended. For example, if greeting a customer within a minute of their entering the store is part of your culture, focus part of your morning meeting on reviewing the customer greeting. Role-playing activities can be incorporated into the morning meeting to help reinforce the meeting topics.

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