Retail is not an easy job and includes many challenges, but the best results are achieved when you have a specially organized and dedicated team. That’s why we are here to help you build a solid team and improve its performance.

As a team leader, you have many responsibilities and play a key role in the success of your company. One of the most important tasks that impacts your business results is to lead a truly engaged team.

Did you know that companies with highly engaged teams are 21% more profitable?

Disengaged employees working at a minimal level could have a greater impact on sales if they feel part of something, part of a team, part of a business, and part of your success. 

Let us look at what you can do to improve the organization of your team and shoot those key indicators through the roof.

The 6 strategies to organize your retail team and boost their performance

Provide reliable retail sales scheduling software

In order to think about certain tactics, you need to have a system that builds a foundation. It’s very convenient to use retail staff scheduling software and one of the current-best on the market is Agendrix Retail Scheduling Software, which manages everything automatically. By eliminating the manual work, you can really save a lot of wasted hours.

They solve all the short-term scheduling problems and keep the team’s activities up to date. These systems are managed with messaging systems, real-time notifications and everything you need to stay connected at all times.

The main advantages for you are: 

• Time savings

• Open pop-up windows where employees can move their schedule as needed

• Lower administrative costs

• More efficient recording of working hours

• Creation of schedules

It optimizes time so you can focus on what matters: improving their performance.

Hire a good attitude

Hiring the right people is the key to a good retail team.

Your task is to build a team that promotes a good working atmosphere. Each part is important to create synergies between all, with each member complementing and supporting the others. Your job is to pass on to them an attitude of learning and continuous improvement.

The key is to hire employees as they are and train them based on their aptitude. Screen and hire the best candidates carefully, making sure they not only have the necessary skills to sell and perform well, but also the right attitude and ability to adapt to the company culture and fit perfectly into your team.

It’s much easier to train a positive person, who is willing to learn and who shares your values, than to change the attitude and disposition of someone who does not have a natural inclination towards service. Engaged and positive employees are the ones who will keep customers coming back and spending their money in your store.

Drive employee engagement and customer loyalty together

If your staff genuinely thinks that your product has value and adds meaning to someone’s life, they will be able to communicate that to consumers. This includes providing good training instances for everyone and showing each of them what you offer.

The link between employee engagement and customer loyalty is becoming increasingly clear, and that’s true in retail, too. Now, 89% of customers say they’ll consider a purchase if a seller changes their way of thinking. Your customers will keep coming back if they are well taken care of and given a clear explanation and guidance. 

Your goal is to position the brand and communicate values, and the team responsible for promoting your product in stores must be clear about these values, its competence and added potential. 

If you aim for sales success, it’s essential that the workforce know everything they need to know in order to respond properly to each customer. To do this, you need to ask yourself:

• Have you conducted internal marketing campaigns to announce a new product? 

• Have you run campaigns to explain to your team who you are and what sets you apart from the competition?

If not, you have work to do. The idea is to convey the value of your product to them with passion, so they can pass it on in the same tone. Work actively on this.

Define optimal ground rules

The people who make up your team demand that you take concrete, directional action to facilitate their work and motivate them. Rely on:

• Clearly define the tasks to be accomplished

• Set achievable goals

• Actively assess and monitor performance

• Evaluate results

• Establish good internal communication

• Develop career plans

• Pay accordingly and create an emotional salary

• Establish a customer-centric culture

• Build loyalty among your salespeople

To be a true leader, you must inspire with your attitude, encourage the personal and professional development of your teams, and be honest about your intentions. Leading intelligently requires good policy and an optimal business methodology. This is the key.

Delegate in a systematized way

Establish hierarchies and optimize productivity within the company by defining work structures appropriate to growing. Centralizing control to a single person is a barrier to agility and business growth. It’s not only important to delegate tasks, but also to trust and instill confidence in subordinates. 

Success lies in giving them autonomy and the ability to make their own decisions. Usually, managers of fast-growing companies are used to controlling all operations and being above everyone else. This is a mistake that costs a lot of time and money.

Be willing to delegate, take their advice, and rely on the solutions they provide to improve sales. This is critical to the success and future of the company.

Invest in improving your leadership skills

You may have decades of retail experience or just be starting out now, but there are always ways to improve your skills. One way or another, you will always need to actively drive sales, and that requires training in performance skills that you can pass on to your employees. Rely on:

• Find opportunities for your personal continuing education and training

• Ask your teammates to evaluate your work and be open to suggestions

• Check what your competitors are doing to train and update their leaders

For example, if you want your employees to know your products extensively, make it easy for them. Use the products, study all the details, research your competition and keep them up to date on what’s new and prepare them to sell more and better. 

Proper people management will help you develop your own potential, keep your team motivated and engaged, help them act responsibly and independently, sell confidently, and grow personally while helping you grow your business.

Give plenty of incentives and rewards

A reward system is necessary to maintain motivation every day for the whole team. It’s also an opportunity for you to make the connection between good performance and fulfillment. Nothing increases an employee’s overall satisfaction more than the feeling that they can go as far as they want.

Start by setting performance goals and a system that staggers rewards. Don’t forget to include aspects that are related to management but equally important: 

• Attendance

• Good behavior

• Teamwork

• Focus on results

An employee must feel valued to maintain a solid performance, so it’s important you create incentive systems, both for meeting goals or metrics and for meeting basic requirements like schedule. If you reward your team constantly, they’ll be more motivated and results-oriented.

You can give things such as office supplies, personal items, or gift cards. They can also be less tangible, such as courses, scholarships or recognition systems. They all have a direct impact on the development of group and individual motivation.

Common aspects for optimal organization

Organizing a successful sales team requires open leadership. As a leader, you must be prepared to address all necessary aspects, such as:

• Provide the software and programs that support the administrative work: In this way, focus on the human side and do not waste time on technical aspects. Try to invest enough to support the work of your company

• Hire people who have the ability to adapt to change and have the best possible attitude: It is not the same to invest in training and improving skills than to constantly spend resources in endless selection processes

• Communicate with your employees the same way you do with your customers: If you make an effort to retain employees, it will have a direct and sure impact on customer retention

• Set clear, concise and realistic work rules: If you communicate directly what you want, your employees will be better organized to meet your needs

• Learn to delegate and not overload yourself with work: Trust your team and trust that they have what it takes to take on any challenge

• Invest in yourself and everything you need to improve your role as a leader: from formal training to simply asking for feedback from your teammates

• Pay your team accordingly, reward them, and incentivize them: congratulations may better performance for a day, but good working conditions can improve performance and loyalty in the long run

You now know everything you need to know to optimize and organize your employees to perform better than expected. Start implementing these changes now and prepare to achieve real long-term results.

James Ewen

James is the head of marketing at Tamoco