Senior retail teams should be serving their frontline staff, first and foremost, so they’re empowered to get on with the important business of serving customers.
That’s the view of a group of retail experts who are hosting a free webinar this week to implore brands to shake up their business model and collaborate more closely with store teams, instead of just paying lip service to their potential.Â
After what has been an incredibly tough two years for store staff, Retail Consultant Peter Cross and Jo Causon, CEO of the Institute of Customer Service, will argue that store teams are retailers’ new secret weapon and that they alone can deliver the high levels of customer service that today’s brands need.Â
They’ll expose the damaging impact that failing to ‘close the gap’ between HQ and frontline staff can bring, in terms of low staff morale, engagement and failed customer relationships – backed by some fascinating testimony from the frontline, courtesy of group of shop floor employees who won’t hold back when it comes to sharing their views.Â
Having been the heroes of the hour during the pandemic, the group will also provide guests with a route to preventing a slide back into the old ‘Command and Control’ structure, ensuring staff have the tools, training and influence to deliver stellar levels of customer service.Â
Peter Cross commented: ‘I’ve spent my life trying to delight and anticipate, please (and sometimes placate) customers. But I worked out early on in my career that the first rule of serving customers is to serve those who serve them first: retail staff.
‘Retail has never been easy, but it’s currently going through its toughest miles. Of all the challenges, the issue of employee engagement is a big one, but it’s also something that can be fixed quite simply and quickly. This webinar will be packed with inspiration and invaluable advice on how to build staff into your company’s greatest asset. We’ll be exploring the crucial role engaged employees play in delivering outstanding customer service, and why closing the gap between them and their bosses at HQ is the crucial first step in this process
‘It’s something I am very passionate about and I hope you can join us for what promises to be an unmissable session on day.’
Sponsored by Customer Interaction management specialists Critizr, ‘Mind The Gap: Why your store staff might have all the answers to your retail challenges’ takes place on Thursday 25th November at 3pm.Â
