By Suditi Jindal
It was a dream come true for me when Tanishq approached me for the training of its staff or RSO’s, Retail Sales Officers, both for the jewellery store and the watch store. Being a Tata enterprise, the investment and focus on employees were immense and also important for the outfit. The store owner felt that probably because of the love and care extended to the staff, they had become complacent and comfortable in their approach to work, and especially in their interactions with customers.
During the first introduction and ice-breaking interaction with the participants, I found that the reasons for poor or less interaction with the customers were different. Also, the challenge which appeared as not venturing outside the comfort zone by the RSO’s was actually low confidence due to the barrier of language. Although the staff had been trained in English communication skills, yet they felt hindered and intimidated when they had to interact with fluent customers or those speaking heavily accented slang. To add to their woes, their boss, an extremely learned and wizened octogenarian, spoke impeccable English in a British accent. The staff was thus, also afraid to share their quandary with their concerned employer.
As I began my interactions with them, they found a patient listening ear in me and confided all their troubles at work; some even came up to me to share about their personal issues. As I began training them in the 7C’s of communication and customising its application to their work, the participants began to gain confidence. They were interacting more openly during the sessions and shared uninhibitedly about their issues with each other. Resultantly, their bonding as a team and performance was improving.
The insight that helped me to help these participants was simple, something that is known to all of us, yet we forget it. I shared with the participants that the words we use to converse with others are not as important and effective, as our body language is. In simple words: ‘It is not what you say but how you say, that will have a greater effect on the listener.’
The low confidence in the staff that stemmed from their limited use and understanding of English, was affecting adversely their body language and nonverbal communication. This in turn was deeply impacting their interaction and influence over the customers, the sales pitch was flaccid and their performance at work was dismal. However, when I turned them inwards as to how would they like to be treated by a salesperson, they were able to envision clearly their interactions.
The participants soon began to share their improved confidence and morale at work. They were able to secure bigger targets and their motivation for work was also sky-high. At a later unannounced visit to the store, a follow-up practice to every training at Philyra, I found them happy and confident at work. Their supervisor also came up to share about their improved morale, motivation, and performance at work.
Thus, I gathered from this training that as always, the work on life skills results in better and enhanced soft skills, and this ultimately leads to success for all, the one imparting training and the ones receiving training. Client interaction is also an inside job that demonstrates its effects on the outside.