Knowledgeable Employees = More Sales & Happier Customers

Modern consumers are arguably, with the aid of online product reviews and price comparisons, more informed than ever. Why would they need the help of a sales associate?

Lots. Based on findings from a study by University of Pennsylvania professor Marshall Fisher more than 50% of shoppers still seek advice when they enter a store. And good sales associates had a tremendous advantage:

As a result, educated and engaged store associates who could meet consumers' needs—especially knowledge about a specific product—rang up sales that on average brought in 69 percent more money than those who didn't, the study found.

But it gets even better. The study also showed that by actively helping shoppers with their problems, educated and well-trained staff also drive repeat store visits and make people less likely to return their purchases. This is incredibly important in the flower business, where so many customers have little knowledge of the product.

Too often this part of the flower business is just dismissed as "order taking", a simple task to be performed by minimally trained "order takers" that are expected to do little if anything more.

Making An Order Taker A Professional, Well-Trained Sales Associate

An order-taker can make the leap to the kind of sales associate that will generate larger sales and drive repeat orders.

A big part of this is POS. A good floral POS system makes every employee more knowledgeable – even a new hire can demonstrate familiarity with the preferences of a longtime customer, the peculiarities of certain varieties, situations, etc. FloristWare empowers your employees.

Sales training is also critical, and there is no better sales training in the flower business than Tim Huckabee with Floral Strategies. The original and best sales trainer in the floral industry, Tim has built a method and a team of trainers that will make each and every one of your employees a better sales associate.