Employees working in a customer-facing industry serve as the face of an organization and their behavior and attitude are a reflection of a company’s values and operations. This is particularly true when it comes to industries such as retail and food service, for example, where frontline staff must go beyond just having a friendly demeanor, and must first adopt the mindset of making the customers happy. Below are the qualities of a good employee for staff when working in the retail and food service industry.
Confidence is an essential trait for frontliners to have. Having staff on-site confident in the products or services they are selling helps to instill that same sense of confidence in your customers as well. This means knowing products inside and out, and being able to showcase this to customers.
However, there needs to be a balance to this, as you need to also be humble. Any customer-facing environment can be tough to work in, whether it be retail or in food service for instance. A good employee will inevitably face instances where customers will berate and be brutal. Be ready to accept some form of poor treatment (this excludes harmful forms of physical, verbal or sexual abuse) and ensure you can take it with a smile and good attitude.
Being able to adapt and learn quickly is a must when working in these fast-paced industries.
As with any fast-paced environment, it is vital that you are able to learn and absorb new information quickly and constantly. This can be for any number of tasks, for example in retail, it would be how to stack products, how to fold clothes, how to arrange the store (and how to rearrange it).
Nowadays, being tech-savvy is also a quality in which employers look for. There can be a number of tools and softwares used by companies when it comes to point-of-sales, inventory management, daily checklists and audits, scheduling and reporting. Being able to master and adapt to all the tools used in the workplace quickly, will not only help with task execution,but help
When dealing with customers or coworkers it is important to be able to be professional and stay courteous. Show enthusiasm and dependability by getting involved with business improvements, or by handling on-the-floor tasks and customer situations. Understand that the industry you are working in is dynamic and it is wise to take part in any training activities as part of continual development.
Do have a sense of responsibility and honesty as well in your activities and performance, as every action is impactful to the company as a whole.
A lot of craziness can happen during work or even in one shift. Angry customers, unexpected hiccups on locations (e.g. machines or tools breaking down), lots of noise and running back and forth - you need to be able to go against your natural instincts and stay calm, smile, nod and proceed.
Putting yourself in your customers' shoes is key. Active listening comes into play here- you need to be able to listen to customers, understand their problems or needs, and find a solution.
All day might be a slight exaggeration, but there is some truth to this statement. In the food service industry, full shifts for staff can be 11- hour long from opening to closing. For retail this can vary, depending on the needs of the business, as there can be 8, 10, 12 hour shifts. You don’t need to be in the greatest shape, but you need to be able to handle that sort of physical exertion and keep up while on duty.
Whether it be during hiring or during your continuous training and development program for employees, it is important to identify these traits in your employees and help them develop the qualities of being a good employee. Having employees that exhibit these qualities means that these staff are capable and can help improve your frontline operations as they will be more effective and efficient with their tasks. Further streamline and improve your store operations and achieve operational excellence by implementing a solution that will make daily operations such as audits, checklists and issue management simpler and more efficient with an all-in-one platform such as Nimbly. Gain visibility into real-time data and insights that can help you make informed data-driven decisions for your business. Request for a free consultation to find out more.
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