Personal grooming tops priority in staff presentation

Batukbhai Sons Jewellers, Nagpur, believes that technical training comes second to the delicate techniques of self-presentation in front of customers. Thus, personal attention for each staff is a must.

Retail staff training has often been mistook as an objective achievable with a set of exercises laid out in front of the learners. True training is way deeper than that, it deals with how one presents oneself, believes Viraj Sheth, Partner, Batukbhai Sons Jewellers, Nagpur. That brings the brand’s attention first to personal grooming.

“Staff training is not a one-day affair. The jewellery industry absorbs workforce from various backgrounds and education fields,” said Sheth, explaining how each staff needs personal attention for bringing out their best. Everyone’s academic qualification vary and some may need more encouragement. So the brand management instills the need for personal development and collective responsibility in each trainee. “While their learnings are focused on company growth, they learn professionalism for customers and imbibe a cordial environment for colleagues,” said Sheth.

Explaining the training module in detail, the retailer said that presentation and body language are first lessons taught on personal training. Technical and product knowledge of the staff are updated from time and time. “As owners, we ask the staff members to learn the way we interact with a customer. This helps them to build a good reputation with the customers. We motivate the staff to build their own identity under the brand name, so that whenever the customer comes back to the showroom, they ask for the person they dealt with last time.” As part of the training program, Batukbhai Sons Jewellers also organize live activities including games to teach them about teamwork.

“We are a 50-years-old brand and currently have almost 70 people working with us. There are few employees who are 18-20 years old. As a reputed firm, we never want our brand image to get affected due to the bad behaviour of any employee. So, our training sessions ensure that the staff are always in their professional best,” Viraj added.

After the training gets over, the directors and the trainer engage in a one-on-one interaction with every employee to understand issues faced by the staff and their possible solutions. This significantly influences the brand’s policies thus improving the workplace environment and eventually, a far better customer experience.

Written by Manoj Chakraborty