Ranka Jewellers trains staff to be self-reliant perfectionists

Jewellers with foresight see a lot of change happening in the industry daily and appreciate the value of continuous learning and unlearning of dated sales tricks. Read here to find more about Ranka Jewellers who has achieved an astounding 20-25% sales growth by investing in structured training programs and monitoring systems.

–Shubham Dasgupta

Skill development

“The classes are compulsory. Even staff having weekly off must attend the 2 hour-long sessions. We have tied up with Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology,” said Vastupal Ranka, partner, Ranka Jewellers. From the cashier to the storekeeper, the entire chain of sales must follow one code of conduct and ensure that the customers feel privileged.

The most important behavioral element for a sales staff is etiquette, on which the brand takes classes. Every week, there is a test for the staff and they are evaluated therein.

Also, certain classes are held for respective departments such as diamond, gold etc. Jewellery suppliers such as that of diamond, platinum also provide experts who are invited to teach the staff at the 40-member-strong classroom. “In such cases, the department head and an external faculty impart training to the staff members of the respective departments,” said Ranka.

Keeping in mind the better impact visual medium has over text, Ranka Jewellers ensures a 30-40% share of audio-visual lessons to that of text based chapters. These audio visuals cover sales training and ways to engage customers. They are produced by the institute we partner with and explained by the faculty coming over to teach our staff.

Staff can be motivated the fastest way if the trainers instill hope, confidence and motivation through their lessons, feels Ranka.

Performance monitoring

After classroom training, the next step is role play wherein the staff tests their newly-learned abilities, playing the role of customers and staff respectively. Their performances are monitored and the efficiency is reflected on ground. With coordination of HR department, performance of every staff is monitored and underperforming staff are directed to re-attend classes for better clarity on the subject.

To encourage dedication and team work, Ranka Jewellers identifies a salesman of the week and displays his image all across the showrooms.

Markets are becoming competitive and almost every jeweller is selling hallmarked items. So the only way to differentiate is via brand experience. A simplistic approach of keeping a smile on your face gives confidence to customers in trickiest of their choices or purchase-related issues. We ensure that,” says Ranka. We don’t encourage negligence or ill-treatment with consumers at any cost. People found to misbehave are given memos of warnings. If a staff gets the third memo, he/she are fired,” says Ranka.

Sales presentation and physical appearance are strictly checked and failure in adherence to standards results on deduction from salary.  A shabby-looking staff gives a negative impression to a customer, so we also penalize the person concerned Rs 50 for not dressing up cleanly for his job on that particular day, he added.

On the other hand, a dedicated staff is rewarded for his excellence through financial incentives (additions to existing salary) after acknowledging their sales achievement duly monitored through our software. Staff is appraised by senior members of the department.

Brand experience

There is a 40% improvement in decision-making because of the organised approach. The training gives better idea to sales staff about the kind of inventory that moves faster than others, which in turn gives us an idea about the customer preference and future choice of jewellery selection. Manual tracking of customer behaviour is done by our sales staff. This helps gauge the areas where we lack across product and services. Customer feedback thus helps bring consensus about the acceptability of jewellery lines.

There were times when the customers felt unattended or were not satisfied with the service. However, this 1-year-long training has turned the tide in the brand’s favour, as 98% of the customers leave the premises satisfied. There is a manual remarks book kept at the receptionist’s table, where customers can pen down their remarks, which in turn helps the brand better services by studying the issues or praises mentioned therein. “Although sales efficiency and sales growth because of training can’t be quantified accurately, I’ll still say there has been a 20-25% sales growth only due to the efficiency our training module has brought in,” Ranka signs off.