Well-Trained Workers: Top Training Tips and Tools for Start Ups

It doesn’t matter whether you own a franchise or your own company. Your employees need training. It’s one of the most valuable things that your employees will get from you and the most important thing you can do for them. Proper training allows employees to climb the ladder in your organization, earn more pay and, if they so choose, leave the company and move on to something else. Why would you want to risk losing an employee?

You don’t, really. But, the best employees will stay with you. Oddly enough, you’ll attract those who are right for your business while also getting rid of employees who aren’t a good fit (which isn’t always a bad thing).

 Use Role-Playing

Role-playing is almost essential when you’re trying to teach good customer service strategies. Communication isn’t something that’s taught well in schools anymore. It’s not even really taught all that well in business.

But customer service requires immaculate communication skills. Sure, you can get by with sub-par staff – many companies do. That doesn’t give your company the greatest image though. Many customers look to a customer service department when deciding whether or not to do business with a company.

There’s almost no industry where customer service isn’t important. Exceptions might be if you’re a government contractor or you’re a wholesaler and you never really talk to your customers much unless they’re buying something from you.

To use role-playing, set up several scenarios that are common for your industry. For example, in retail, a customer might stop in or call up and complain about the quality of the product, the price, or they might decide they want a refund. How do you handle situations like this? How do you respond to a customer who is calm versus one who is irate?

Break It Down

Breaking down complex jobs into simple tasks is something almost every business can benefit from. New hires can’t be taught everything in a day. In fact, they can’t be taught everything in a week or even a month. Break up the training and keep things simple. Only teach employees one thing at a time. Companies like K Alliance make the job a bit easier by providing training modules that you can send your employees to. Alternatively, you can try mentoring or group training classes in-house.

Develop Manual Skills Through Preparation and Practice

Training manual skills is pretty straightforward. It’s all about assessing current skills, preparing your employees, and then drilling them with repetition.

Preparing employees is pretty easy. Let them know what their job duties will be, give them a good outline of the job, and then hand them self-study materials after a brief training session. Then, just let the employee practice what they’ve learned. Repeating the process is the key to becoming better at the job.

A lot of manual tasks at a company aren’t actually all that difficult. They’re processes that have defined start and endpoints. The difficulty is often just in learning what those points are and getting efficient and completing the task.