Whether you own a pizza shop or an antique furniture store, your employees are a new customer’s first impression of your business. In fact, positive experiences with staff increase consumers’ satisfaction by 33% overall, making employee performance a key factor in the success of your business. Although each new hire will have a different skill set, there are certain areas, like sales and customer service, where you’ll want to make sure every employee excels and represents your business professionally. Investing in employee training is key to giving your staff the support they need and your customers the best experience possible.
From point-of-sale to social media, technology has changed the way many small businesses operate, and staff education is no different. Today, there are new ways to engage employees and provide them with learning experiences that were previously available only to corporations with big training budgets. Here are five affordable tech tools to transform your employee training:
Google Hangouts Meet
Many small businesses only have one or two employees on-site at any given time, and it can be challenging to sync schedules for meetings and training exercises. Google Hangouts Meet makes it easy to get everyone face-to-face, even if they can’t be in the same building. And fear not, this isn’t an old school virtual meeting platform. You don’t have to worry about whether team members have the right accounts or plug-ins. With a simple, easy-to-navigate interface and participant management, video calls have never been easier.YouTube Videos
YouTube videos are a convenient and affordable supplemental tool for training and development, especially when you need to teach the same process multiple times to new employees. Create a list of the typical training sessions that you offer to new employees and consider which portions could be taught virtually with the help of video. For instance, if you own a retail store that offers gift wrapping, you could find a YouTube video tutorial that offers step-by-step instructions for preferred style of bow, like this. Or, if you’re often training new team members how to use your business’s point-of-sale system, perhaps you there’s a quick instructional video that covers the basics, like this example from Square. Once you’ve chosen specific training videos, create and share a master list of video URLs to ensure that each of your employees are receiving the same instructions.Mobile Apps for Micro-Learning
Small businesses don’t always have the resources available for comprehensive training programs in a traditional classroom environment, which is why micro-learning has become a popular tool in recent years. Platforms like TalentCards use smartphones to deliver fast and efficient training on the go. You can engage and assess your learners through quizzes and encourage healthy competition with gamification elements. TalentCards offers a free version for up to five users, with unlimited storage and support.Simulation Training
Whether you own an HVAC repair company or a plumbing business, some skills need to be tested before you send an employee to help a customer. Simulation training uses equipment and computer software to model a real world scenario. In addition to successfully teaching complex ideas, this style of hands-on training helps new employees better retain information. Depending on your industry, there are a variety of low-cost programs like FlexSim and Interplay Learning.Advanced Phone Technology
It’s incredibly important that businesses train their teams to provide the ultimate customer experience at every touch point, including over the phone. Teaching your employees how to engage a caller and accurately answer commonly-asked questions could mean the difference between making a sale or not. For phone training you can use CallJoy’s recording feature to find good examples of positive customer interactions. Transcripts can also be reviewed often in order to get ahead of any customer service issues and give specific feedback to individual employees.
Ready to help your employees give excellent service in-store and over the phone? Step up your employee training with CallJoy today.