Product knowledge is one of the most important skills for merchandisers. It helps you sell more, satisfy customers, and build trust. But how often should you assess your employees' product knowledge? And what are the best ways to do it? In this article, we'll share some tips and best practices to help you keep your team up to date and confident.
Product knowledge is the ability to understand and communicate the features, benefits, and value of your products or services, which is essential for merchandisers. It enables them to answer customer questions and objections, recommend the best solutions for their needs and preferences, demonstrate how their products or services solve their problems or improve their lives, and create a positive and memorable customer experience. Furthermore, product knowledge boosts employees' confidence, motivation, and loyalty. When they feel comfortable and competent in their roles, they also feel more valued and respected by the company, which increases their engagement and retention.
To assess your employees' product knowledge, training should be ongoing, interactive, and relevant. Consider using a variety of methods such as videos, quizzes, role-plays, games, and case studies to make your training effective. Focus on the benefits and value of your products or services, not just the features and specifications. Incorporate customer feedback, testimonials, and reviews to show real-life examples and outcomes. Additionally, update your training regularly to reflect new products, services, or market trends. Moreover, encourage your employees to ask questions, share ideas, and learn from each other.
The second step to assess your employees' product knowledge is to measure it objectively. This helps you identify their strengths and weaknesses, provide feedback and coaching, recognize and reward their achievements, and track their progress and improvement. There are various ways to measure product knowledge, depending on your goals and resources. Tests or quizzes are a simple and quick way to check recall and understanding of facts and concepts. You can also observe or audit performance during sales or service interactions, or use mystery shoppers or customers to do so. Surveys or interviews are a qualitative and subjective way to assess attitudes and perceptions of product knowledge. Open-ended or closed-ended questions can be used to collect data that can then be analyzed. Online tools or apps can be used to create tests or quizzes, rate skills and behaviors, get instant results and reports, as well as collect opinions and feedback from both employees and customers.
When determining the frequency of assessing your employees' product knowledge, there are several factors to consider, such as the complexity and variety of products or services, the frequency and intensity of training, the turnover and experience of employees, customer expectations and satisfaction, and company goals and standards. While there is no definitive answer as to how often you should assess your employees' product knowledge, it is generally recommended to do it at least once every quarter or more frequently if there are significant changes or challenges in your products, services, or market. By doing so, you can guarantee that your employees are always informed and ready to provide excellent customer service.
Regular assessments of employees' product knowledge are beneficial. Conducting evaluations quarterly or semi-annually helps ensure ongoing understanding and proficiency, allowing for timely adjustments to training or support as needed.
The final step to assess your employees' product knowledge is to use the results of your assessment to improve your team's performance and results. The results of your assessment can help you identify gaps and opportunities for improvement, design and deliver targeted and personalized training, provide feedback and coaching, recognize and reward your employees, as well as monitor and evaluate their progress and improvement. To use the results of your assessment effectively, you should communicate the results clearly and transparently to your employees, celebrate their successes and praise their efforts, address their challenges and difficulties, provide them with specific and actionable suggestions and resources, and follow up and support them regularly.
Assessing your employees' product knowledge is not enough to improve their performance and results; motivation is the key. You need to encourage your employees to seek and acquire new information and skills, apply and practice what they learn, challenge themselves, and achieve their goals. To motivate them to enhance their product knowledge, explain the purpose and benefits of it for them and the company. Involve them in the design and delivery of training and assessment, make learning fun and engaging, provide autonomy and choice, and give them feedback and recognition.