As a shop your staff are one of your most critical elements. There is little point going through the process of a “retail refresh” only for the wheels to fall off with uninformed and uninterested staff. Working in independent retail can be, and should be, fun. You get to spend your day talking about products you are knowledgable about to people who are actually interested in what your saying because you should be helping to solve that problem that made them walk into the shop in the first place.

However a lot of people working in retail have never gone through any process of sales training. They might received product training from brands, which gives them the knowledge but not necessarily the tools to weave that into conversation with a customer.

Basic sales training doesn’t need to cost a fortune and starts with a conversation about the sort of tone you wish to set instore. It then runs through the fundimentals of selling through open questions to closing. Selling should be seen as part of good customer service - not something we should apologise for in a very British manner.