While many fashion retail chains and stores have training programs in place, market research, mystery shopper statistics, and customer feedback point to one conclusion: most current sales training programs are proving ineffective. There are a few reasons for this, including the fact that most training and induction programs are conducted either off-site or in-store, which leaves a lot of variation in the way the information is delivered and retained.

The stats speak for themselves: over 50% of training is forgotten before an employee leaves the training premises, and a further 25% is forgotten by the next day. Hardcopy training manuals can also be tedious to complete and are often discarded within days of completing the initial training, never to be referred to again. A few laminated posters on body shapes posted in the stock room also does little in educating your staff how do dress the huge varieties of shapes and sizes of your customers!

That’s why we designed our comprehensive – yet highly entertaining –training modules to both educate and engage your employees. Each module can be accessed anywhere, anytime, from any device with an internet connection, as often as needed. An assessment follows each video module, as well as actionable in-store tasks to ensure your staff can put what they learn to work right away. Our program allows management to monitor the uptake and effectiveness of the training down to the region, district, and individual level.

So, whether you own 100’s of stores across the country, or a boutique with a handful of staff, you can rest assured all members of your team will receive exactly the same training, at their own pace.

We have a deep and thorough understanding of fashion retail – because we’ve got a decade’s worth of experience in the business!

While traditional sales tools of greeting the customer, building the sale, and asking open-ended questions do play a part, selling clothes to women requires a different approach.

Successfully selling female apparel and accessories can be drilled down to 3 key points:

• Connecting with your customer (like a girlfriend who feels welcome, appreciated and understood),
• Having empathy (because most of us can relate to what it’s like to lose confidence when we don’t look good and have put on weight
• Comprehensive knowledge of product and application to solve her fashion problems (in a nutshell: everyone wants to look and feel their best).

Body shape varies widely, and most women walk through your doors with some form of body insecurity. F.S.T. will teach your staff how to immediately assess a customer’s body shape and know instantly what clothes in-store will suit – even when the store is busy.

Your team on the floor are in a very empathetic and powerful position for customer connection and relationship development. But the underlying philosophy must be: they’re there to help every customer feel great about themselves. And, when they do, they will automatically increase sales, UPT, average customer spending, as well as build a strong and loyal customer base, who will return and spend again and again.

We’ll be frank: traditional body shape information is now obsolete in the retail environment.

Most sales staff have difficulty determining their own body shape, let alone quickly accessing a customer’s! This becomes even more challenging when the store is busy, or understaffed, with most customers wearing baggy clothes to cover up.  Women come in many different shapes and sizes –  but no woman wants to be compared to a piece of fruit, or letter of the alphabet.

Our body assessment strategies are specifically designed for the busy retail setting. These tools empower your staff to quickly determine the “dynamics of disguise” for minimising or enhancing a customer’s “assets” and create their most flattering silhouette.  This results in greater sales, increased customer service and happier (loyal) customers.

It’s simple math:

Engaging staff + Product knowledge + style smarts + superb customers service = more sales

There are three traits that turn a great staff member into a profitable sales powerhouse:

• Active, strong listening skills
• The right balance of empathy and encouragement (too much can seem fake, and too little comes off as uninterested.)
• Deep, thorough knowledge of the product. In this case, the clothes they’re selling, and how to dress each customer based on their individual needs, pain points, and shape.

The conversion ratio of shoppers to buyers in fashion retail averages only around 15%. This means that 8.5 out of every 10 people who walk through your doors leave empty handed. Selling more to the customers you have is a vital objective in today’s environment. Our online fashion sales training will arm your employees with the skills to not only forge strong relationships with your customers, but also successfully increase UPT’s (units per transaction) and translate their new knowledge into dramatically increased sales and a solid customer base.

An ANNUAL subscription gives you and your team full access to the Fashion Sales Training program for 12 months, from the date payment is received. This will enable your sales teams to take as long as needed to complete the course over a 1 year period – whilst allowing for interruptions and delays due to seasonal events, holidays or other unforeseen business demands that inevitably arise throughout the year. You get to set the pace that suits your staff and business objectives. We recommend completing one module per month (which equates to 1-2 lessons per week) to allow adequate time for a large retail sales force (with full-time, part-time and casual staff) to effectively absorb and apply all the information without overwhelm.

With the average annual industry turnover of 41%*, an annual membership also means that new staff can be easily onboarded and trained quickly and effectively throughout the year, so they can start selling and hitting KPI targets ASAP. An additional benefit is that your team can review the content as often as needed throughout the 12 months. At the end of your 12 month subscription period, you can easily reduce the number of active users required for the following year (and therefore a reduced annual outlay) to allow new staff members to be inducted and trained effectively.

A MONTHLY subscription allows you to pay month to month for access to the program without a large initial outlay, or ongoing commitment. Upon receipt of your first monthly payment, your team will have immediate access to the Introduction Module and Module 1. Each month, upon receipt of payment, a new module will be unlocked and made accessible to your sales teams – plus they will also have access to the previously completed modules for review. To complete the 5-module Training Program, you will need to pay a minimum of 5 monthly payments. For ongoing access for training new staff, monthly payments will need to be made, based on the number of active users you require.

*Inside Retail, November 2016

We accept payment via PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, or bank transfer. As soon as the monthly or annual payment is received, you have immediate access to the appropriate module.

Based on client feedback, straight out of the gate! The lessons are designed so that they can be implemented immediately to increase sales and the customer service experience. Our most expensive package costs $15* per person, per month, so if each staff member conservatively sold just one extra $50 top per week – that would be a ROI of 1,200%. Talk about a big bang for your investment buck! A further ROI is greater customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as an increase in staff engagement and retention – Priceless!

*Based on an annual subscription

We won’t restrict you from adding new users when you need to. Just email us at support@fashionsalestraining.com with the number of additional users you need, and we will adjust the plan and payment accordingly for the following month. Alternatively, you can easily delete employees who’ve left, and add new users to fill their “spot”.

The most basic package includes 10 users by default, so if you only want 1 user, that’s the way to go. There is a minimum for the technology used to deliver the training and of course, the content. It’s individualised training, so you can’t have one person try to teach it to a group—it won’t work. Every employee needs their own access so that their progress can be tracked. You can add more users at any time.

In this competitive retail landscape, we’re not sure how you couldn’t. An inability to create a conducive environment for both your customers and employees will cause you to bleed both sales and talent. You need to make an investment you know will reap results. Period! As mentioned above, our most expensive package costs $15* per person, per month, so if each staff member conservatively sold just one extra $50 top per week – that would be a ROI of 1,200%. Talk about a big bang for your investment buck! One thing is for certain: the retail industry is punishing those who fail to create an exceptional customer experience, and to do so effectively takes training.

*Based on an annual subscription

There are 38 lessons inside. Each one comes with its own instructional video, complemented by module notes, actionable in-store activities and a short quiz.

Each quiz must be passed before the trainee can move on to the next module. This ensures both maximum retention, and application of the information.

And, after you buy the program, you and your staff have full access to the material for as long as you remain a paying member. That means even after a module’s content has been unlocked and the assessment completed, your staff can go back and review whenever necessary!

Management will also have access to analytics of their staff’s performance, so you can see who’s shining, and who may need a little encouragement along the way.

While you’re welcome to go at your own pace, we recommend about 5-6 months for you and your staff to complete the program. That means 1 module per month (which equates to 1-2 lessons per week) to make sure your team is effectively absorbing and applying the information, without risk of overwhelm.

Staff should repeat the lessons if necessary to ensure they have retained the knowledge and are able to effectively demonstrate their knowledge to management to increase conversions and sales.

Internet Explorer 11 and above

Firefox

Safari

Google Chrome

Smartphone mobile browsers (iOS and selected Android devices).

You and your staff are able to access and view the videos as often as you like while you’re a paying member.

The videos and accompanying module notes can be streamed and accessed on demand wherever you have internet access, and from any device.  However, due to copyright protection and piracy issues, the videos and module notes are not available for download.

To keep it as entertaining and time-effective as possible most modules range between 3 and 5 minutes.  This breaks the information into bite size pieces to maximise retention and get your staff back out onto the floor sooner

More importantly, what if you don’t train them and THEY STAY!  Investing in staff training has taken a bit of a hit since the GFC but it’s important to think of the risks of an untrained employee from day one as they can quickly become a liability – think lost sales, poor customer service, lower conversions and customer complaints to name a few.  Investing in sales training does return an investment, resulting in increased customer service and satisfaction, increased sales and higher staff engagement and retention.

Not as yet, but we are aiming to have a close caption (subtitles) option available in the near future.

Not currently but we do have future plans.  Stay tuned!

Nope! As long as you have a smart phone or tablet, you are able to view the training videos, access the notes and complete the assessments.

Approximately 3.5 Gigs