Convenience retailers have unique challenges when it comes making sure every customer is satisfied with the point of sale experience.  One of the best ways to prepare for the range of challenges front line employees face is to provide practice situations where the stakes are low and the opportunity for learning is high. 

This leads us to our next best practice #6

Simulate Difficult Situations That Occur at the Point-of-Sale

One of the top reasons front line employees fail underage restricted product compliance checks is that the store was busy, and they didn’t take the time to ask for and verify the proper age of purchase.  And the federal law on a 21-year minimum-age requires carding everyone Under 30 and no sales to anyone under age 21.

What your employees have learned at the point-of-sale becomes a critical juncture.  Difficult situations with customers can trip up even the most experienced cashiers.

An employee that feels prepared and confident and has practiced how to handle these situations is one that is less likely to fail a compliance check. Preparation and practice are everything and role playing the toughest situations is the best way to make sure difficult situations don’t deteriorate into confrontations, particularly now that retailers are also working with best practices around Covid-19.

So, take a moment, create a short script of real-life situations at the point-of-sale and practice those with your employees.  You can make this fun and engaging while also a great learning experience.  And when it comes to showtime, everyone will know how to handle things.

We Card can help you with Best Practice #6 through role playing situations built in to online training and with its A-E-R-O method: Apologize, Explain, Remove and Offer something else.

To check on your own best practices, take our survey or surf through more tools and training at wecard.org.