Discussion Paper

Discussion Paper

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Discussion Paper

The paramount responsibility of a human resource professional working in the retail industry is to conduct strategic planning and management of existing employees in order to develop a highly productive, devoted, and motivated workforce (Singh, Manrai & Manrai, 2015). In order to achieve this objective, human resource professionals are continuously faced with numerous challenges because the employees they manage deal with the customers directly (Singh, Manrai & Manrai, 2015).

Following is the three days training program that will teach the basic concepts of sales to the newly inducted employees working in the retail industry. Although there are various aspects of sales that are imperative for newly inducted employees to be familiar with, active listening, handling objections and closing the sale are the three fundamentals that the training program would be focusing on.

During the three-day training program, new employees will be taught the importance of active listening (Itani & Inyang, 2015). Active listening is central to sales because it fosters a relationship of trust between the customer and the employee (Itani & Inyang, 2015). Moreover, the employees will be taught that with the skill of active listening at their disposal, one can avoid miscommunication (Itani & Inyang, 2015). Furthermore, the trainees would be taught to maintain eye contact with the customer. Lastly, trainees would be asked to paraphrase the customer’s ideas to ensure they are understood correctly (Itani & Inyang, 2015).

There is widespread agreement that an objection in sales is a frustrating aspect to deal for the sales professionals. During the training period, the employees will be taught not to take the objection personally (Daly & Redlick, 2016). Furthermore, the employees would be asked to fully listen to the concerns of the customers. Moreover, the trainees would be directed during the training the respond to the objection accordingly and ask whether the customer has been satisfied or not (Daly & Redlick, 2016).

Lastly, the trainees would be taught the skill of closing the sale rapidly. Trainees would be asked to engage the customer to close the sale quickly (Ziglar & Harrington, 2019). By engaging the customer, the employees would be taught to explain to the customer what value the product will add in their lives to close the sale quickly and successfully (Ziglar & Harrington, 2019).

References

Daly, J. A., & Redlick, M. H. (2016). Handling questions and objections affects audience judgments of speakers. Communication Education, 65(2), 164-181.

Itani, O. S., & Inyang, A. E. (2015). The effects of empathy and listening of salespeople on relationship quality in the retail banking industry: The moderating role of felt stress. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 33(6), 692-716.

Singh, V. L., Manrai, A. K., & Manrai, L. A. (2015). Sales training: A state of the art and contemporary review. Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, 20(38), 54-71.

Ziglar, Z., & Harrington, K. (2019). Secrets of closing the sale. Revell.