There’s much more into a successful retail or hotel business than just a good location, the right products and a good team. A good portion of your training should be on the Point Of Sale System you choose for your business. Your system should be seamless. That is, it should not be susceptible to glitch or security challenges. Your staff should also understand how the system works inside out. All these POS needs call for timely, effective and custom training for your staff as a business owner. Here’s how to go about it.
Pick A Skilled Teacher
The interest is awash with self-proclaimed POS experts. It is hard to separate the real grain from chuff. This does not mean though, that there are no skilled POS experts. Find one then have him or her train your staff. Be sure to keep in touch with your POS service provider and ask for a recommendation. Whoever you choose should be able to troubleshoot, answer questions from your staff and easy to understand. Remember that POS training is hardly ever a on off event. With each POS upgrade, schedule training to keep your staff updated. It could be one or one training or remote training with or without short tests.
Practice
It goes almost without saying that practice makes perfect. Walk your staff through each crucial step as you explain to them the importance of each step. Then let your staff try out POS processes on their own. The best way to go about this exercise is through role playing and test runs. If you run a restaurant, have other members of your staff act as patrons while others take orders, input each order and cash out the orders. Allow them to practice with options like splitting checks, couples and modifications to entrees. Feel free to practice transactions with discounts, returns and clearance items. Note where the most trouble is then continue to role play until you near perfection.
Review
Do not wrap up your POS training without allowing questions from staff a general review of what the training was all about. You can start staff contest to ensure everyone understand what the trainer taught. This will also act a team building exercise.
Your review exercise should also focus on vital areas of a POS system such as security. Have your staff trained on what it takes to identify potential red flags that may mean POS security has been compromised or is about to get compromised. Remember to give rewards as an incentive for the aforementioned contest.
Offer Scheduled And On Going Training
Like already hinted, training is an ongoing process. It never ends. Schedule training after two or three months as you review areas that need attention. This is important because ultimately, POS training can only be measured by the performance of your staff. Did you note an increase in sales, are your employees using POS features that can help them improve on customer service? All these are POS key issues you can perfect overtime by embracing scheduled POS training.