Training Employees for a Marketing Eye

Training Employees: Help Them To See Things Like a Customer:

Spending a lot of time and energy on a small business marketing campaign can be a worthwhile venture. 

Don't let all of your hard work, budget, and great marketing ideas go to waste by forgetting to train your employees and staff in all of the ins and outs of your marketing plan. 

Treating your employees like customers—or at least training them to think like them—will help them be more successful in sales and service. 

Make sure the same excitement and passion you have is transmitted to employees, and ultimately, through your employees to your customers.

1.  Provide Training Guides:

• How to/How not to:

  Make sure that, in addition to providing marketing "how to" guides to your employees, that they also understand "how not to" implement strategies. A brief explanation of why certain practices are or are not effective will help them understand your reasoning for a particular advertising or marketing method as well.

• Marketing message:

  Make sure that employees understand the basics of your marketing strategy, so they use words and phrases that appropriately describe your products and services. Key features of your product, your best target market, and information about your services should all be either memorized or readily available for all staff and employees to access.

• Procedures:

  Employees and staff must understand some of the marketing procedures and strategies that you have in place. When should they hand out a business card? To whom should they give a brochure? Who gets a full literature folder? Make sure that procedures such as customer loyalty programs, signing customers up for the newsletter, or even how to thank a customer, are clear to your staff.

• Scenarios:

  It doesn't hurt to do a few "practice" runs on paper or by acting out some scenarios to "test" your staff. In fact, you can make scenarios a fun activity where your employees and staff enjoy training much more than sitting in a board room or classroom.

• Let them read articles/obtain certifications "on-the-clock":

  Making your staff experts in any field is a great marketing strategy that will help bolster their confidence, which adds to any small business marketing plan. Letting them read marketing articles or obtain knowledge on the job shows employees that you feel they are a relevant part of your overall marketing strategy.

• Demonstrate

  The best way to show your staff how to effectively market is to demonstrate the procedures and strategies yourself. Let employees "shadow" you in a marketing or advertising meeting, or just when dealing with customers. For many people, seeing is the best way of learning.

2. Host Short, Regular Staff Meetings:

3. Offer Employee Incentive Programs:

1. Commission:

When employees are rewarded for their sales and marketing efforts, their willingness to participate in campaigns or implement your strategies will skyrocket.

2. Employee Awards:

Even if it's just a paper certificate, recognition for great marketing or sales efforts will go a long way in retaining your best employees.

3. Employee Discount or Purchase Program:

Your employees are probably a potential market for purchases. Make sure that there is incentive for them to purchase your products and services, which ultimately helps them know your products better and makes them more effective sellers and marketers for your small business.

Remember to Review Employee Performance:

Make sure that you understand if your marketing strategies are working, by implementing physical monitoring, peer review, and customer feedback.  This way, you'll know if your employees are implementing your marketing strategies well and that you've trained them to think like customers or pass on the excitement about your products.

Ultimately, when you're not always the one interacting with every customer, you have to make sure that your staff is excited, trained, and thinking like a customer in order to keep your marketing strategies working well.

---

What's Next

Next In This Guide
Part 16:
Newspaper Advertising: Key Strategies - If you're considering advertising in newspapers, make sure you understand some key strategies for small businesses to make your ads effective.

Previous In This guide
Part 14:
Thanking Your Customers - Keep customers by making sure that they know their business is appreciated.

Table of Contents
Street Smart Guide to Small Business Marketing

 

More Free Small Business Guides