Product Knowledge is the Key

The USA retailers are more confident than I have seen them in some time. They feel the consumer is starting to spend again and that the future will see an improvement in the economy …. time will tell. Working with retailers it is becoming increasingly clear that the lack of product knowledge training is affecting the bottom line. I have been in a number of situations where a so called salesperson expert has not had the knowledge required to make the sale. This is especially true in the food industry where you would expect the team to know what the ingredients are as well as be able to tell the story. My visit to Newfoundland also showed you can get away with lack of knowledge if you are good at relationship building. This is a time to relook at the training budget and look at where you need to invest to make a difference to the sale.