The Nursery Industry is, however, more recession resistant than most. Mothercare is a case in point: it has just reported a 9.4% rise in group sales, driven by demand for summer stock and higher internet sales. While news like this bodes well for the baby products market as a whole, retailers should beware of becoming complacent. While independent retailers are renowned for their product knowledge and customer care, in times like these they must work even harder at it just to keep people spending.

The problem

Back in July 2008, Personnel Today surveyed 120 training and development managers and found that 44% expected budgets to remain stable, while just 2% expected an increase. Poll organiser Common Purpose, which specialises in leadership development training, quoted one respondent as saying: "If you want to cut a leg off your organisation for short-term gain, cut back on training. If you want your organisation to continue to flourish during an economic cut-back, maintain training standards and levels."

Sadly however, many UK businesses are refusing to listen. The demand for training professionals has plunged as training budgets have been slashed - that's according to trade magazine Recruiter. Michael Bolger, managing director at Badger Associates, said: "The side that has taken the biggest knock is without doubt training. In a recession, training is always the first thing to go and it is no different this time."

The solution? Nursery Industry caught up with Natalie Adams, a Regional Learning and Development Officer for a large high street retailer to find out more...

In successful retailers, the Learning and Development strategy is always closely aligned with the overall strategy or business plan for the year. Identifying six monthly and yearly goals, we tailor our training to suit the needs of the store and its employees. Fully customisable, the programme is made up of levels 1 - 8. Level 1 is the programme for sales advisors, Level 2 for those stepping into management. We engage our employees from the first day by making them feel part of this bigger programme.

Initially an employee is given training in basic customer service - how to look after the fitting rooms, the tills and be a good team member. All training is behaviour led; staff should be aware, approachable and available at all times. We create a culture of behaviour, training employees to serve our particular customer. We always use positive language - if you know somebody is really bad at something you don't tell them, you explore what is going wrong and have faith in their potential to learn.

Part of our managers' training is geared toward understanding the target market. They must know who their customer is and demonstrate good market awareness - this can be achieved through customer profiling and feedback. We will assess a manager when they join us and suggest a suitable programme of training to help them build on their skills. Many companies make the mistake of failing to align their training with the overall goals for the business. Ask - what does our customer want and what will drive more money into the business? We do a proper analysis of a store's training needs because we see the benefit of it every day.

I agree with your findings so far, often the first thing to get cut in a recession is training, but this should always be the last. Staff need to be motivated for the shop to make money and if you invest time in training them, they will be. It costs less to train and retain staff than it does to keep starting from scratch with new employees, so it makes total commercial sense. I have conducted a number of ‘exit interviews' over the years and the most common reason for an employee leaving is because they have received little or no training, leaving them feeling unvalued and demotivated.

In smaller independent shops, the manager/owner will very much know and understand the customer. They will probably have had conversations with them and know a bit about their background. Our training is very much geared toward the ‘bespoke customer' and in your industry; I imagine it is much the same. You must never presume that you are dealing with customers in the correct way, unless you actually ask.

Managers should observe staff on a busy day and ask customers afterwards whether they received a satisfactory level of service. If you are a one man band, you can ask the question yourself: "Have I done everything I could do for you today? Is there anything else you would like?"

We also look at how the customer is greeted. A customer should always be acknowledged. In the Nursery market I imagine this is particularly important as it may be the first time someone has ever walked into this kind of environment, so you need to make as much effort as possible to get to know your customer.

When it comes to external product training, some manufacturers are very good; others will come down and tell you all about the product but are just not able to fully engage the retailer or their staff with it. It's about establishing a good relationship with the manufacturer and making training as fun and as accessible as possible. People in retail like to learn on their feet. They want to touch a product and have a go at it themselves. People learn in three ways - kinaesthetically, visually and aurally. In our training we touch on all three and will include exercises that allow trainees to do all three.

After care is also an important part of the training process. Is that customer confident enough to come back and ask questions? In your market, a sales advisor should be caring, concerned and technical. If a person is not passionate about the product, it is difficult to train them.

People with smaller businesses will ask themselves whether or not it is worth spending on training. In answer to that, training must be intentional and ROI must be measured. If you invest in your staff they will be motivated and engaged - they will be happier at work if you respect and develop them.

Shops nowadays face stiff competition from online retailers, so the customer service element is more important than ever. If someone has made a decision to come into your shop, it is because they are looking for a certain level of customer service and if you train your staff effectively they will get exactly that. All training should be geared toward driving the business - stock loss, security, health & safety.

Then of course, there is Silent Service. What does the store look like? Is this product where you would expect it to be? Is the shop full? Silent service is all about what the customer can see. If a customer does not need help from an advisor, he or she will still need help from the shop. It is vital that you ensure that staff are motivated to provide an excellent silent service, in addition to more direct customer care.

It's all about training people to make a good impression. You know your staff and industry - there is nothing a costly external training advisor could do to train your staff better than you. It doesn't have to be expensive, or even require employees to work overtime. You can carry out role play exercises advising on best practice on an ad hoc basis. Or perhaps even a team building evening with nibbles and drinks. The only external training that is of benefit will be the product training offered by manufacturers.

At some stage the recession will end and if you are to emerge from it even more successful, you must invest in your pool of talent now with a programme of training that works.

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