Customers and retailers can feel increased pressure during the busy holiday seasons. Here’s how the NRF Foundation is helping.
Consumer spending during the winter holidays is expected to reach a record $902 per person on average across gifts, food, decorations, and other seasonal items, according to research released by the National Retail Federation (NRF). That’s $902 worth of interactions with your customers during the busiest season, and we want to help ensure each interaction is a positive one.
We all have stressors in life. Whether it’s the busy holiday season, personal life factors, or unpredictability in the world, these stressors can impact how we react to smaller inconveniences. At the NRF Foundation, we’ve been hearing from our partners about the need for training that focuses on how to de-escalate potential conflict in the workplace, specifically in the retail environment. When a customer brings to light a problem they face, it gives your employee the chance to build a relationship by calmly and skillfully resolving the customer’s concerns.
Handling customer conflict
How do you prepare your employees to remain composed and professional when a customer displays disruptive behavior? RISE Up is the NRF Foundation training and credentialing program that provides foundational employability skills to help people land jobs and get promoted in retail and beyond. Over 58,000 RISE Up credentials were earned in 2023 alone, with more than 3,500 training partners in all 50 states.
The latest offering is a 30-minute online customer conflict de-escalation training program. Developed specifically for front-line, customer-facing employees, the course teaches associates how to identify and manage customer conflict within a retail environment. Each interaction with a customer should be treated as an opportunity to build the customer’s loyalty, and this training will prepare your staff to turn around a potentially negative one.
Real-world impact
Don’t just take our word for it. We asked some of our users to provide their feedback. At Gametime Pro Shop Factory Store in Aurora, IL, this new training was a key additional training to prepare its employees for the upcoming holiday season.
“As a retail storefront, we see the holiday rush firsthand. We see the long lines at the registers, the Black Friday goers, the frantic last-minute shoppers, and we wanted to ensure our staff was prepared to handle it all,” says Marcus Robinson, owner of Gametime Pro Shop Factory Store. “After taking the customer conflict de-escalation training, our staff has the skills to identify disruptive behavior, acknowledge customer emotions, and de-escalate any potential conflict.”
Within this course, learners will gain the skills to identify and manage customer conflict and utilize strategies to acknowledge and manage emotions and feelings. We are all human, and sometimes we have human reactions. Being prepared to handle reactions of any kind can create positive experiences for both customers and employees. Visit nrffoundation.org/riseup to learn more.
