Retail music store managers discuss their approaches to training new employees. Some emphasize throwing new hires onto the sales floor to learn on the job through trial and error, pairing them with more experienced employees. Others space out training to avoid overwhelming employees. Managers also use sales meetings to provide product training and role-playing exercises to practice customer service skills. Outside training programs are another option for comprehensive instruction.

1. {MANAGERSONMANAGING}
Retail music store managers have to be many things: salespeople,
product experts and, not least of all, supervisors. While we’d like
to believe that personnel problems don’t affect our tight-knit indus-
try, they do — a lot. Music Inc. spoke with six savvy store managers
from different types of dealerships on how they resolve the toughest
personnel issues, including hiring, training and firing.
JANUARY 2007 | MUSIC INC. | 57
ON MANAGING
MANAGERS
John Vitale
PhotobyBillZillmer

2. 60 | MUSIC INC. | JANUARY 2007
{MANAGERSONMANAGING}
Y
ou’ve just spent weeks
searching for and hiring
a naturally gifted sales-
man. But the savviest new-hire
still needs time to learn your
company’s business systems and
culture. And even the most
accomplished guitarist or record-
ing engineer probably doesn’t
know everything about each
piece of software in your store.
Thus begins a training
process that will span the
entirety of a salesman’s career.
TRIAL BY FIRE
While some retailers send
employees to outside
training programs (see below),
many advocate throwing new
hires onto the sales floor to
learn the ropes.
“We wish we had a training
facility that we could send
someone to and have them
come out a seasoned associ-
ate,” said Brack Muir, sales
manager of Skip’s Music. “But
we live in the real world, and
we have had to become more
creative with training.”
That means using the
resources Muir has readily avail-
able. He said Skip’s Music tends
to pair new employees with store
veterans who teach company
culture, and newbies all start as
cashiers. In this role, they can
become familiar with the store’s
point of sale systems, learn to
look up customer information
and inventory, and process spe-
cial orders and layaways.
Ric Williams, manager of
Burrage Music’s Raleigh loca-
tion, takes a similar approach,
but he also lets new employees
acclimate themselves to the job,
so they’re not overwhelmed
with information that might be
easily forgotten.
Instead of spending time
training for a situation that an
employee might not encounter
on a regular basis, if at all,
Williams’ staff waits for that sit-
uation to materialize before
explaining how to handle it.
“I tell everyone when they
start, ‘We don’t train you how
to do everything. We just wait
until you do something wrong
and correct you,’” Williams said.
“That creates a more family-ori-
ented atmosphere. We all watch
out for one another and help
show newer employees how to
handle the unique situations,
some of which can only be
explained as they arise.”
But it’s not always just the
new employees that need to have
unusual situations explained to
them. Sometimes a 20-year vet-
eran needs to be refreshed on
how to handle a problem if it
comes up, according to Williams.
Other times they need to learn
about a new product that’s being
sold in the store.
BREAKING THE ICE
John Vitale, national sales
manager at Full Compass,
sets aside time during store sales
meetings to train his employees.
He said a good sales meeting
should recognize where the
company is at and where it’s
going, and should leave employ-
ees feeling it was worth their
time. It doesn’t hurt to break the
ice with a little humor, as well.
“I like to start out meetings
with a joke, even if it’s at my
expense,” he said. “Everyone
likes that. It creates a focus and
gets things going.”
Those without a funny bone
still have options to get their
employees motivated and partic-
ipating in sales meetings. Mike
Guillot, manager of Mississippi
Music’s Jackson, Miss., location,
said he has found that food
helps, especially since meetings
are often held before or after
regular store hours. “You’d be
surprised what a bucket of
chicken and a few sodas can do
for your bottom line — not just
your waist line,” he said.
SALES MEETING TECHNIQUES
Williams said he treats sales
meetings as roundtable
discussions and an opportunity
to use role-playing as customer
service training. He asks staff
members to remember their
own positive and negative shop-
ping experiences and how they
would handle the situation if
TRAINING
FOR LIFE
Some dealers with deeper pockets have the luxury of sending
new hires to outside training programs. Daddy’s Junky Music,
for example, requires new employees to attend a one-week training
session at the company’s headquarters, where newbies learn prod-
ucts, policies, systems, telephone etiquette, customer service fun-
damentals and the company’s six non-negotiable sales standards.
“[The program] runs for five days,” said Hirsh Gardner, man-
ager of Daddy’s Junky Music’s Boston location. “But in the very
first session, new employees meet with company CEO Fred
Bramante, who introduces them to the ‘Daddy’s way.’”
Some retailers short on time and staff have found success in
sending employees to supplier-sponsored training programs.
Guillot said Mississippi Music invests considerably to do so.
“There’s no substitute for a salesperson having the opportu-
nity to experience the production of the items they sell first-
hand,” Guillot said. “[It’s about] meeting the people and sweating
along the lines with them and watching the dust and wood chips
fly when high-tech machines install electronic components.
Seeing the steps that products go through from start to finish
cannot be equaled.” — J.C.
OUTSIDE HELP

3. {MANAGERSONMANAGING}
JANUARY 2007 | MUSIC INC. | 61
they were the salesperson.
Ethics underlie the discussion.
“I try to instill honesty in
each employee, so they never
try to bluff their way through a
situation,” Williams said. “[I
tell employees], ‘If you don’t
know an answer, be honest
with the customer and tell
them you don’t know. You
never know when that cus-
tomer may know the correct
answer but is testing you to see
how honest you’ll be.’ An ‘I
don’t know, but I’ll be happy to
find out for you’ goes a lot fur-
ther in building trust than
being caught in a lie or giving
the wrong information.”
Muir mentioned that he
wants his staff to avoid a situa-
tion altogether where they
might not know an answer to a
product question. To do so, he
said he often picks employees
he considers knowledgeable
about certain products and has
them lead meetings where they
teach their peers the ins and
outs of that product and meth-
ods they’ve used to sell it.
“It motivates the salesper-
son to do the research on the
product, so they don’t make a
fool out of themselves in front
of their peers,” Muir said. It
puts employees on the spot
and requires them to deliver,
but “the end result promotes
that individual as an expert,
which builds their confidence
and shows leadership.”
In stores with a large staff,
it’s not always possible to have
each member at a sales meeting.
Sometimes managers need to
set aside time to meet person-
ally with each employee. While
Muir said that taking time for
one-on-one meetings with
employees is a good way to keep
everyone up to speed, he has
also found that it can be more
beneficial than group meetings
to some.
“Some salespeople don’t
like to speak up [at meetings] if
they have problems, whether
it’s personal problems with
other salespeople or troubles
with their salesmanship,” he
said. “A one-on-one meeting
[shows employees that] we are
approachable and that they can
come to us with any situation.
Communication is the most
important process in running
any business.”
Though training is a time-
consuming process, Williams
has some simple advice to make
the task more manageable. “If
we keep our own experiences
in mind, treat our customers
like we want to be treated and
are knowledgeable about the
products we sell, we will be suc-
cessful.” MI — Jeff Cagle
‘I like to start
out meetings
with a joke,
even if it’s at
my expense. It
creates a
focus and gets
things going.’
— John Vitale
John Vitale (left)
PhotobyBillZillmer