Top 15 Retail Sales Associate Skills to be best on the Job

Top 15 Retail Sales Associate Skills to be best on the Job

If you are working as a retail sales associate, you will require certain qualities and skills to effectively carry out your job description, overcome the challenges of the job, and come up best in your performance.

This post shows the skills you need to develop to be a good sales associate at a retail store and get the admiration of customers, colleagues, and managers.

First, who is a retail sales associate?

A retail sales associate is an employee of a retail store who facilitates the sales of that store’s goods to the general public by making available to customers information regarding the store’s products.

Retail sales associates perform various duties, including assisting customers with purchase decisions, greeting each customer that walks into the store warmly, and making sure that they get receipts on all purchases they make.

Sales associates are also responsible for cleaning shelves, counters, and tables.

They work in general department stores, or in stores that specialize in specific types of goods.

15 Retail Sales Associate Skills and Qualities to be Effective on the Job

1. Business Awareness. Business awareness is a skill that helps sales associates at retail stores to understand the industry they work for. This includes how the industry operates, products they sell, and the types of customers who buy their products.

2. Product Knowledge. When sales associates stay up to date on the latest trends in the industry they work for, they will be able to bring customers to the knowledge of their brand. This will increase sales and bring in more profits.

3. Empathy. Associates should show concern on the feelings and needs of consumers. They have to pay attention to people’s problems and offer solutions as needed. They might not necessarily sell to the customer but this could bring in future sales and possibly more referrals.

4. Time Management Skills. This helps the sales associate to be able to schedule home and office responsibilities in a way that they can be done properly. If you are on day shift you should know how to handle your duties timely, and also take care of yourself.

5. Interpersonal Skills. Being a people person helps retail sales associates to easily relate with people and build a lasting relationship. They must be helpful and genuine. They may fake a smile if they need to because people hardly buy from those who cannot entertain them well.

6. Customer Service. Customer service involves taking care of the customer in a polite and friendly manner. Associates must consider the importance of keeping a single customer. Experience in customer service is much needed by most employers, so you must do anything possible to relate cordially with customers, and place them first.

7. Organizational Skills. It is important for sales associates at retail stores to keep track of regular customers, what they like and dislike, and also their contact information. The company’s files and documentation should be properly arranged in a way that they can easily be assessed.

8. Active Listening. Retail sales associates have to give full attention to what other people have to say. This will make it easy to understand points being made.

9. Communication Skills. Associates with excellent communication skills have a way they listen, talk, and even write. Sometimes, they communicate in the local dialect just to make their communication effective, and customers usually like it this way.

10. Initiative. Sales associates must be able to take initiative on the spot as things not prepared for may happen. Most times, problems such as goods damaged before being paid for or a customer or colleague being ill may arise. Now, the question is, how would you react to such sudden occurrences? And what would you learn from those experiences. A good starter would be to make suggestions about how things could be improved. Who knows if your own ideas are what the company needs in that situation?

11. Management of Personnel Resources. Good sales associates should be able to motivate, develop, and direct people as they work. They should also be able to identify the best people for the job. This will ensure a high level of efficiency in the team.

12. Critical Thinking. This has to do with the ability to evaluate the quality and suitability of products to stock and to make recommendations to the management. A good sales associate uses their knowledge of the retail business to assess product quality and to determine what to report to management as defective or damaged products.

13. Problem Solving Skills. Problems such as customer not happy or satisfied with product or product shortages occurring should be handled by the sales associate, or he/she could inform their supervisors about it. With the ability to solve problems, the associate is able to call for supplies if he/she notices shortages, and also is able to call security if he/she notices suspicious movement or behavior within the store and its environs.

14. Team Work. Retail sales associates should learn to collaborate with managers, vendors, and other team members in order to achieve the company’s short and long term goals.

15. Proactive. Sales associates don’t have to wait for a customer to call for help before offering assistance. They should easily notice when a customer needs to be helped and so make a move towards helping.

Retail Sales Associate Skills for Resume

If you are writing a retail sales associate resume, the skills and qualities given below will help you to complete the core competence or skills section.

With a good competence section, your resume stands a better chance of convincing the recruiter that you are qualified for the retail sales associate job.

Conclusion:

If you work as a sales associate at a retail store and desire to be best on your job, the above skills and qualities will help you to achieve the goal.

Employers looking to hire a good retail sales associate should also make the above qualities part of the requirements applicants should fulfill to qualify for the job.

Did you find this post useful in becoming the best retail sales associate in your company? Please, leave a comment in the box below; including additional skills you know that can improve a sales associate’s job performance in a retail store.