Spring training isn’t just to elevate a baseball team, it’s a great way to refresh tea education, sales strategies, and inspire employees to apply a creative approach to their work, their customers, and your business.

Begin with Tea Tastings

Tea is sold sip by sip and tasting the latest spring selections is a must-do to let your employees identify and understand all your latest offerings. This will help them learn what separates a fresh Gyokuro from Japan from a spring Dragonwell, a first flush Darjeeling, or from a newly-arrived Keemun.

Tea tastings of spring teas are also an excellent way to give employees a knowledgeable vocabulary to share the pleasures of each tea with customers in a way that is not just informed but imbued with the excitement of each selection. Consider preparation using several tea brewing styles to demonstrate the depth and breadth of the flavor profile of each spring tea offering; this could be guywan, traditional teapot with or without internal infuser, loose in glass tumblers, if applicable, and in any new tea brewer you are now selling.

Give a Shop Tour

Seasonal changes to the display of teas, accessories and pantry products is essential to add visual interest to your shop and to keep the interest level of both of customers and employees.

To help employees become more familiar with any addition to your inventory, consider showing them demos of newly acquired kettles, self-brewers, or pantry items like cookies, honeys or other sweeteners. If a product is new even if only in a new color or flavor, make sure your employees are aware your shop carries them so they can tell the customers of these additions.

Ask for input from your employees regarding upgrading or navigation of your website, creating exciting window or in-store displays, and arranging shelves for best presentation. Studies indicate that employees who contribute to the overall design and impact of a store’s impression and are part of the decision-making process become more invested in it and carry that over to customer service.

Changing Schedules?

Are you changing shop hours, expanding or contracting? Changing days? Adding or deleting curbside service, delivery or tea-of-the-month or other programs? Tell employees first. Invite them to contribute ideas for promotion.

Speaking of schedules, each season brings opportunities to change or modify the work schedules of employees, especially those who are part time or students. It’s not always easy to be flexible in scheduling, however, whatever can increase dependability by the employee is critical to insuring you always have enough people to serve your customers. And, colds and flus continue to interfere with the best of plans, so consider having some help who can work on an on-call basis. Post printed schedules or pass them out so employees can log them into their phones or print calendars for efficient reference.

Weather thou goest?

Rain, flooding, fires, snowy blizzards, the country is rocking with weather anomalies, and retailers need to accommodate both the customer and employee during such times.

-Brainstorm ideas from your employees for protecting inventory from the sopping wet umbrellas. Use plastic bags shaped for umbrellas or a conventional umbrella stand.

-Add one or several mats inside the store to shake off snow-laden boots and be diligent about wiping them and surrounding floor areas dry, and safe, throughout the day.

-Keep aisles wide enough to accommodate customers with heavy coats and/or loaded shopping baskets.

-Move your most fragile glass accoutrements or finest teacups and pots to shelves behind the counter or under glass cases to protect them from clumsy moves. That’s a lot more congenial than posting a “Break it? You pay for it” sign.

Tea 101 Never Ends

Spring training is the perfect time to refresh everyone’s memory of basic tea information from how tea grows, and where; tea leaf shapes and how to brew; choices for heating water and brewing vessels and serving cups from thimbles to mugs.

The goal here is to empower employee so he or she can answer any question a customer might ask. And, if they can’t, make sure they ask you. If a question pops up often, add that to your training manual.

Looking for more exciting training materials? Opt for videos, photographs, and even youtube.com links to supplement your instruction. Visual teaching tools are exciting and help viewers retain information well.

Customer Service is EVERYTHING

Just as learning everything about tea is endless, there is always something more to learn in providing the absolute best customer service, so keep the following tips a constant in your spring training.

-Good sales begin with good manners. Ask employees to approach customers with something as simple as “May I help you? or a more conversational, “Have you tried our [insert product or tea]?”

-If you can offer tea tastings, do it as gracefully as possible.

-Take care to make presentation neat and attractive.

-Place a wastebasket nearby for disposable cups.

-Provide written handouts about each tea served. Whether they buy on the spot or need to think it over, these informational handouts can inform and sell.

And most importantly, teach employees to always always always say, “Thank you for coming in to [store name]” to each person as they leave the shop. Leave a positive lasting impression!