If you have been a member of the retail sales industry for any notable length of time, then you have likely experienced the frustrations of hiring new staff members, only to have them resign or be terminated a short time later. It’s no secret that high attrition rates have plagued the retail sales industry for years.
While retail professionals are accustomed to contending with turnover rates over 40%, these figures have increased substantially since the start of 2020. According to some research, retail sales turnover has reached a staggering 60%.
As you know all too well, this turnover can seriously impact the consumer experience, staff morale, and your bottom line. Cumulatively, retail turnover translates into over $19 billion in training, hiring, and recruiting expenses. These expenses are compounded by lost productivity of over 230 million days.
All this turnover has led many retail managers and business owners to ask the question, “How can I make my hires stick, and combat attrition?” The answer lies in customer service and retail assessments. Below, we examine how these skills tests are your secret weapon in the fight against retail employee turnover. Let’s get started.
What Are Customer Service Retail & Sales Assessments?
If you are unfamiliar with skills tests, let’s recap what these screening tools are and what they are not. Skills assessments are not designed to make hiring decisions for you. They are a screening tool that can provide valuable information about an applicant so that your HR staff can make an efficient and informed hiring decision.
Skills assessments can measure a candidate’s hard or soft skills. Soft skills are not directly related to a specific position but are necessary to succeed at your organization. Hires without the requisite soft skills can become a burden, even if their hard skills are impressive.
The most common example of soft skills is the ability to communicate. On the other hand, hard skills are job-specific abilities measured using assessments such as Retail Math, Retail Marketing Skills, or General Retail Knowledge.
In addition to skills tests, you can use behavioral assessments to screen candidates. These assessments provide information about an applicant’s motivations, personality traits, and work ethic. Behavioral assessments are particularly effective at improving hiring and reducing turnover, as they help you determine a candidate’s job fit.
Benefits of Customer Service Retail and Sales Assessments
The most apparent benefit of customer service retail & sales assessments is that they can significantly reduce turnover. These skills tests allow your hiring team to quickly and efficiently identify top candidates. Simultaneously, they help you eliminate unqualified individuals from the screening process. This approach will immediately impact the overall health of your organization.
In addition, these assessments can reduce the cost of hiring. Your HR staff can administer online skills assessments early in the screening process. This strategy will reduce the number of people that they need to interview. The result is less time wasted and a reduced administrative burden on your hiring team.
Since the assessments are administered online, you no longer have to invest in physical testing materials or an exam proctor.
Over time, better and more efficient hiring will allow you to create a healthier workplace culture. In turn, this will boost staff morale, bolster your brand image within the community, and allow you to better serve your consumers. As you can see, skills testing is a truly value-added proposition that provides short and long-term benefits.
Which Customer Service Retail & Sales Assessments Are Most Effective?
A variety of customer service retail and sales assessments are available, all of which are carefully designed to gauge a candidate’s skills. When deciding which assessments to administer, we recommend selecting the option that best aligns with the roles and responsibilities of a particular position.
If you are unsure which assessment is most appropriate, the General Retail Knowledge skills test is an excellent place to start. The General Retail Knowledge assessment includes 40 questions of various types, including multiple-choice, select all that apply, and true/false. It covers key retail processes, managing customers and employees, retail financials, and management practices.
Candidates who perform well on this assessment likely possess a broad range of retail-specific skills that make them well suited for line-level and intermediate retail positions.
Another extremely effective assessment is the Sales Clerk Skills test. This assessment is designed specifically for entry-level candidates and covers money handling, sales tasks, and communication. Like the other assessment, it includes a variety of question formats.
Customer Service Retail and Sales Assessments from eSkill
eSkill provides our clients with access to a massive online testing library, including a wide array of customer service and retail assessments.
Request a demo to see how you can use customer service retail and sales assessments to hire your retail “dream team.”