Psychological health has become essential in the current socioeconomic situation. Covid-19 is causing a series of human reactions that have an impact on the organization and on the profit and loss account of retail businesses. As well as on the mood of retail professionals. Stress situations are reproduced in stores that remain open and in merchants who have temporarily closed. If intersubjective relationships have characteristics of extraordinary complexity, intrasubjective relationships are no less.

 

Psychological health for retail shops

There are two factors of force majeure that have suddenly appeared in the retail sector: isolation and uncertainty. Both psychological illnesses manifest in physiological expressions such as difficulty sleeping, lack of appetite, anxiety, sadness, irritability, fear or panic. To help us deal with this situation of isolation and uncertainty, psychology, in its therapeutic, neurological and social aspects, stands out as a crucial resource.

Therefore, CapKelenn offers you a psychological health service applied to commerce. We want to anticipate psychosocial risks and accompany managers, franchisees and retail staff who are facing situations of tension and insecurity. Firstly, we offer management care for the couple and children for those who remain at home burdened by professional and family responsibilities. Moreover, we help dismissed employees using emotional management techniques.

Listening by a Retail Coaching professional allows the person to vent their fears and frustrations. First of all, to get out of the loop. Secondly,to be able to positively rebuild a personal and business strategy. Psychological support in retail has become a necessity to seek corporate wellness.

 

Current stress situations caused by the Covid-19

In his book The Art of Becoming Bitter, the psychologist Paul Watzlawick collects a multitude of harmful attitudes to ourselves. We still reproduce because they are apparently unconscious. These are behaviors that harm us, hindering our emotional development and, thereby, having a negative impact on our mental health. They do not seem to have a positive solution. Here are some reactions that retail professionals may be experiencing.

 

Situations of tension in open chain stores

The shops that remain open during the health alert are those related to basic goods and services (food, telecommunications, health, transport, etc.). In addition, those whose functions can be performed by employees at home. The main causes of anxiety are fear of contagion, pressure from managers and the influence of negative client emotions. Some of the stress situations generated by the Covid-19 can be:

• “Clients convey their anxiety and fears to us, so I end the day with morale on the floor”
• “The incivism of clients crushes me”
• “We are working and exposed when our bosses give us orders from their homes, teleworking”
• “We fear for our health because we are exposed daily to a huge number of clients”

 

Situations of tension in closed store chains

A high percentage of the business fabric corresponds to shops and restaurants forced to close while the health alert lasts. Both store and restaurant chain owners and employees are facing numerous adversities. That creates a climate of tension, insecurity and fear:

• As regional director
  • “It is difficult for me to keep my team motivated and focused, who is working at home”
  • “Our product (fashion, luxury) is not essential. And although we could sell online, the team does not consider it appropriate” (cognitive dissonance)
  • “Our peak of activity occurs precisely on these dates. It’s frustrating to give up the year for lost and not being able to do anything”
• As an employee or store manager
  • “I feel lonely, isolated and without perspective”
  • “With my children at home, I feel overwhelmed. I only have moments of 10 minutes to communicate. My bosses can communicate in a shocking way in just 10 minutes”
  • “I have been fired, I fear for my income and how to face the expenses that still follow”

Therefore, these examples are illustrative of a generalized feeling of panic. It affects the cognitive level and paralyzes our positive reactions. As we observe, this psychological crisis transversely affects the entire retail sector: shops, restaurants, hotels, banks, etc.

 

Logotherapy

First of all, it is necessary to identify those actions that we produce or those inputs that we receive that undermine our self-esteem.Then, it is convenient to go to the conscious root to make sure that we ourselves are responsible for our happiness and our balance. Nothing is powerful enough to sink our morale.

In his monumental book Man’s Search for Meaning, the neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl recounted the brutalities he suffered in various Nazi concentration camps. Following these painful and traumatic experiences, he studied the human being’s attitude. Even devoid of everything, he transcends his difficulties because his dignity and freedom are indestructible.

Frankl developed a psychotherapeutic method, logotherapy, based on the search for the meaning of existence. So that we take responsibility for ourselves and for others through a positive perception of the world. It is time, therefore, that the managers and employees of chain stores face this negative situation caused by an external agent and take responsibility for their actions.

 

Psychological health in Retail

For the neurologist and psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik, “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” After trauma such as that caused by the pandemic we are experiencing, a new personal and professional development must be rebuilt based on resilience in commerce. This concept refers to the ability of Retail professionals to overcome a difficult situation.

At CapKelenn, we want to accompany you and your team to manage a process that goes from initial panic to a vision for the future. We want you to take back the reins of your business. The phases that follow in this psychological development vary in intensity and duration according to people. But the ultimate goal is the same: to prevent professional exhaustion caused by emotions of stress and vulnerability to guarantee corporate well-being.

Through online or face-to-face workshops, we promote the sincere expression of emotions. This is the first step to unblock the atavistic fear that becomes resistant in our psyche. We drive the coach’s stance at key moments, including recognition, empowerment, and personal consideration.

The anticipation of psychosocial risk is intended for managers and employees alike. So that the retail coaching training acquired by the manager will help them apply it with their staff. In times of crisis, solutions have to be collective and psychological health in retail is essential to save the team and, with it, the store.

“If it is not in your hands to change a situation that causes you pain, you can always choose the attitude with which you face that suffering”.

 

CapKelenn in luxury retail

CapKelenn is the primary certification in Retail Coaching worldwide, certifying managers in Retail to really become coaches for their sales teams, facilitating the transition towards a supreme clienteling savoir-faire. CapKelenn delivers the certification in 12 languages on all the 5 continents. CapKelenn accelerates change, thanks to people, with results that are fast, visible and sustainable, contributing to fertilize a client experience that is memorable and personalized.

 

Viktor Frankl

Online training has opened new ways of relating to each other. The uniqueness of the online itself has strong implications and we do not always take into account all that it entails. Let’s look at the following example:

– “Can you stand behind your screens for this role play, Peter and Susan, please?”

Behind his screen, I feel a moment of shame on Peter’s part. He answers, stuttering.

– “Ehhh, no!”

Muted laughs from his colleagues, vendors of this prestigious brand of luxury stores, which is preparing for the reopening and training of their managers and vendors in welcome rituals, with a mask. We all understand that Peter didn’t necessarily think about putting on his pants before attending training! So I designate another employee to accompany Susan on the sketch.

Since March 20, some pioneer companies in the professional training sector have accelerated videoconferencing mastering Teams and Zoom.

 

Online training, this does not work, SINCE …

• Trainers encourage their audiences in face-to-face training, while the context has radically changed.
• The participants’ ability to concentrate is much more random, and the loss of attention can sometimes be as high as 100%.
• Students often feel less concerned.
• The sessions seem boring.

There are sufficient reasons in any case to think about various decision makers (HRD, Commercial Directors, Training Directors …).

• The development of managerial and commercial skills requires a support that is not allowed by distance learning.
• It is a form of discounted training.
• If the returns of the formations with our best suppliers are 9/10, at online they will surely not be more than 7/10.

 

Online training, this does not work, UNLESS…

There are many reasons why online training has to be treated as a specific modality at the level of communication, oratory and technical complexity. At CapKelenn we consider that online learning has been an important source in recent years to acquire professional knowledge and skills. The emergence of the Covid-19 has accelerated this process and today companies face the challenge of adapting their trainers and their work teams to this training modality. Online training does not work in the traditional face-to-face style and cannot be left to free improvisation. Online training does not work that way, UNLESS …

 

Journey

Unless online training is part of a journey that also includes prior preparation, subsequent commitments and implementation support, ideally individual. This may include previous readings, checklists, note cards, available on campus and live in chat.

 

Time distribution

Unless the time distribution is adapted. It is very difficult to maintain a concentration of 7 hours in Video Training. We prefer 2 half days of 3:30 each with a 10-15 minute break.

 

Minute 1

Unless the trainer knows how to capture the participants’ attention from the beginning. After 1 minute, the trainer must have heard each participant’s voice and have them write at least 1 word in the chat. It is a way of presenting the relationship, especially if it involves words related to the course. It’s the check-in. Animation is even more important than face-to-face. Convey interest from the first second to the last breath, manage the tempo.

 

Involvement

Unless the student really becomes the protagonist and has the opportunity, even bodily, to get involved. For example, in webinars for 90 people, we all sing and dance (in karaoke) to the delight of the participants in the subsequent surveys.

 

Game rules

Unless game rules and even an alliance are established: and request the written agreement of all to chat based on these rules.

 

Bidirectionality

Unless participation is bidirectional for everyone. The animator encourages everyone’s participation by encouraging short responses and, in any case, avoiding, for example, that a participant does not monopolize the speech for too long. Because, here again, the others can leave.

 

Technique

Unless the trainer masters the technique: screen sharing, rooms for subgroups, screens developed jointly. The listener can reply after just 4-5 seconds when he sees the animator hesitate. Of course, if this happens, the animator will know how to escape with a touch of humour, but it is better to train against the current.

 

Chat

Unless the chat allows a medium of exchanges: both collective and individual (private messages).

 

Live evaluations

Unless live evaluations and quizzes are used: CapKelenn students are familiar with our famous Test Express. Zoom enables these express online surveys that enable individual awareness and sharing in the eyes of the group.

 

Educational engineering

Unless educational engineering combines deductive, inductive and master methods. Online learning can make people think perfectly, transmit content, involve action.

 

Live recording

Unless live recording is possible to analyse together: the recorded video is a new resource, superior to face-to-face training (with the agreement of the participants, of course, it is part of the rules of the game). It allows, for example, to record a 5-minute live role play and see it again with the protagonists, gut it, in a coach mode, of course (how did you feel? What were you excellent at? What could you have done better? Super powerful! And this video can be sent to the participants. A sales manager last week used this video for all these regional relaunch meetings.

 

Materials

Unless the support material is even more design, professional and fun than on-site. For example, supporting videos work well as long as the sound of the trainer’s computer is connected correctly (not the ambient sound).

 

Impact

Unless the impact is punchy, especially for short formats. In webinars, we have to get to the point. This is the speaker’s profession adapted to online learning. The speaker must be even more professional, in impact, time management, supports, millimetre transitions. I attended a 1 hour webinar last week as a listener. There were 72 of us and the speaker felt compelled to ask everyone’s expectations for this session; 7 people intervened and lasted 25 minutes; time management was miserable and there was a loss of enthusiasm after just 4 minutes, for attendees who invested 1 hour of their (precious) time.

 

A formidable opportunity

As you can see, online training seems to me a formidable opportunity for companies, students and training organizations because it corresponds to the environment of teleworking.

Companies (for example, in commerce, which is our specialty in CapKelenn) must accelerate training to impregnate the new expected behaviours: health, new relationships with clients and collaborators, greater autonomy of collaborators in teleworking, etc.

Whenever:

• Keep getting 9/10 on student satisfaction.
• Have specialist trainers-coaches, even better than face-to-face.

If your company invites you to an online CapKelenn training, be sure to wear pants! Because we can question you at any time, as if we were speaking in person 😉

Also, during the final dance (because we can even dance together at Zoom), Peter had conveniently put on his pants!

 

CapKelenn in luxury retail

CapKelenn is the primary certification in Retail Coaching worldwide, certifying managers in Retail to really become coaches for their sales teams, facilitating the transition towards a supreme clienteling savoir-faire. CapKelenn delivers the certification in 12 languages on all the 5 continents. CapKelenn accelerates change, thanks to people, with results that are fast, visible and sustainable, contributing to fertilize a client experience that is memorable and personalized.

 

Benoit Mahé

PCC (Professional Certified Coach of ICF) and a professional trainer for CapKelenn Retail Coaching

The health alert decreed considering the spread of Covid-19 directly affects the Retail sector in several ways. The vast majority of local businesses have been forced to close, SME owners are forced to make layoffs because sales have fallen, potential buyers no longer go past our stores and retreat to their homes, demonstrating great civic conscience. But that does not mean the end of our activity, but rather it allows us to explore new digital tools allowing us to maintain our social media presence, even with the closure of our business.

 

Importance of social media presence considering the closure of your trade

Covid-19 has serious repercussions on the Retail sector. Shops close and life in the neighbourhood stops. Are you sure? More than ever, it is important to know how to work your social media presence and manage it correctly to stay present in your customers’ lives. From CapKelenn we encourage you to use certain digital tools to restore “the smile of a bakery”.

At CapKelenn, we understand the difficulty of this situation and we encourage you to reverse it in a positive way thanks to your online business presence. A new scenario has opened up for you, your customers, your employees and yourself to interact in an alternative and original way. If the Retail professionals are characterized by something, it is by adapting to circumstances, often unfavourable, so that the spirit of your business does not drop. Retail is detail, and as such, all the small actions contain great solidarity which will make your store a meeting place even in difficult times.

If face-to-face interaction is not possible, online interaction becomes essential and social media presence is mandatory in Retail. Enterprise social networks and the Web provide you with a multitude of digital tools that can make the difference at a time when the Covid-19 forces your customers to be at home.

Here are some ideas to demonstrate why having a social media presence is essential right now.

 

Some ideas for working on your company’s social media presence

The digital tools are numerous; but contrary to what many people think, the important thing is not the quantity, but the quality and the good management of our presence, to guarantee a good relationship with our customers:

 

Presence on Instagram

Instagram has become one of the most widely used apps on a personal level, but it can also be understood as an enterprise social network. The special feature of Instagram is the use of photographs. Why don’t you ask your followers to post a photo in which they use a product they bought in your store and say what they think? If they use a hashtag proposed by you, your store will have great visibility and you will encourage the community to interact. At the end of the week, you can post a collage of photos of the most successful customers.

Moreover, in “your story” section, you can suggest a vote for users to decide which of the 3 or 4 products you offer deserves a discount. The most voted product will have a discount that you envisage for several weeks. In this way, you appreciate the preferences of your customers and you will have a more approximate idea of ​​how to channel the line of your products.

 

Presence on Facebook and Skype

Coordination between different digital tools can be a great source of ideas and resources. Skype helps you connect more closely with your customers and Facebook lets you create events. In this regard, we suggest that you create several events on Facebook that your employees will later animate via Skype. Each event will deal with a theme related to your activity sector.

We have some suggestions for working your online presence based on the type of business you run:

 

Social media presence for clothing stores

If you have a clothing store, one of the events will focus on luxury clothing, another on new trends and another on baby clothing.

 

Social media presence for cafes

If you have a cafeteria, one of the events will deal with different techniques for preparing coffee with different utensils, another on the rituals of tea in Japan, another on homemade products such as jam, beer or pastries.

 

Social media presence for restaurants

If your business is a restaurant, one of the events will teach your customers cooking techniques, another on wine pairings and another on vegetarian recipes. Some restaurants have started showing their customers through social media how to prepare some of their favorite dishes. Click here to see a very illustrative example.

 

Social media presence for cosmetic stores

If you have a cosmetics store, one of the events will be devoted to natural cosmetics and creams, another to make-up tips and another to aromatherapy.

 

In this way, you will encourage your customers to register for one of these Facebook events, which will then be organized by your employees on the day and at the time agreed via Skype. They are understood as webinars in which employees conduct sessions, but interaction between participants is allowed. The goal is not just to entertain and encourage your customers. You can also take advantage of these experiences to know them better and discover their fields of interest. One of the sales techniques that we promote in Retail Coaching is to establish a relationship with the customer to co-create a new reality in which he and you “dance in unison”.

 

Presence on Twitter

Launch an initiative on Twitter so that your followers can ask you questions about the company. For example, what materials do you use in your products, what is the history of your store, what was the product you liked the most in the previous campaign, etc.

The limitation of characters on Twitter requires you to send short messages, but not without impact. Contrary to the previous point, we encourage you to ask questions that arouse your followers’ interest and invite them to consult hyperlinks related to your business. If a famous person bought something in your store, you could post a tweet like, “Did you know that this singer bought our X hat model? ‘Hyperlink to an external news’ “. Another example could be: “For the summer campaign, we have 2 possible candidates for a new product. Which do you like the most? ‘Hyperlink to both models’ “. Depending on your business, the options vary, but in any case, the possibilities are endless.

 

In summary, we have shown you why having a social media presence is important in the current situation. As you can see, digital tools are at our disposal to deal with the Covid-19 crisis and ensure our online business presence. These are some of the many ideas that you can apply depending on your store. In any case, the goal is to keep your customers active. Not so much in the form of sales, but that they feel that your company is accompanying them in these difficult times. You will transmit values ​​of proximity and solidarity and you will build a network of people loyal to your vision of the company.

 

CapKelenn in luxury retail

CapKelenn is the primary certification in Retail Coaching worldwide, certifying managers in Retail to really become coaches for their sales teams, facilitating the transition towards a supreme clienteling savoir-faire. CapKelenn delivers the certification in 12 languages on all the 5 continents. CapKelenn accelerates change, thanks to people, with results that are fast, visible and sustainable, contributing to fertilize a client experience that is memorable and personalized.