The Coach needs to be coached instead to remain GUEST FOCUSED: What Serves the Guest Best Should be Priority at All Times.

  

Retail Coaching Tutorial: How to Coach Employees On the Floor 

1. Core Principle: Coaching Is Not Training — It’s Behavior Conversion

The strongest finding across retail‑coaching research is this: training gives knowledge, but coaching converts that knowledge into consistent behaviors. Retail coaching is the bridge between “knowing” and “doing,” and it directly impacts conversion, ATV, loyalty, and guest experience.

2. Coaching ON the Floor (Live, In‑the‑Moment Coaching)

This is coaching that happens while guests and other employees are present. It must be subtle, respectful, and behavior‑focused.

This is coaching that happens while guests and other employees are present. It must be subtle, respectful, and behavior‑focused.

A. Observe First, Don’t Interrupt

• Quietly watch the associate’s interaction with the guest.

• Look for specific behaviors: greeting, product knowledge, confidence, engagement, closing.

• Observation is a primary assessment tool recommended across retail coaching frameworks.

B. Support Without Taking Over

If the associate is struggling:

• Stand nearby as a visible support, not a rescuer.

• Step in only if the guest experience is at risk. This aligns with best‑practice coaching scenarios described in retail coaching literature.

Melody's coaching of how to bag items, saying to me, "that item would have fit into this smaller bag, and grabbing the bag she would have used or felt was the right size to use was in my opinion the WRONG SIZE BAG TO GIVE THIS GUEST A GREAT GUEST EXPERIENCE. Why was she coaching me to use the smaller bag for the purchase of the CLOTHING? It would have had to cram that purchase inside the smaller bag (to save money on bags, not to give this a great guest experience and send off of the story, was MY ARGUMENT in this. Melody was trying to save a few cents on bags, whereas, I felt the guest was served better in this situation with the exact bag I chose, which was the smaller of the tote bags letting the garment have some freedom in the bottom of the bag, rather than squeezing it into a smaller, cheaper bag. I did NOT feel like Melody's coaching was appropriate for that particular item and is the reason I "bucked up" against what she told me. The guest received a better send off experience with the bag I chose.

C. Give Micro‑Feedback Immediately After the Guest Leaves

Timing matters: feedback is most effective when delivered close to the event. Use the 3‑Step Micro‑Coaching Method:

In Melody's coaching of which bag I should have used, she did not use a Positive anchor. She started with, "that would have fit in this bag, while pulling out the bag she preferred, which was smaller and obvious to me, I would have had to cram that item into the bag she chose.

I disagreed with Melody's demonstration/coaching on the basis that the guest received a better experience in this incident, whereas, Melody was hounding about "saving money on bags." Save the money on the bags even if you don't give the guest a better experience is what I heard through her coaching, and I strongly disagreed. Melody was the one who needed correction and I gave it to her by saying to her: "leave me alone." I knew exactly which bag to choose. I did not need her to interupt my workflow with a suggestion that clearly to me sent this guest out of the door in a bag in which the garment would have had to been squeezed into it just to save a few cents on bags. I opted for giving this guest a great guest experience. Perhaps I could have squeezed this item into the smaller bag, but I strongly disagreed with the presentation. My behavior correction to Melody was valid because she absolutely needs to leave me alone about bagging. She is concentrating on saving a few cents on bags, and I undertstand this is important as well, but not if it risk making the guest feel like we are so cheap we cannot provide a descent bag for her purchase.

#3 the reinforce capability here was missing, as Melody was clearly wrong, and proceeded to accuse me of wrong behavior by saying: "you just need to listen." I thought listen to what: Your bad advice of guest service. So Melody absolutely made this confrontation with me after the fact Personal, by telling me in addition to you "not saving money on these bags, you don't listen either," which was another false accusation. I do want to save money on bags, but I don't want to save money on bags at the guest experience expense like she is demanding I do. Melody was wrong, but she continued to accuse me of being in the wrong after the fact of all this happening. She made it personal by saying, "you just need to listen." I simply said to her, "leave me alone," and this is exactly what she needed to do about this particular situation.

1. Positive anchor —

2. Behavior correction —

3. Reinforce capability — “

D. Keep It Behavioral, Not Personal

Research emphasizes focusing on observable actions, not personality traits. Example:

• ✔ I stood for the guest experience. Melody was standing for the cheaper bags. As a real coach, she should have respectfully explained the "why" to why she instructed me to use the smaller bag, but instead, her answer was "You just need to listen." The why in this is that most workers are choosing the wrongs bags in there and they are depleting certain sizes, she needs to catch the ones doing this consistently, and not on one observation of ME. She said, I just happened to see that." I believe this statement, however, she did not need to correct until she saw it happen with me several times, and again, in this case I WAS RIGHT, SHE WAS WRONG. The smaller bag would have given a worse impression as I would have to stand there fumbling with it in front of the guest trying to cram that item into it, which gives the impression that "you as the guest do not deserve a bigger bag for your purchase to have some room with nice tote handles, because you as the guest are not important, but saving a few cents on this bag is important. Melody was absolutely wrong in what she did, it was not a correct coaching experience. I ended up having to correct her about coaching skills.

• ✘ “You just need to listen was a personality trait (was Melody's answer to me saying, "just leave me alone."

E. Use Real‑Time Role‑Play (30 seconds)

Right after the guest leaves, run a quick practice line: “Let’s try that greeting again—this time add a product suggestion.”

This converts knowledge into behavior, which is the core purpose of retail coaching.

What Melody did caused a confrontation with me, the employee. It was a true coaching situation for me to learn better behaviors of bagging, because in this circumstance, it interfered with the overall guest experience.

Perhaps Melody would have stood there and cram that woman's clothing purchase into the smaller bag, and done it without tearing the bag and making a scene in front of the guest, but I felt like had I chose the smaller bag, it would have been a disaster, probably would have tore the bag, and change to the bigger size anyway, thereby, still wasting a bag.

I also maintain, one of the best ways to save bags is simply to ask guests politely do you need a bag for this? this is for small items, or one or two items, NOT CLOTHING, which was this purchase.

Melody came along on a random, one time observation and caused a confrontation, not any kind of learning or behavior change here.

I also maintain if they want to save those bags, they need to provide a presentation training for all employees in a group, showing employees with examples of what to put in each size bag, instead of this on the spur of the moment, one time you see an employee use a bag "that Melody would have not used" and cause a confrontation with the employee over which bag was correct. Melody proved she was not guest focused here, but focused more on CORRECTING ME.