December always packs in a lot of celebrations (and let’s be real, everyone likes New Year’s Eve more than New Year’s Day anyway), which means that alcohol sales are on the rise. If your store sells alcoholic beverages, make sure your team is ready for higher demand! A properly prepared team will be able to handle the surge like no other, letting you celebrate the season and your sales without worrying about any compliance and legal issues that could pop up.
Keeping Your Team on Track
To help keep your team on the top of their game, here are a couple things to remember when preparing for the holiday rush of alcohol sales:
- Customer Service is King: Holidays can be tough on mental health for you and your employees, yes, but also your customers. Training your employees on customer service is always a good idea, but especially so now. It can help you with your customer satisfaction, of course, but top-notch customer service may also help keep your employees from accidentally setting off any stressed out customers and save both you and them from the trouble involved in that.
- Always Check IDs: Sometimes the simplest things are the most important. Checking ID is the best way to make sure a sale is legal, and no underage patrons are getting through while your cashier is too preoccupied with a rush. Your employees can prevent underage sales by knowing what a legitimate ID issued from your state looks like, and it’s always a good idea for them to know the same details for neighboring states as well.
- Know How to Refuse: Should your team find a problematic ID, or other issues pop up, make sure they know how to refuse a sale. Knowing how to refuse a sale properly will not only help your store stay in compliance, but it will also keep the line at the register moving. It’s better to refuse a sale that you or your team is unsure of, than to conduct an improper sale and have it come back to bite you.
- Keep Morale Up: Working during the holidays can be stressful; stores are busier, customers are in more of a hurry, and scheduling may be tricky to account for team members taking time off. Make your appreciation for your employees known! Boosting their spirits during this time can help make things run more smoothly, and the holidays will fly by.
A smooth shopping experience around the holidays might just build enough customer loyalty with your guests that they keep coming by again and again during the year to come! Turn your holiday alcohol sales rush into a year of prosperity by training your team the right way.
Train Your Staff on Responsible Alcohol Sales
Online Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service training from Ready Training Online covers properly checking ID, spotting fake IDs, and refusing alcohol sales while delivering exceptional service. State-specific training for certain states is also available, including California Responsible Beverage Service, Oklahoma Responsible Alcohol Sales and Service, and the Florida Security, Tobacco Sales, & Alcohol Responsible Vendor program.
