An angry customer walks into the store. His online order is nowhere to be found. Your new colleague is behind the till and looks around for help. What does he say now?
You can’t schedule that moment. You can practise it, though. Ideally often, and without a customer on the other side of the counter. That’s what games are for.
Roleplay may well be the oldest training method around. And it works. You step into a situation, try something out and get feedback straight away.
There is a catch, though. A good training actor costs money. You take your team off the shop floor for an afternoon. And not everyone enjoys fumbling while colleagues look on. Nervous employees mostly remember how tense it felt.
The biggest problem is repetition. Practising once in a meeting room is a good start. Behaviour only changes when you do something more often. Practise a conversation once, and three weeks later it’s gone.
A serious game brings roleplay to your employee’s screen. They choose how to respond and see the result straight away. Did it go wrong? Then they simply try again. Nobody watches and nobody judges.
And they do come back. Our games are played 3.6 times on average, and employees return of their own accord. That repetition turns a good intention into a habit.
A customer sees that his coat goes on sale tomorrow. He wants the discount today. Your manager isn’t around. What do you do? In a dilemma game, employees face choices where the right answer isn’t obvious. Every choice has consequences, for the customer and for your brand. Employees learn to weigh things up. And they discover what policy means when a customer is standing right in front of them. That’s what our Dilemma Game is made for.
One customer complains about a broken zip. Another wants to know the difference between two models. A third comes in to book a repair. In a scenario game, employees practise the situations they run into every day. They try an approach, see the effect and then do it differently. This builds what counts in every customer conversation: listening, empathising and finding a solution together. Your teams practise exactly these conversations in the Sales Game and Learning Lab.
One employee has worked in the store for years. Another has just started. Yet they often get the same training. With Role-play in TinQwise NOW, employees practise with a digital trainer who behaves like a customer. It responds to what your employee says, so every conversation plays out differently. A session takes about three minutes. That even fits in between two customers. The old roleplay is back, just without the actor, the meeting room or the audience.
Employees who have played a tricky conversation before approach it differently. They recognise the situation. They have an answer ready. And they dare to ask a question instead of jumping straight to a solution.
Want to know if it works? Look at your NPS, your customer satisfaction scores and the number of complaints.
[Space for a retail example: a customer using games, with one concrete result.]
A game doesn’t stand on its own, either. Once customer conversations feel natural, employees are ready for the next step. That makes a game a great stepping stone in the career paths you offer in retail.
Start with the moment that goes wrong most often. Does your team struggle with difficult customers? Start with the Dilemma Game. Is it about advice and sales? Then the Sales Game is a logical first step. Want every conversation to feel like the real thing? Role-play is your best bet.
The games run in the browser and fit into any learning platform. Role-play is part of TinQwise NOW. Curious what that looks like? Explore our serious games and try one yourself.