If my admiration for store staff had ever wavered since my uni days spent behind the tills at the Body Shop, I have a new found respect for the job.

If my admiration for store staff had ever wavered since my uni days spent behind the tills at the Body Shop, I have a new found respect for the job.

My bosses last month challenged me – along with all my colleagues at Retail Week publisher Emap – to walk in our customer’s shoes for the day. And I took that quite literally.

For while Retail Week’s peers around the publishing company spent their days at workplaces ranging from construction firms to A&E departments, I spent the day at the largest store in B&Q’s estate. And I did a lot of walking.

The retailer organised a jam packed itinerary, including spending time on the tills and, rather intimidatingly, putting on the famous orange apron and walking the shop floor.

As expected, the B&Q apron was like a shining beacon to any nervous customer about to embark on a DIY project. Suitably disguised as a knowledgeable customer advisor, shoppers saw the apron and flocked to me with requests ranging from pluming and gardening to paddling pools (it was a stiflingly hot day).

Unfortunately for those customers, I may have looked like a person in the know, but I was pretty clueless. The best I could manage was escorting confused-looking shoppers to an expert whilst telling them ‘It’s my first day’. Working in a DIY store has got to be one of the toughest retail jobs around, where else do you get asked what blade goes in a Ryobi 500w Jigsaw or what Silicone sealant you need for bathroom tiles?

Staff in the Farnborough B&Q store were clearly well trained, and the whole experience brought into focus the necessity for retailers to offer top class staff development programmes to further the skills of the sector’s future leaders.

It is one of the toughest challenges UK businesses face and one in which retailers can lead the way. And as I fell asleep on my train home after an exhausting day marching the aisles, I reflected how, in this store at least, B&Q seem to have it nailed.

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