7 Tips to Boost Your Average Basket Size

Retailers commonly track the average amount that customers spend per visit, but strategies for improving that valued metric range widely. Some retailers turn to gimmicks and hard-sell tactics. But others boost their average basket by carefully training their teams to put customers first.

Cannabis Dispensary reached out to two cannabis industry insiders for tips on how to increase your average customer spend.

1) Educate staff on the industry, products and consumption.

Understanding the industry is critical to customer satisfaction and sales. “At The Source+, [employees] must have deep understating of the industry, plant, wealth of medicinal benefits and methods of consumption,” says Sequoah Turner, director of retail for The Source+, now operating dispensaries in Massachusetts and Nevada. “Our staff makes sure that our patients and customers understand these at a level that makes it useful for their everyday lives.”

Internal training at The Bakeréé ensures staff understand as much as “humanly possible” about products, genetics, manufacturing and more, says Anna Shreeve, managing partner for The Bakeréé. In addition to Seattle dispensaries, the company’s in-progress Illinois expansion dovetails Bakeréé staff training with training for social equity licensees. “We need to become an industry with professional workers that are actually helping people and moving through this process of new products being rolled out all the time, which is going to happen at an even greater pace.”

2) Provide ongoing customer service training.

The Bakeréé staff undergo intensive, ongoing customer service training to help them identify and meet customer expectations, which ultimately leads to improved average sales. Developed with a former Shreeve broadcasting colleague who trained high-performing television salespeople, the program emphasizes role playing.

RELATED: How The Bakeréé in Seattle Teaches Customers and Staffers About Cannabis

“We work through the types of questions that [customers] would ask. We look at situations on a weekly basis that [employees] may face that are real. And we roleplay and roleplay and roleplay, so people feel comfortable to truly help another human being solve problems,” Shreeve says. She adds that the program meets a lot of resistance, but it’s vital for modern workers who’ve never received formal customer service training.

3) Perfect the art of asking questions.

The Bakeréé customer service training emphasizes digging deep to evaluate the full spectrum of customer needs. “There's some very simple things like the Rule of Three: asking three different questions on the same subject to really get to the truth, the real answer,” Shreeve explains. But this also includes how to talk about buying habits and the person’s budget that day to help them get the most out of that visit.

“It's really about respect,” Shreeve says. “If you really respect another person, and what they are trying to accomplish while they're in your store, you're going to want to define where they're coming from in order to give them the highest level of service.”

Encouraging dialogue with customers and getting to the heart of what they are really looking for in their cannabis experience can convert to higher sales, she says.

“By asking questions, treating people with respect and having the conversation be 70% listening and 30% educating, you can increase that basket size pretty significantly,” Shreeve says. “Our goal is always when that person goes home and they open up the product, whatever it is that they purchased, they feel ecstatic that they got the right things,” she says.

Turner says that The Source+ prides itself on accessibility and meeting people where they are: “From customers that come in every day for a preroll to those who max out their purchase every time they shop, we make sure that we’re providing quality products at a wonderful price to all our customers and patients.”

There's some very simple things like the Rule of Three: asking three different questions on the same subject to really get to the truth, the real answer.”— Anna Shreeve

4) Create an elevated experience.

Turner, who, in addition to extensive retail cannabis expertise, brings luxury retail experience from her stint at Tiffany’s to The Source+, says achieving this is simple: “In addition to being personable and service-oriented, being genuine, authentic, empathetic and really understanding why the individual is at The Source+ and what they’re really looking for, is key. … Our main goal is to make sure that each customer feels the focus of the staff from the moment they enter, through purchase and exit.”

Shreeve notes that exceptional customer service experiences meet deep customer needs. “We want to make the experiences that people have in our retail environments absolutely phenomenal, because people are not receiving that type of attention, that type of care in many other businesses … and they long for it, especially because they don't understand all of these products.”

5) Deliver a consistent brand experience.

The Source+ strives for consistency so customers can count on the same experience every time—from high-quality products and clean facilities to personal interactions. “We maintain this by setting staff expectations early and clearly, from interview through the first day on shift—we’re clear and transparent that the number one priority is always the guest,” Turner says.

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Shreeve says if the customer experience depends on an individual—like a favorite budtender who’s off that day—the retailer failed to do their job: “The budtender needs to have an association with the brand, meaning that every time the customer comes in, regardless of who they see, they're going to get the same level of service 100% of the time.”

6) Hire enthusiasm and passion. Teach communication.

When hiring for The Bakeréé, Shreeve looks for potential. “It’s their level of enthusiasm and passion,” she says. “It’s really basic communication skills: their ability to look you in the eye, their ability to be thoughtful before they answer a question, their ability to ask you questions, and focus.”

Shreeve notes that social media has spawned short communication styles that jeopardize meaningful conversations: “People need to be given permission to have those types of communications again, instead of speaking in shorthand, because of the diversity of your audience. … The person over the age of 50 does not communicate in code or emojis or with brevity. They want you to listen to them and hear them.”

7) Track your average basket size. Reward progress.

The Bakeréé tracks both the number of items per sale and average customer sale. Periodic sales contests, which consider hours worked, reward staff who achieve the average basket and above. “Then we look at the data to help them see what they could be doing better. Then we work with them on their ability to ask questions and look at different aspects of what they're doing to really improve their level of service,” Shreeve explains.

As both The Source+ and The Bakeréé expand into new markets, their customer-oriented, service-intensive approach goes with them, aligning with their goals to boost their average basket size and provide stellar service to the customers and communities they serve.

Jolene Hansen is a freelance writer specializing in the horticulture, cannabis and specialty ag industries.