How to Train Budtender Staff Members

If you own a marijuana dispensary, it is crucial that you train your staff members, especially your budtender staff members who will have to deal directly with the customers. In any event, employees are the face of your company brand and if a customer has a bad experience with a staff member, it can reflect on your company for life. In other words, the staff will usually make or break the success of your company.

Staff training can greatly reduce any episodes of negative customer reviews. It is an essential part of the business and could be the deciding factor to having success in the cannabis industry. By making sure that the staff members go over your best business practices, you will have made it a priority of the business to ensure that everyone is on board with the company's mission statement.

The Staff

The budtender staff members are also essential to your business. They are the ones that provide help to your customer. They are the ones who welcome all visitors to your marijuana dispensary and so you have to make sure that they have good customer service skills, looking out for the best interest of the customer who is the lifeblood or your business. The budtender staff member should be a jovial person, well-intentioned, easy going, outgoing and someone who will go to lengths to provide assistance.

The Role

The budtender staff should be knowledgeable about marijuana strains and should know the difference between the customer and the patient. Marijuana is a unique product and caters to two specific groups. The medical cannabis patient consumes marijuana for health purposes. The recreational cannabis user does it for leisure and relaxation. However, marijuana dispensary owners have to cater to both groups. And so the budtender staff should know how to serve both groups. For instance, it is important to know which cannabis strain facilitates specific qualifying medical conditions and which ones facilitate the level of high that the cannabis smoker is seeking. There are some patients who are seeking alternative treatment and have no clue about what to ask for you. That is why staff training is so essential to the marijuana dispensary business.

Steps to Take

It would be ideal to have a private area set up where patients are able to consult with the budtender staff member. Train the staff to know how to speak to the patient, how to listen, how to discuss sensitive topics and when to refer the patient to a medical professional. Customers, especially, medical patients should be given priority. Patients should be given urgent care and conditions and symptoms should be treated with a specific degree of sincerity and respect.

Ask Questions

Without being inquisitive, ask question. Try not to pry though. Some of the questions you should ask are:

• What kind of effect does a specific strain have?
• What kind of effect are you looking for?
• Do you prefer smoking weed or eating edibles?

For a first time marijuana user, you might have to ask more questions. You might also recommend a vape pen instead of a joint. An experienced cannabis consumer will be able to tell exactly what they want and so fewer questions will be necessary.

Know The Products

Budtender staff members and other employees need to know about all the cannabis products on the dispensary menu. Employees should be able to recommend the right products. In fact, it would be an ideal situation for employees to test some of the products to be more knowledgeable.

In the state of Washington, for example, budtender staff members and other employees are provided with samples. The customer will definitely be turned off, if you don't know how to answer questions related to product.

Learn more about how to train budtender staff members and other employees by visiting the Cannabis Training University.