In this morning‑update video Ryan Shank (PhoneWagon) stresses that training, documentation, and systematic processes are essential for the success of any local or retail business. He contrasts a chaotic pop‑up clothing store—where staff lacked price knowledge, tax rules, and product locations—with a smoothly run doctor’s office that had clear scripts, pre‑appointment paperwork, and follow‑up calls, illustrating how proper training and systems eliminate confusion. Ryan outlines a practical workflow: identify every possible customer question, write it down on a whiteboard, turn the list into a master document, train staff on that content, test their retention, and use role‑play or dummy scenarios to simulate real interactions. He repeats the mantra “train, document, test” and urges business owners to make these practices a habit to ensure smoother operations and better customer experiences.
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What up guys, it's Ryan from PhoneWagon. Here we are, morning updates, day 20, and today we have just a Yeti cup, no coffee today. There's not even anything in it. Get that later. I'm just going to keep— I'm not even going to edit that out. I'm just going to keep this raw footage for you guys. So one thing I do want to talk about today is the importance of training your people and and how that is critical to the success of your business. So if you're in retail, so a lot of PhoneWagon customers, you know, they'll be like retail stores or they'll at least have a store presence, whether it's like a massage, a chiropractor, physical therapist, a vet, or any type of, you know, local business, whatever it is, has a physical store, it is incredibly important to train your staff, have everything documented, have the right systems in place. So I went today to a retail store. It was actually a pop-up for like a merchandise brand, right? And the guy that was actually throwing the pop-up seemed to be getting really, really frustrated. One, there was a ton of people. It was pretty disorganized, but there was also a ton of people that were, seemed to be like kind of half working, kind of like friends and things like that, but they were all trying to help customers as well. So there wasn't a clear distinction between who was, you know, kind of friends and hanging out and who was actually working. And then the thing is, the guy that was actually throwing it kept getting frustrated with the people that were working because they didn't know the prices for the articles of clothing that were being sold. And he was like, "That's $75, that's blah, blah, blah," whatever it is. And it sort of got me thinking that, hey, it is up to the person who owns the business or is running the business, one, to get everyone on the same page, to train everyone on exactly what's going to happen, and so that everyone is knowledgeable about any question that could come up. So that's why it's incredibly important, not only just to train them, but to have the right documentation so that you know what to train them on. If they all knew the same thing, this whole thing would run a lot smoother. People would be able to get in and out, find their products, and just go through the system flawlessly. I want to compare this to— I actually had a doctor's appointment the other day, and the thing ran so incredibly smoothly that it was actually very, very impressive. I booked the appointment, someone calls right away, confirms the appointment, gets it on the calendar, sends the right paperwork. They give me proper instructions like, hey, you're gonna need your ID and insurance card when you get there. When I arrived there the next day, ID, insurance card, here's the form to fill out. It's like they just funneled you through this thing. Then it's like, boom, you go into like the nurse's room, you talk to the doctor, boom. Afterwards, um, they have a chair for you when you're checking out because a lot of times you're like, hey, do I need to talk to someone? Do I pay a copay? Do I not pay a copay? I don't know. Um, you sit in a chair, she gives you your exit paperwork. One day later, someone calls and just does a follow-up. Hey, is everything going— is everything okay? It was so smooth. I could just tell that Everyone was completely trained up. They had the right systems in place. Everyone knew exactly what to do, what to say, and where to— and you're like funneling the customer down this path, okay? That compared to today when I went to this retail store, maybe because it was a pop-up, they don't do this all the time, but I was in this retail location and one, it was really cool. It was really cool. I really liked it and it was awesome. It's something, you know, they don't do a lot, but they— you're starting to see pop-ups actually more frequently now where they'll just come to a city for like 2, 3 days and they'll set up a store for the short term. But anyway, no one really knew what was going on except for the person that was, that kind of owned it, but they are, call it the business owner or the influencer, whatever you want to call them, and they can't actually do everything. They can't check people out. People didn't know if they should charge tax, if they shouldn't charge tax. Again, they didn't know how much the items were. They didn't know where the additional sizes were located. And it was like, you actually don't take the clothing off the rack. You just say, hey, I want that piece piece of clothing that's right there, and then they get it from the back. Everyone was just on different pages, and the point is that you should be training your staff, and you should be documenting every single thing that they could possibly, possibly need to know. Okay? And if you think of something, write it down, write it down, write it down, so that then you have this master log of any possible questions, right? Get on a whiteboard, have a session, and write, say, if I was in the customer's shoes, what could I possibly have questions on. Of course, price. If you're in retail, price, color, you know, does it shrink, does it not shrink, how much is the tax, you know, do I have to put it in a bag when I leave, you know, whatever it is. Is there tags on it that I need to take off? Things like that. Like, have that and then put it onto a document, give it to your staff, and train everyone. Train, train, train. Test them, see if they actually know and they retain what you train them on. Have a sample. What we used to do at my old job is we would put everyone— once we train them, we would test them, and then we'd even make them go through the motions of doing like a dummy or like a test scenario where they'll have to like, you know, pretend they're talking to a customer and go through the product as if it's a live, live environment. So anyway, really important: train, document, and then, you know, make sure everyone knows exactly what's going on. Super important with business, super important with life, and it'll just make sure things run a lot smoother. Okay guys, awesome Friday. This is Ryan Shank, Phone Wagon. Hope you guys have an amazing weekend. We'll be back Monday with day 21. Okay, see you guys.
