Ashish Joshi, Tesco Phone Shop, Leicester

Ashish has been working in mobile retail for over a decade, starting off as a field rep for T-Mobile and then working for high street heavyweights Phones 4u, Orange and Three. He became manager of the Leicester Tesco Phone Shop in May last year.

The Challenge: When a new product launches, we usually get presentations sent to us from store support. If I’m honest, I’m not keen on them. Not with the content, but I’m a great believer in learning by doing. You can’t get excited by sheets of paper so the second those products come in store I tell my guys not to be shy, to open them up and start using them. It’s the best way to get excited about new tech and pass that passion on to the customer.

I’ll ask them to use the new models as they would their own phone, at home or over lunchtimes – however long they need to get to grips with them. That way they get to know the products far better than from a spec sheet. What I hope they take from this is learning why a customer would want to buy it, finding the hidden features they’d love.

When it comes to new technology like tablets, at Tesco we have a dedicated electronics department that takes care of selling the devices, but they then send customers on to us for data plans. I’ve got a young team who are all into their new gadgets, who work with smartphones every day and know their way around the operating systems on tablets.

We might not be selling certain items but we get queries constantly that we have to answer competently and honestly. Hands-on product demos are key to success, sometimes beyond your shop floor.

I like to make the working day a fun and positive environment for everyone because after all its your staff who bring in the numbers. My team are very important to me and I make sure they feel valued, motivated and inspired as much as I can.

Turning his current branch from outside the top 100 in the company to number 15 in a little over a year
Leicester branch of Tesco still holds the record for the number of contracts sold in one week (153)
Directly mentoring two members of staff at the moment; one for a managerial role and the other is on a secondment for a team leader position

I love underperforming stores. I thrive on that challenge and turning my branch from the bottom end of the company results to fifteenth in the UK is the kind of results I strive for. I never take the easy way out. I want to help people and stores fulfil their potential and I know how to do it. I’ve worked for T-Mobile, Orange, Three and Phones 4u in my career and I use that knowledge to improve things in my store.