How to Train Your Budtenders

Budtenders quite literally make the cannabis industry go around, as they are the bread and butter behind a sound business model. 

Hiring competent budtenders is one of the most important components behind developing a quality dispensary business that has the potential for longevity and growth.

So where do you begin? 

How do you qualify people for such an important role in your business?

Budtender Training is Crucial

A knowledgeable and helpful budtender could be the difference between thousands of dollars a month worth of sales. A competent budtender should be capable of deeply understanding your products, as well as answering any questions that a customer might have.

Without a well-trained budtender, you could lose out on potential customers, new sales, and potentially run into issues with regulatory compliance.

So how do we train these prospects?

How do we turn our future budtenders into order-filling machines?

Training.

There are plenty of different ways to train budtenders to make them more competent and knowledgeable about their service and product. Some of the best providers for this service right now are Green CulturED and the Cannabis Training University, or CTU for short.

These programs offer a series of very valuable courses and access to important information that is of paramount importance when venturing into this business.

They also offer quizzes and evaluations to keep your team sharp and well-versed. 

Getting Your Budtender Team Certified

One of the most important next steps in taking your dispensary to the next level is getting your budtender team certified. This is quite important for making your practice appear more credible, and allowing your team to become more effective at selling product.

As your budtenders get certified, they’ll be able to better assist people in store and be more useful at answering questions. Some of the best programs for this are the Responsible Vendor Training (RVT) certification as well as the Budtender Certification from CTU.

These courses will typically include some valuable insights into cannabis education and service. It’ll typically dive into cannabis basics, building customer service skills, and product knowledge.

Some of these basics include understanding the history of certain types of plants, as well as different strains and developing an understanding of the effects that the different strains have.

They’ll also learn how to communicate with customers and understand client needs. This is a difficult skill for some budtenders to get a grasp on, as there’s plenty of different types of niches and needs within the cannabis industry.

Your budtenders should get competent at sales skills as well as conflict resolution. They should also get familiar with the legal stipulations that come with selling cannabis, including the processes of age verification and record-keeping within a tool like a cannabis point-of-sale (POS) solution.

Continuing Budtender Education

It’s important for your budtenders to continue their education over time to improve their knowledge and get acquainted with the products they are selling.

Some great ways to continue your budtender education is to pay for them to attend workshops, as well as monthly training sessions and virtual learning.

It’s important that your staff is on top of their game and is able to effectively keep up with trends. 

Piecing it Together

Ultimately, it’s very important for your budtenders to become familiar with the product that they’re selling as well as versed in the different types of cannabis strains. They should also be capable of solving conflicts, difficult inquiries, and answering questions that might be on the minds of their potential customers.

A well-trained and well-educated team will be a more profitable one. Getting your budtenders certified and trained will result in far better sales and less headaches as a dispensary owner.