You have a front line staff. You pay them to work with the customers and sell your products. Sometimes they get it right and make more money for the business. Sometimes they leave dollars on the table.

All this year I have worked with my staff on how to raise the average ticket, how to get more from every sale. We reached the pinnacle of that training this past Monday as we talked about tips to close the sale and make it stick.

Then we played a game, something to reinforce everything we had been working on all year.

Every single bill on that table had a statement on the back that either started with “I Earned This Dollar…” or “I Left This Dollar on the Table…”

The staff took turns picking a dollar and reading it out loud to the rest of the team. If it was an Earned dollar they got to keep it, but if it was a Left dollar they had to put it back. We played until all the Earned dollars were gone. The fun part was when the staff started cheering all the Earned dollars and booing all the Left dollars.

Three days later, most of the staff have their Earned dollars still in their pocket with the statement still taped to the back. My office gal has hers pinned to the bulletin board above her desk.

You have to spell out the behavior you want and also the behavior you don’t want. There is power behind putting it all in writing and having the staff read it aloud to each other.

Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS The first question from the staff after we finished the game was, “Can you post all the statements somewhere so that I can read them again?” Of course. If you would like to see the list, send me an email.