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Category: Staff Training

Head Cheerleader

Who is the head cheerleader for your business?

Who is the one that puts the smile on everyone’s face and the determination in their hearts? Who picks people up when they are down, finds the silver lining in the cloud, points out the positives?

Who raises the energy level up when it starts to lag? Who gets everyone on board when something new happens? Who makes sure the projects get done right and on time and with a good attitude?

Right now you’re expecting me to say this is your job.

It isn’t.

You need an influencer on your staff. You need a high-energy, positive-attitude, get-it-done person on your staff. You need a head cheerleader on your staff. Someone that isn’t you. You probably already have this person on the team.

Can you identify that person right now? She is the most important person on your team, regardless of her position. She has your back. She makes things go. She infects everyone with her approach.

Seth Godin calls her the linchpin.

You can call her anything you want. Just be sure to appreciate what she does for your business and make sure you do what you have to do to keep her. And if you don’t have one, go out a find one. She is worth far more than you’ll ever pay her.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Yes, you can have more than one on your staff. In fact, try to have a full team of cheerleader/linchpins if you can. Makes your job a lot easier.

How do you find them? You identify the traits you want them to have, write an ad that spells out who they are, set up an interview process that identifies those traits, and put in place a program that rewards them and keeps them happy. Sounds simple and intuitive, but you would be surprised how many retailers (including big chains) have no such system in place.

One Very Important Person

You have an opportunity. A true VIP is coming to your door. Someone with a lot of influence. Friends in high places. Someone who makes the who’s who list every time, everywhere.

You know you need to step up your game. You know you need to pull out all the stops for this one person. You don’t want to give away the store. No deep discounts. That won’t impress this person. Plus, you don’t want to set a precedent that all of this person’s followers will want a discount, too.

You just have to make the kind of impression that gets this person to talk about you, to sing your praises, to spread the good word.

What are you going to do differently?

Ask that question of your staff at your next staff meeting. Put out a notice 24 hours in advance that you’re going to talk about a VIP visiting your store soon and what you need to do. Then lay out the scenario above.

What are you going to do differently?

Then ask this question… How could we practice this so that when the VIP arrives, we get it right?

You know the answers they are going to give. We could role play with each other. We could rehearse. We could try it out on some of the other customers already coming in the store. Ding, ding, ding! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Practice it on every single customer that comes in today. Then evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Practice it again with the upgrades on everyone tomorrow. Evaluate and repeat.

Then ask this final question… How will you know the VIP when he or she arrives?

You know the answer to that one.

You’ll never really know how many followers on Pinterest will see the picture she just took of a product in your store. You’ll never really know how many readers of her blog will share the article she wrote about the way you greeted her and followed her around the store. You’ll never really know how many friends the woman who just walked quickly through without saying a word is meeting for lunch to talk about the group gift they are planning to buy. You’ll never really know how many people that gal who said she’s “just looking” is going to invite to the shower.

But if you get the staff to start practicing their VIP treatment on everyone, they’re going to nail it when that VIP truly arrives.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you ask the staff, “What are you going to do differently?” and they say, “Not a damn thing!” either you have an extremely well-trained staff who is already kicking butt or one that doesn’t have a clue. Either way, you have to fire the whole team and start over (the first group doesn’t want to do anything differently, the second doesn’t know how to do anything differently). For your sake, I hope they have some suggestions.

PPS For those who like me to spell out the obvious… Treat the very next customer like a VIP. Make her feel special. Then the next, then the next, then the next. Do it one customer at a time. Do it until you cannot treat the customer any other way. Every single customer is a VIP in her own way. Treat her like that and she will bring her network to you.

Anatomy of a Staff Meeting – Play Value

THE GOAL
Every staff meeting needs a goal. Not just any goal, but a big goal. Go big or go home.

This morning’s staff meeting goal was: This will be a successful meeting if we understand the importance of Play Value, how our toys offer Play Value and the special needs of Play Value.

THE TASK
After that, I needed an activity to get the points across. The first two parts of the goal were simply review. We talk about Play Value all the time. We talk about the three pillars of a great toy. We talk about the two different ways kids play – Directorial & Participatory – all the time.

Today’s meeting, however, was really about understanding the five different types of learning that toys offer kids of special needs. Cognitive, Communicative, Physical, Sensory, and Social/Emotional. I needed something big and memorable and visual that they could refer to later.

I came up with this.

I stood against the board and had a staff member trace my body. Then we talked about the five types as I drew shapes. Cognitive was a thought cloud coming up from the brain (yeah, okay, I wrote cognizant instead of cognitive – sue me). Communication was caption balloons coming from both sides of the mouth. Social/Emotional was a big heart in the chest. Sensory was two circles by each hand. Physical was trapezoids down by the legs.

The staff split into teams of two and went out to find a toy for each category. They presented their toys while I wrote each toy in the appropriate space. If there were any duplicates, that team had to go find a new toy. Pretty soon we had six toys for each category. And a huge visual. And a pattern of what kinds of toys fit each category. And a discussion of how to identify which category a customer’s request might fit in.

THE SURPRISE
Every meeting needs something unexpected. Since we already knew the first two parts of Play Value, I asked one person to get up and describe the three pillars. She nailed them and I gave her a $25 gas card. Two more questions, two more gas cards later, we had covered the basics. Not only did the gas cards delight the winners, it made the rest of the staff take notice that knowing this stuff was lucrative.

THE DEBRIEF
The discussion centered around recognizing the patterns of toys that fit each category of learning. We also discussed how to assess what a customer might want, what kinds of questions to ask. The visual of the big board with all the toys on it helped tremendously in the discussion.

THE ACTION PLAN
Since there were no assigned tasks with this meeting, I simply made a copy of the following picture for everyone to keep and put the big board in a prominent spot in our warehouse.

Is your staff having this much fun at your staff meetings?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS You don’t need to sell toys to have fun meetings. But you do need to plan fun things. Don’t know how? Start with Staff Meetings Everyone Wants to Attend. Then download the Staff Meetings Worksheet. Then send me a note if you need more ideas.

Broken Communication, Broken Trust

One of my employees bought a new house. She got bombarded with the typical mail a new home owner gets. Tons of offers for phone and Internet and cable services. She received close to a dozen offers from one particular company for her cable and Internet.

She finally decided to talk to an agent. You all know how that worked out.

The great offers in the mailings were nowhere to be found in the offers made by the agent. In fact, he seemed to have no clue about them and wasn’t about to go find out.

Words like slimy, snake oil, scam artist, and bait-and-switch come to mind. Definitely a huge lack of trust.

But what if he just didn’t know? What if no one in marketing had told him about the great deals they were mailing out to potential customers? What if no one had trained him well enough to know where and when to check for special deals? What if no one had followed up to make sure he was aware of the current programs?

What if you told your customers about a great deal or announced a fun event on Facebook and forgot to tell your part-time high school kid who only works nine hours a week? Forgot to inform the weekend manager who had been on vacation?  Forgot to train your seasonal staff to read the promotions book at the beginning of each shift?

Can you see how trust can be so easily broken?

My general optimism would like to believe that what my employee experienced with the cable company was nothing more than a communication problem between marketing and sales. Whether that is true or not, at least it is a lesson we all can learn.

If you’re planning an event or a promotion. Make sure everyone is in on it and knows ALL the details. The trust you’ve already worked so hard to earn depends on it.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Your entire reputation can hinge on the actions of one employee to one customer. Bad will spreads much more easily than good will. That’s a lot of pressure to make the right decisions in the hiring and training process. If you haven’t yet read Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel: Turning Your Staff into a Work of Art, now might be a good time before you start hiring for the holidays.

When to Speed Up, When to Slow Down

One speed does not fit all in the retail world. Some shopping trips are quick hitters, kinda like guerrilla warfare – get in, get out, move on. Some are slow, easy strolls. A time for browsing, a time for gabbing, a time for pondering (a time for grabbing?).

And even within a single shopping trip there are multiple speeds. Getting to know your customer and build rapport takes time and shouldn’t ever be rushed. Getting the customer checked out and back in her car, however, requires a sense of purpose if not urgency.

Here are some reminders…

SLOW DOWN
The getting-to-know-you phase. Don’t pepper them with so many questions that they feel under attack. Let the relationship grow as naturally as possible so that they’ll feel more comfortable with you.

The product selection phase. Give them time to study during the decision-making process. Some people can make quick decisions, but many others need that extra moment to filter all the information. Go too fast here and you’ll seem pushy.

The close. This seems counter-intuitive, but the reality is that there is so much training on closing the sale that most sales people are in a hurry to get that sale closed. In the process, however, you miss ample opportunities to continue serving the customer and growing the sale. Use the phrase Is there anything else I can do for you? liberally. Make sure the customer has everything she needs before you close the sale.

SPEED UP
The checkout. Once the customer is here, her only thought is to get out the door and on to the next event. Accuracy trumps speed at the checkout. But speed shows competency. To truly build trust, you need to be both accurate and efficient. Look at your procedures and see what you can do to quicken the process without hurting the accuracy.

The follow-up. If you do follow-up calls on purchases, call sooner, not later. If they have a problem, they will usually know right away and your promptness makes you look eager to solve the problem. If the customer asks a question or has a problem that requires follow-up, respond quickly – even if the response is “We’ve contacted so-and-so and are waiting for a response.”

Ask your frontline staff about the speed of the customer. Where is browsing and strolling encouraged? Where is it limited? What part of the checkout makes customers seem impatient? Where are we too fast? Where are we too slow? You’ll get valuable feedback and you’ll get your staff to become more aware of their own speeds in the process.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS When you meet with the staff, share the idea of the different speeds of the customer with them, but really listen when they start giving you feedback on what is too fast or too slow. Let them help devise the plan to slow down and speed up as necessary. If they create the plan, you’ll have their instant buy-in.

Motivating Your Employees

This Friday I am doing a talk here in Jackson on motivating your employees. The talk is part of the Small Business Summit put on by OSB Community Bank and takes place at the Grand River Marketplace from 11:30am to 2pm. (Warning: the content of this presentation will make lesser minds explode).

You’re invited.

I am debating whether to put together another Freebie for you. I can certainly write up what I am going to say. My hesitation is that it will end up mostly being a book review. Well, two book reviews.

Much of my leadership style and much of how I motivate my team come from two books.

Drive by Daniel H. Pink
Maestro by Roger Nierenberg

Would you like to learn how to motivate your staff to their highest level of achievement and creativity? Read Drive.

Would you like to learn how to lead a team of high-achieving creatives? Read Maestro.

Would you like me to summarize my thoughts on the two books including how I use their approaches in real life in a new Freebie later this fall? Leave me a comment below (or on Facebook or Google+ or by email).

Hope to see you Friday.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Would you like me to give this presentation to your group? Send me an email. This presentation will knock the argyles right out of those wingtips.

Toy Store or Summer Camp?

Over the past several months my staff has been looking at all the parallels between our store and summer camp.

Summer camps are built around a theme (i..e. space and science camp) and a set of core values (i.e. YMCA camps). Our store is built around the theme of toys and baby products with core values of Fun, Helpful, Educational, and Nostalgic.

Summer camps have core activities that are the whole reason you are there (canoeing, horseback riding, writing, etc). We have products that are the whole reason you are here.

Summer camps have Rituals, time-honored traditions that are unique and special. They have rituals that only those who attend will know, making the campers feel like insiders. We have rituals, too, such as the birthday bell, Saturday flag raising ceremonies, story times, game nights, etc. that make our customers feel like insiders.

Summer camps have special events and activities like playing Capture the Flag, doing a swamp stomp, or star gazing on a moonless night. We have special events like play days and author book signings.

Summer camps have all kinds of kids in the cabin that require skilled counselors to work with them. There is the homesick kid, the bully, the know-it-all and the natural leader. We have all kinds of different customers who require skilled employees to work with them in different ways, too. Just knowing and acknowledging those differences makes the cabin and the store a whole lot better.

Summer camps know a few other things we should copy. When is the best time to get a kid signed up for next year’s camp? On the last day of this year’s camp, when the memories and emotions are at their strongest. When is the best time to create a happy customer? At the moment of checkout by praising her purchasing decisions, helping her complete the sale by making sure she has everything she needs, and giving her some tips for how to use her new items.

Summer camp is a powerful metaphor for how you should run your retail store. Watch how summer camps do everything from hiring and training their staff to planning their activities to marketing their programs to making sure the memories last. The best camps do things you should be doing, too.

Anyone who has been to summer camp has memories etched forever in their minds. Do what the summer camps do and you can etch similar memories in the minds of your customers.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS There are other industries from which we can learn to be better retailers. Look at amusement parks. You can ride their coattails (pun fully intended) to lots of great lessons and ideas.

Gardening, Training, and the Three Bears

The rains have been pouring down here at my store. Last night the river crested to the highest I have seen it in over 20 years. It touched the back corner of the building.

My wife reported that all of our potted plants at home were swimming in their pots.

That’s not good for potted plants. Almost as bad as no water at all. Everyone knows that gardening requires continued diligence; a little watering, a little weeding, a little pruning done consistently and continuously. You can’t just do the weeding and watering once and expect the garden to thrive.

Yet isn’t that what we often do with our staff?

They show up. We give them a name badge, show them where the restroom is, teach them how to run the cash registers, and set them loose. No follow up, no continual training.  No additional information. If they’re motivated, they’ll learn it on their own (or at least that’s what we tell ourselves).

Then we wonder why there is no growth.

Training is like gardening. It needs to be consistent and continuous if you want your staff to grow to their full potential. A little training, a little evaluation, a little polishing, a little pushing.

Just like the Three Bears, you also have to find that “just right” amount of training. Too little and they don’t get the skills they need, too much and like my potted plants at home, they cannot absorb it all.

Staff training should be a lot like how we water the potted plants. Pour some water in. Wait until it is absorbed. Pour in a little more. Keep checking back, pruning, weeding and watering. Add in a heaping amount of sunlight (praise), and watch them grow.

Are you tending to your staff garden?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Thanks to my wife for this powerful analogy. Thanks to Mother Nature for this awesome display of her power. And Thank God that the water receded back to normal levels rather quickly. Forty seven years on the banks of the Grand River and that is the first time the water touched the building.

Herds, Flocks and Gaggles

When a lioness approaches a herd of zebras, she searches for the stragglers, the loners, the ones who have strayed too far away. She isn’t attacking the whole herd. There is safety in numbers and the zebras know it.

When a flock of birds flies in formation, they can fly farther than a solitary bird alone. There is strength in numbers. Predators do not disrupt their formation.

When a gaggle of geese starts honking, the message is clear. Stay away. Stay far away. Maybe they are protecting some goslings. Maybe they are just protecting themselves. There is strength in numbers. The predators would much rather go after a solitary goose than attack the gaggle.

Herd of zebras, flock of birds, gaggle of geese, crash of rhinoceros (one of my favorite group names), obstinacy of buffalo (my new favorite). All animals know there is safety in numbers. Stay in the group and you’re safe. Stray from the group and you may be attacked.

What do you call a group of sales clerks? 

A clucker of clerks? A chattering of clerks? A confusion of clerks? Or my other favorite group term (works with every type of animal), a “whole mess of” clerks?

By any name, the rules still apply. There is safety in numbers.

Stay close to the group and you won’t have any customers attacking you looking for help. You won’t have the boss singling you out for a project. You won’t be under the glare and spotlight.

You’ll be safe in the group.

Or will you?

We aren’t talking about a lioness hiding in the tall grass looking for the weakest member. We’re talking about a customer needing assistance. We’re talking about projects needing to be done. We’re talking about the work your clucker is supposed to be doing.

The point is that you aren’t the prey. You are the pride of lions, who only rest and play after the kill. You hunt alone. You are not the Leap of Leopards, just the lone Jaguar ready to pounce at the chance to accomplish and do more than expected. You are not the convocation of eagles, just the single eagle ready to take flight and soar.

In other words, watch how you congregate. That chattering could be costly.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Here are some of my other favorite Animal Group Names…
Congregation of Alligators
Shrewdness of Apes
Quiver of Cobras
Cast of Falcons
Implausibility of Gnus
Scourge of Mosquitoes
Gaze of Raccoons
Rhumba of Rattlesnakes
Congress of Salamanders
Ambush of Tigers
Wisdom of Wombats

What Do You Struggle to Train?

In a couple weeks I will be doing a workshop at the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA) Marketplace & Academy.  This is the big gathering of the specialty toy industry where many of the best independent toy stores will be attending.

The workshop I am doing is on Staff Meetings & Trainings Everyone Wants to Attend.  I will be teaching them the techniques I use to plan fun, interesting and sticky training events to teach my staff what they need to know.

The attendees of this workshop will be sitting at round tables and one of the activities will be for each table to develop a training event around a specific topic such as Closing the Sale, Answering the Telephone, Thinking Like a Boss, or What to do When Business is Slow.

I need your help.

I need about a dozen topics for this workshop. What topics do you struggle with? What topics do you wish you had a better training for? What topics do you wish someone could create a training event for you to use in your store?

Leave a comment or send me an email.  Anyone who offers a topic I use in the workshop will get a copy of the training we develop.

Thanks!

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I would also love to hear about the most fun, interesting or unique ways you have trained your staff on different topics. Send me pics if you have them. It is always better to have examples of what others have done when teaching this technique.