Retail Contrarian

Leadership Tip: Question or confirm the staff’s performance

Keith, one of the first managers I worked for, used to stop and talk to customers as they were leaving the store. I couldn't figure out why, since one of the sales associates had worked with the customer. Then I realized he was checking up on us. Making sure we were doing our job.

The more I thought about his not trusting us, the more annoyed I got. Finally, I decided to say something to him. I can't remember exactly what I asked, but was along the lines of, "Why do you stop and question our customers? You obviously don't trust us." (You can tell I've never been one to mince words.)

His answer surprised me. He said that he wasn't questioning but confirming with the customer that his staff did a great job. At first I didn't understand the difference, but after listening to him I realized it was a huge difference.

Keith would stop customers and say things like, "I'm sure Doug took great care of you." or "I trust Doug helped you find everything you were looking for." Not surprising, almost every customer praised the help they had gotten, and that reinforced the whole experience for the customer. What a smart guy that Keith was!

I noticed after changing stores that most managers I worked for either didn't ever talk to customers on the way out, or if they did, they inadvertently undermined the staff. 

One manager would ask, "Did you find everything okay?" Well, that would be fine if nobody had helped that customer, but she would ask after an associate had spent forty-minutes with the person. Not good.

The other one I also hear is, "Did <insert employee name> take good care of you?" While the manager has the right intent, that phrasing can sound to some people like the manager is questioning if the employee is doing her/his job. 

I'm a big proponent of managers engaging the staff's customers. It makes the customer feel special, and helps a managers know her business that much better. Just remember, there's a subtle - but big - difference between a question and a confirmation.

So let me ask, do you talk with your staff’s customers? If not, you should. If you do, be sure you’re confirming and not questioning about the staff’s performance. 

And apropos of nothing….

• Consider this: It's what a staff does during the downtime that determines how successful they are during the peak times.
• Are you watching the new show Superstore? Pretty funny, and fairly accurate. Loved the episode about the mystery shopper. Classic.
• In 2002 I started consulting on the customer experience. It's nothing new. The cost to not doing it well is just a lot higher than it use to be. How's your service experience?

Doug

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Developmental programs

The EveryDay Coach and Leader. A four-week program for seasoned managers to become even better coaches.  Starts February 2nd. Details here.

Beyond the Add-on. Increase sales immediately with this five-module, online training program that can be completed on smartphones, tablets, and/or computers by every member of your retail staff. Just $149 for a staff of 8. Details here.

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert and speaker/consultant, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.

For the Staff: Sell more with The Takeaway

Here is one of the simplest and most effective ways to help customers decide what products to buy. It’s also extremely effective at helping you sell more. That's a win for everyone!

The Takeaway is just what it sounds like. You take products away to help your customer decide what to buy.

Here's how it works.

Let's say your customer is comparing three pairs of earrings. (Or dog treats, toys, shoes, hammers, clothing, or whatever you’re showing the customer.)

Presenting them together, you ask your customer which one he/she thinks he/she DOESN'T want. That's the one you take away, leaving the customer to choose one or both of the two that are left.

This helps the customer decide in a number of ways.

First, the decision of what to buy is a commitment. The one(s) not to buy isn't. That's a much easier decision, and gets the person closer to a final decision.

It also reduces the number of variables for the final decision. That's important, since studies show that when people are overwhelmed by too many choices they default to doing nothing. That's why many of us eat the same thing at the Cheesecake Factory. But I digress.

There are two other benefits of The Takeaway.

Taking away one product often gives a customer permission to buy the remaining two.

Even better, sometimes she won't want to take away any of the products, resulting in giving herself permission to buy all of them. We like that!

The Takeaway works best with three products, but it can be done with two. I've found that it is effective with just about any price point of product.

So let me ask, do you think you can increase sales by asking the customer what they don’t want to buy? Try it out!

Start today by practicing The Takeaway at every opportunity. Ask a colleague to observe you and give you feedback on what you did well, and what she or he thinks you can do better.

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Developmental programs

The EveryDay Coach and Leader. A four-week program for experienced managers to become even better coaches.  Starts February 2nd. Details below and here.

Beyond the Add-on. Increase sales immediately with this five-module, online training program that can be completed on smartphones, tablets, and/or computers by every member of your retail staff. Just $149 for a staff of 8. Details here.

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert and speaker/consultant, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.

Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.

The power of encouragement

Years ago I heard a wonderful story on the radio that has stuck with me ever since. I believe it directly relates to Every Day Coaching and Leadership, and the impact we have on our people. 

Two frogs were hopping along when they both hopped into a deep hole. In a panic, they started jumping as high as they could to escape but the hole was just too deep.

A group of frogs gathered on the surface and started yelling down to the frogs that it was too deep for them to jump out. Both frogs kept jumping, but to no avail. The crowd at the top continued to shout that trying to jump out was futile and they should just give up and die a peaceful death. 

One of the frogs in the hole finally did just that. He took their advice to give up and just lay down and died. The other frog continued to jump and the crowd continued to urge her to give up. Eventually, the frog made a HUGE jump and leapt right out of the hole. 

The crowd of frogs on the surface went wild. They couldn't believe she had saved herself from such a deep hole.  When they asked her how she was able to do the seemingly impossible, the frog replied that even though she was deaf, she knew the crowd was yelling encouraging words. Because of that, she didn't want to give up. Love it!

The story reminds me of three important coaching elements around encouraging your staff to be even better:

1. Encouragement can help people overcome challenges and seemingly impossible obstacles. The people who work and with us need to hear that we believe in them, especially when we’re challenging them to be better. Your employees need to know that you believe they can increase their sales or average sale, learn new skills, take new actions with a customer, etc.

I can personally look back and see where a leader’s encouragement changed my life. I probably didn’t know it at the time, but that encouragement helped me reach a level of performance I never would have achieved without their encouragement and coaching.

2. People try harder when they know that others are pulling for them. It’s human (and maybe frog) nature. We try harder when we know that someone else has an emotional investment in us.

Here’s something many leaders need to remember. Encouragement has no value unless you share it. You can’t just think good thoughts about your team. You have to tell them! It also helps to share the “why” behind the encouragement. Why you need them to do it, and why it will benefit the customer and/or the employee.

This is also another reason building a strong team of people who care about one another is so important to the customer service experience and results. Customers feel that connection and encouragement among the staff. This is why it is so important to remove drama in the workplace.

3. It's devastating to directly or indirectly quit on people. People know when a leader has given up on them. They can see and hear when a leader is encouraging other people, but not them. Instead of quitting on someone, sometimes we need to find another way for the person to achieve the desired results. It is amazing what a mix of encouragement and accountability can have on someone’s performance.

When that doesn’t work, then we need to help the person move up or out. You can’t afford to have anyone on your team that falls short of expectation.

So let me ask, how good are you at encouraging your team, especially the employee who might be stuck down in a hole? Does everyone on your team know you believe in him or her? If not, be sure and tell that person today that you know how successful she/he can be.

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Upcoming programs

From Boss to Next Level Coach and Leader. A four-week program for newer members of management, or managers looking to improve as coaches. Starts January 20th. Details here.

eFresh! Reenergizing your entrepreneurial spirit, drive, and results. Six week program for owners starts on January 26th. Details here.

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert and speaker/consultant, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.

 

Weight loss and leadership

Using leadership principles to improve your life as well as your business

With the New Year comes a new focus on improving ourselves both professionally and personally. I have learned that key principles of leadership can help you achieve your goals in both areas.

As a matter of fact, I’ve lost over 40 pounds in the last five months by applying those values.

No, this blog isn’t about weight loss, but I want to use my experience to illustrate how our focus helps individuals and businesses reach new successes.

Let me share some of the principles that helped me get healthier, and how those same principles can impact you both professionally and personally

1. Make a decision, and then take action. Most people think about doing something, and that’s as fr as it goes. They think they need some elaborate plan to do whatever it is they want to do. What they really need is to take action. To get started.

My catalyst for change was from a talk with my doctor. I couldn’t change what she told me, but I could change what I did going forward. The key is that I made a decision to get healthy, and took action to change my lifestyle. (More on that.)

The same holds true professionally. Business and retail is rapidly changing. There’s a lot of opportunity, but continued success requires you and your team to evolve; to grow and develop. It requires a decision and action. Today.

2, Keep it simple. I believe that leaders who simplify things for both their staff and customers are the most successful. Not dumbing down, but keeping it simple.

Google “how to lose weight” and you’ll get over 99 million results. Yikes! The vast array of different diets and contradictory advice is overwhelming. I kept it simple. I decided to eat fewer than 1,500 calories a day, and walk at least 2 miles. That simple. No fancy gimmicks.

The New Year is a great time to take a hard look at how you ask your staff to work. Is it simple, or do they have forms for the forms? Does everyone on your team know what’s important, or have you thrown so much at them that nothing is important?

For customers, how simple is your return policy? Newsletter sign-up form? Purchase process? The more hoops a customer has to jump through to do business with you, the less likely they are to bother.

3. New habits. New ideas and trainings don’t change your business. Creating new or different habits does. That takes time and focus.

For me this meant not dieting, but changing how I ate and exercised. I had to make the time to walk each day. I had to change how I approached meals at home, and what I ordered when eating out.

New habits are vital to changing results. Focus your team on what to do, rather than what not to do. Practice and roleplay every day. Recognize the use of the new habits. Whatever result you want to achieve, it's going to happen because of new habits.

4. Accountability. Accountability is what separates winning teams from the others. It’s making sure that people do what they’ve committed to doing.

For me, it meant tracking every single thing I ate and drank. To be accountable for only eating a certain number of calories, fat, etc. I used the app MyFitness Pal to be accountable. I’m accountable to my friends for using it. I’m accountable to log in and use it every day. (151 days and counting.)

Professionally it means following through on your expectations. It’s putting mechanisms in place. It’s taking time to observe your staff, or debrief with them after they’ve worked with a customer. It’s addressing people when they aren’t following through on their commitments, and recognizing and praising people when they do.

5. Daily success = Long-term success. The way to achieve long-term goals is to achieve everyday goals. Don’t let distractions take you away from your goals.

I was thrilled to lose weight over the holidays. I did it without denying myself the food and treats that make the holidays special. But I also worked a plan each day to make sure that I could achieve my goals while still enjoying crème brûlée for dessert on Christmas Eve. (A family tradition.)

Do you want to be a better leader? Work on it every day. Want your people to be better salespeople? Help them do it every day. Want to increase your customers? Work on it every day.

Remember this: We achieve what we believe, and we demonstrate our beliefs by the actions we take.

So let me ask, are you ready to create and lead the year you want both personally and professionally? What decision and actions will you take to get started?

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Upcoming programs

eFresh! Reenergizing your entrepreneurial spirit, drive, and results. Six week program for owners starts on January 26th. Details here.

From Boss to Next Level Coach and Leader. A four-week program for newer members of management, or managers looking to improve as coaches. Starts January 20th. Details here.

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About Doug Fleener

Doug Fleener, a proven business and customer service experience expert and speaker/consultant, helps companies achieve performance that exceeds customer and employee expectations resulting in more sales, profits, and customers.Learn more about our services at Sixth Star Consulting, or call Doug at 866-535-6331 to discuss how he can help you achieve higher levels of performance and results. Learn about Doug's keynotes and workshops at DougFleener.com.