As the season of gratitude is here, it’s a good time to remind employees that there’s good reason to be grateful for the customers who keep the company that employs them in business.
And as the busy, hectic, stressful holiday shopping season is underway, it’s also the perfect time to remember that those employees respond to gratitude every bit as much as their customers do.
Managers and supervisors who realize that employees are their most-important “customer” will ramp up their efforts this season to let their staffs know how much the company appreciates them, especially during retail’s most-profitable quarter of the year.
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Too many bosses, however, don’t understand that employees are “internal customers” who can choose, at any time, to take their “business” to another company. In short, retaining valuable employees is a job that’s just as important as retaining valuable customers.
In both cases, that job is a sales job.
Employees sell customers on buying a company’s products and services. A manager sells employees on coming to work again tomorrow.
To retain employees, sell them on the benefits and value of their jobs. To keep them cheerful during busy times, sell them on the notion that happy customers are repeat customers. To ensure that they treat customers with respect and gratitude, treat them with respect and gratitude.
The same skills and strategies that managers tell employees to use to move merchandise are the ones that managers can use themselves to retain and motivate those employees. In turn, the employees are likely to pass that gratitude and positivity onto their customers.
Make A Plan
To sell retention, start with a plan. As is true with most things in life, spending some time planning makes this sales job more likely to happen.
Retail supervisors, managers and executives can map out a strategy for using gratitude to retain and motivate employees. Here are a few pieces that might fit into a retail manager’s plan:
Include all employees — not just sales employees. Backroom employees, office staff and administrators all respond to gratitude the same way — positively. The fact is that every job, at least in part, is a sales job.
Train management staff so everyone is on board. This will help create a culture of gratitude.
Solicit input from managers, who will be more likely to show gratitude to their employees if they can do it in a way that’s comfortable for them. One manager might like to walk around the office and deliver a verbal “thank you” to each employee, while another might prefer to drop hand-written thank-you notes on each employee’s desk. Others might feel that catching employees doing something well is the right time to offer thanks, while some are inclined to offer a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone at once during a staff meeting or holiday party.
Plan to encourage employees to do the same for their customers. For example, they could set a goal to make a customer’s day once an hour during their shifts.
Look For Opportunities
Once supervisory staff understands the importance of showing gratitude to hard-working employees, they can look for opportunities to execute the plan. Chances are, they will find those opportunities every day. As managers look for ways to praise and thank employees, they can:
Consider how they already do that. Good managers are free with their gratitude toward the people who work for them. If they already dole out thanks on a regular basis, they can continue that practice and build on it.
Notice when their employees take initiative, go the extra mile, get a shout-out on Yelp from a satisfied customer or outsell the rest of the staff. A sincere “thank you” every time any of that happens tells employees that the boss is paying attention and recognizes their efforts.
Celebrate successes. Work anniversaries, broken sales records and perfect attendance are all great excuses for a manager to offer employees a pat on the back.
Train employees to look for opportunities to show their gratitude to customers. In addition to saying “Thank you” after every sale, for example, customer-facing employees can offer compliments, extra help and suggestions for accessories to complement an outfit.
Establish Trust
Surveys of employees have revealed that many prefer to hear a sincere “thank you” over even a raise or extra time off. The key is that the “thank you” has to be authentic.
A programmed “thank you” or a blanket expression of gratitude won’t have much impact. Employees will trust that their managers are sincere if they:
Make it personal. One-on-one gestures of gratitude are most effective when they come with specific examples of things an employee has done that made the manager appreciate him or her.
Listen carefully. If employees share details of their after-work lives with supervisors, those managers should pay attention. When it comes time for the boss to express some gratitude, he or she can pepper the praise with some personal details. An example: “I can’t tell you how much it meant to me that you were willing to get this rush job done. I know your family has a lake house and that you would have preferred to be there with them over the weekend. I hope you know it didn’t go unnoticed.”
Know the employees well enough to observe when something is off: a bad mood, a sleepy day, a stack of cough drop wrappers on a desk. Tossing a grateful comment to someone who is temporarily troubled can brighten the person’s day.
Convince employees that listening is a sales skill. An older, wrinkle-conscious customer who asks a specialist at a makeup counter for a foundation that will set without powder, for example, will not purchase any cosmetics if the tech applies foundation that requires powder simply because that’s the item she wants to sell.
Follow Up
Gratitude isn’t a one-and-done practice, and it’s not something that managers should reserve for the holiday season.
Instead, express gratitude regularly so employees know they’re appreciated all the time, not just during the time of year when people are “supposed” to be thankful.
Gratefulness has no expiration date. Keep it coming to keep employees coming back. Here are a few ways businesses can keep it going all year round:
Start a program for managers and employees to publicly express their gratitude. Berkeley University for example, has a web site, appreciate.berkeley.edu, where employees can thank a colleague for making their day.
Reserve a few minutes during every staff meeting for a round of “thank yous.” Ask each employee to pick someone in the room to thank for something.
Make the praise public. Bosses can call out employees for whom they are especially grateful during all-staff meetings. Or they can hand out awards or rewards to individuals and teams that deserve special praise.
Thank the managers, too. They appreciate a thumbs-up from their bosses as much as their employees appreciate a personal “thank you” from them.
Remind employees that customers appreciate being remembered. If a regular shares a personal story about her pet, for example, a sales associate can show his appreciation by asking about the pet when the customer returns.
Dr. Cindy McGovern, known as the “First Lady of Sales,” speaks and consults internationally on sales, interpersonal communication and leadership. She is the author of Every Job is a Sales Job: How to Use the Art of Selling to Win at Work. Dr. Cindy is the CEO of Orange Leaf Consulting, a sales management and consulting firm. For more information, please visit, www.drcindy.com and connect with her on Twitter, @1stladyofsales and LinkedIn.
