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The Recognition Factor
As someone who travels coast to coast every month doing management consulting and sales training and coaching for furniture retailers, I hear a lot about what works and what doesn’t work in the land of sales.
Everyone is looking for ways to improve sales in this time of uncertainty, deflation, increasing competition from diverse channels of distribution, etc. The number one issue I hear from owners is how hard it is to recruit competent sales consultants and keep them. The number one issue I hear from the consultants I coach is how they are not recognized in a way that is relevant to them. Please notice that I didn’t say “not compensated, I said “not recognized.”
Time and time again the issue of recognition is the key factor missing from their daily work lives and is the reason they give for leaving a particular employer- not how much money they are or are not making.. They do not feel appreciated- in ways that are meaningful to them.
Time was when a paycheck and a steady job were all it took for employees to feel satisfied and loyal. Some of us who are a little older still appreciate those basics, but today’s consultants want more than that and leave when they feel those needs are not being met. As a result, the enormous up-front and hidden costs of employee turnover are eating into the profit margins of most of the retailers I know.
I would like to share some of the ideas that owners and consultants have shared with me about what DOES work for them. Keep in mind that some of the ideas I’m about to list might seem trivial or unusual to you, but I’m sharing them because they work.
1. For senior design consultants or consultants that have been with you a long time, a specialized business card with silver/gold lettering stating their specialized status/title within your store.
2. A special luncheon- with the owner and the managers- every month for the top two writers AND the top two/three consultants who’ve shown the most improvement in their average sale from the previous month. This gives new people(not just the top writers) a chance to be seen and heard by management.
3. A special end-of-year dinner at the owner’s home for the top producers.
4. If you have an employee newsletter, recognition every month of the top writers for the previous month and the three “most improved” in average sales.
5. If you have design consultants, bios and pictures of them on your company Web site. An additional feature would be the ability for them to post pictures and stories of their most recent design work-after management review and approval.
6. If you have company-wide intranet and you are the owner, send an email out to all the consultants WHENEVER any consultant makes an exceptional sale. Remember to praise new consultants this way- even if their sale isn’t as large as it might be for a more experienced producer. The question is: “Is it exceptional for them based on their level of experience?” Top writers usually get all the attention, but public recognition by the owner-(not the manager) - for a new consultant goes a very long way in motivating that person and keeping them on board.
7. A personal concierge service for top producers so that they can have someone else take care of their grocery shopping, dry cleaning pick-up, prescription refills, etc. This perk is VERY effective for one retailer I know. In essence, that retailer is saying that he recognizes the value of down-time/free-time that is not cluttered with a repetitive “to-do” list. It’s worth it to him to make sure his top people are rested and happy.
Now, it’s your turn. Please let me hear from you. I value your thoughts on these ideas and please write and tell me what you’ve found to be your most effective and/or innovative method of recognizing your employees that is not related to monetary compensation. We can all benefit from hearing from you as this issue of employee retention is critical to the future of our industry. (to add public comments click on "Add your Comment" below, or to email Leslie directly click here.)
leslie carothers commented:
koh: thank you for pointing out a very salient point re: awareness of local market conditions by remote management. i agree with you. it IS a problem when remote senior managers lose sight of or don't understand the demographic and, more importantly, psychographic shifts in local markets that can mean the difference between success and failure for local management teams and the introductions of new products into those markets. it's very important that recognition strategies are not implemented across the board in a large company, but DO take into account these regional and/or local market differentiation factors.part of feeling recognized, as you're pointing out, is that employees in those markets want to be able to see that off-site senior management teams understand and ARE aware of their local market conditions and recognize/compensate accordingly. thanks for your comment.
Koh K L commented:
Frankly speaking, recognition is intangible. I suppose all people would need this. In today's retail scene, it's more than intangible means to motivate staff to strive and grow the top and bottom lines. In my case, a recent incident shows that no matter how good you have done for the company, if the remote management (especially from the business owner) does not agree with you on local retail scene strategies, you would still not survive in management restructuring even though both intangible and tangible recognitions have been endorsed by the local top management team. At one point, after I have left the company, the strategies that they are implementing for the future were those they have tried and failed before I took over to turnaround their businesses. In my experiences, I think retail strategies are highly localised in context. What have been successful in one country does not mean that it will be successful in another, unless the products are commodity such as electronics, computers, coffee beans and etc. Furniture and bedding are thoroughly different. For my case, what are suitable and sellable in a successful market do not mean that it will be sellable in terms of dimensions, designs, fabric selection and etc. and most important, prices competitions in another market that is dominated by a different group of customers who stay in different types of homes. We must therefore recognised the strategies, efforts and works done by the local team who are close to the market and give them the support from remote management. Alternatively, the remote management team must constantly keep themselves updated on the happenings in their markets of interests. Feel the ground, have a taste of the local market by seeing and not just on hearing...
J.Lawson commented:
Leslie: I do agree that employees liked to be recognized for what they add to each company. It's not always just a raise they want. A lot of times they just want you to realize how hard they are working to make everything successful. Thanks for pointing that out.
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