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SAVVY
SELLING - MARCH
31, 2006
Great
Employees Make a Great Business
By Michelle Nichols
EXECUTIVE
OVERVIEW
To increase sales, you must
first attract, hire and retain
great employees.
Providing service
with a smile never goes out
of style. Here's why it's so
important to hire the best workers
you can find
Which people are more valuable
-- good employees or good customers?
While some might think this
is a rhetorical "chicken-or-egg"
question, it isn't. The answer
is -- envelope please -- good
employees. This may surprise
you, since this column focuses
on how to increase your sales,
but a successful business starts
with good employees who then
attract good customers, not
the other way around.
Employees are like a fulcrum
-- they can have a tremendous
effect on sales and profitability,
both positive and negative.
One good employee can draw in
100 customers. On the flip side,
one bad employee can drive away
100 customers. If that happens,
it can take 10 good employees
to replace or restore all those
lost customers.
GOOD EXAMPLES.
I started thinking about this
question of employees vs. customers
recently after I received terrible
service from a salesperson.
Not only will I not return to
this establishment, I will tell
others about my bad experience,
and they may not buy from the
offending vendor either. That's
an example of how one bad employee
can lose many customers.
However, when I get great selling
service, I return to that outfit
to buy again and again. I also
refer my friends, and they may
buy from this company. That's
the fulcrum effect in action.
In addition, those customers
who are in the store and see
people making purchases are
more likely to feel the momentum
and open their wallets too.
For instance, I do most of
my printing at a particular
local copy shop because of a
great employee there named Steve.
He always greets me with "Hi
Michelle" and a smile.
Then he quickly gets me started
on my project. I know Steve
doesn't give this special treatment
just to me. He treats most customers
that way.
WAITING FOR STEVE.
Steve makes that copy shop feel
like a business version of Cheers,
where "everybody knows
your name." I bet first-time
visitors to the shop notice
that Steve knows almost everyone
else's name. They'll also notice
that customers are anxious for
him to learn their names and
copy preferences too.
I know that Steve makes a personal
difference because when I go
to that copy shop and he's not
there, if I don't need the job
right away I come back another
day when he is there to greet
and help me.
If you hire employees, imagine
how your sales would rocket
if you hired a team of "Steves."
Hiring is a lot like sales --
the same three basic steps to
having more and better customers
apply to getting better employees
too: Attract them to your company,
hire them, and retain them.
Here are some tips to improve
for each phase.
1. Attract good employees.
As businesses are waking up
to the huge impact good employees
can have on the bottom line,
the competition for good employees
is becoming as fierce as it
is for good customers. Just
as you have to market to get
new customers, you also have
to market your organization
as a place where great employees
want to work.
Discover which benefits are
most coveted by the good employees
in your industry and community.
If you can provide some or all
of these, you'll generate a
buzz among the community that
your outfit is a cool place
to work. Good employees may
inquire about openings and might
even leave their names with
your human-resources staff to
be notified when openings do
come up. Your current good employees
may also refer their friends.
who will probably be good employees
too.
2. Hire good employees.
Hiring a good employee
is like closing a sale. Just
as you qualify your customers
throughout the sales process,
you must qualify top employee
candidates throughout the hiring
process. When there's a general
agreement from both sides that
it's a good match, it's time
to pop the question and sign
them up.
3. Retain good employees.
In sales, the profit
on the first sale is usually
smaller than that of repeat
orders. It's the same with hiring
good employees -- if they only
stay a short while, you won't
get a good return on all your
effort and money.
However, for those good employees
who stay with you as they hit
their five-, 10-, and even 20-year
company anniversaries, everyone
wins. As the years accrue, there's
more stability, knowledge, flexibility,
and deeper connection both between
the employee and the company
and the employee and his or
her customers.
In addition, as a team of good
employees bonds, turnover will
reduce because they won't want
to leave. They'll enjoy the
work, camaraderie, and rewards
too much where they are to leave
for greener pastures.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS.
Good employees also
want to work with other good
employees. That's why one bad
apple really can spoil the whole
basket. So if an employee loses
his or her attitude of being
on fire for your customers,
have a heart-to-heart talk right
away. If the situation can't
be turned around, do your sales
team a favor and let the person
go.
I had a sales manager call
me about an employee who didn't
smile or project warmly to his
customers. "Should I lower
my expectations?" he asked
me. The answer, of course is,
"No." To lower your
standards for one is to lower
them for the whole sales team.
Once you hire good employees,
don't stop. To maximize your
sales, continually train them
so they have the sharpest sales
skills and latest industry knowledge.
That's the only way they can
keep offering top-selling service
to your customers.
With the resulting increase
in sales, you may soon need
more employees, and the process
will begin all over again. Happy
hiring -- and selling!
Michelle Nichols is a
professional sales speaker and
consultant based in Reno, Nevada.
She welcomes your questions
and comments. You can visit
her web site at www.savvyselling.com
or contact her at michelle.nichols@savvyselling.com.
Her toll-free number is (877)
352-9684.
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