"Count On It"
Yesterday I talked about the importance of continuing
to HIRE staff through out the holiday season on your
cart - in order to stay in CONTROL.
Today, I am going to touch on a different reason that
you may want to continue to hire. And this reason
DIRECTLY affects the PROFITS you make.
***
My first season running a cart, the folks that supplied
our product gave me the same advice I gave you
yesterday.
'Keep Hiring, throughout the entire holiday season.'
And they went on to tell me that, '...your BEST staff
person is going to leave sometime before the end of
the season - COUNT ON IT.'
Now my best salesperson was a college student named
Emily.
She learned our entire five minute sales script in one
day. On her first day selling, when she got in she grabbed
one of our heat pack products, and literally jumped in
front of me to talk to her first customer!
She was ALWAYS on time. She sold enough to be
'on commission' every day she ever worked with me -
for two years.
And I remember thinking, 'No....not Emily. She wouldn't
leave.' :-)
***
Fast forward to one day about a week before Christmas that
season. The mall was packed, and everyone on the staff was
selling a lot, and earning a lot of commission.
This particular day, Emily worked the morning shift. And I
could tell something was wrong. She just wasn't her normal
self.
It was so unlike her, that I called her later that afternoon,
just to see if everything was alright.
***
As it turned out, here grandmother in Pennsylvania had
just passed away. And her whole family would be driving
out to the funeral in Pennsylvania and she would be gone
the entire week before Christmas.
That whole morning, in addition to dealing with the death
of her grandmother, she was worrying about losing
her Christmas BONUS.
You see, we put a bonus in place for folks that stay through
the entire holiday season, and fulfill their commitment to me.
If you leave early, you don't get the bonus.
And because Emily was such a good salesperson, she had
accumulated quite a sizable bonus.
The first thing I told her was not to worry about her bonus. The
point of it was not to penalize folks for circumstances like she
was facing.
She told me she would be back the week AFTER Christmas, and
would work that entire week.
***
So what does this have to do with continuing to hire.
See, my first holiday season, I got to the beginning of
December and felt that I was 'set' with my staff, and
stopped hiring.
It really wasn't so much of a conscious decision. But I got
busy at the beginning of December, and just didn't call in
to renew my employment ads.
The result was that I didn't have anyone to fill in for Emily
when she had to leave. Because of that, I lost $5000 in sales
without anyone to fill in.
***
You can't foresee ALL the circumstances that will cause
your current staff to leave.
You CAN foresee that some WILL leave due to circumstances.
If you continue to hire, you will be PREPARED if they DO
leave.
Tomorrow, I will talk about continuing to hire can provide
an opportunity to literally put thousands of EXTRA dollars
in sales in your pockets.
Stay Tuned!
Brady Flower
P.S. For more tips on managing your sales staff, check out
the latest copy of Specialty Retail Report. There is a GREAT
article on how to get the most from your PT staff.
You can subscribe to the Specialty Retail Report at the
following link, and you will get latest copy rushed
out to you: http://www.kioskexpert.com/products.htm
