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Dear Friend,
Hey. In my last update, I offered three tips
you could apply to help successfully hire a
staff for your cart or kiosk.
***
If you missed that update, you can read it here:
http://www.kioskexpert.com/three-tips-072207.htm
***
Those three tips could really apply to any hiring
situation. But there was one... "Represent Your
Expectations" that is particularly important for
hiring in a mall cart or kiosk situation.
The reason it can be so important is that there is an
existing perception, held by many people, that a cart
or kiosk job is a 'do-nothing' type job.
They picture a cart employee sitting on a stool, eating
pizza, twirling their hair, talking to their boyfriend
or girlfriend on the telephone.
Unfortunately, that's what a lot of cart's look like when
you walk through the mall.
Now, if you don't do anything to COUNTER this perception
when you open YOUR cart... it'll likely be the expectation of
your employees when they come to work for you, too.
A simple way to counter this perception is to represent
the expectations your have of your employees... right from
the get go... and continue to do it through the entire hiring
process.
For example, when I started my first mall cart, I was selling
a product that required demonstration. My salespeople HAD
TO engage customers and sell our products. Sitting on a stool
simply wasn't an option.
I found I had to represent my expectations clearly starting
in the very first phone telephone conversation I had with
prospective salespeople.
***
Here's how it went... the first thing I did when I got them on
the telephone was to make sure of was they were familiar
with a cart or kiosk.
"Are you familiar with a cart or kiosk?"
If not, I'd explain it like this:
"They are the little booths or stands in the middle of
the aisle in the mall, sometimes they sell jewelry or
t-shirts..."
"Oh... ok."
***
Then I'd jump right in and acknowledge the perception
that many people had of the job on a cart.
"Now, when many people think of working at a mall cart,
they think of someone sitting on a stool, by themselves,
eating pizza, twirling their hair, talking to their
boyfriend (or girlfriend) on the telephone... bored out
of their mind."
"Our cart's not like that."
"We're different."
"We're up actively talking with customers, engaging
them, and actually selling our product."
"Because of that, we also have more people working at
the cart. Usually a minimum of three at all times..."
***
Then I addressed the main reason they were calling,
which was to earn money... and how they would benefit
from the situation...
"Because we're engaging customers, and actually selling
our product, we typically SELL a lot more than an average
cart or kiosk."
"Because we pay a percentage of our sales to our
salespeople, we typically PAY more than an average
retail job. A lot more."
"The average per hour someone earned on our carts last
season was..." and so on.
***
Now I know that didn't weed out everyone interested in a
do-nothing job. But by representing my expectation right
off the bat, I planted the seed of my expectation.
And that expectation got reinforced at every step in the
hiring process... when came in for an interview and saw everyone on
their feet selling to customers... when they found out about the five minute script they
needed to memorize... and so on.
If they weren't interested in actually working, they would
usually weed themselves out. And I ended up with a staff
of salespeople that sold over $100K that holiday season.
***
Now, your situation might be different. Your expectations
might be different.
The point is to let prospective employees know right off
the bat what you DO expect, and what THEY can expect
when working for you...
Represent your expectations right from the beginning
during the hiring process.
You're more likely end up with the staff you desire.
***
Be profitable,
Brady Flower
P.S. For more tips on how to run a successful mall cart or
kiosk, subscribe to the Specialty Retail Report The latest
copy just came off the press and is readyto go out.
You can subscribe at: http://www.kioskexpert.com/srr.htm
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