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Dear Friend,
One of the biggest challenges in operating a successful
cart or kiosk business can be hiring and training your
sales staff.
Your employees represent you at the mall when you're
not there. They talk to customers and sell your product.
Your business typically runs as only well as the people you
have working at it.
To have a successful and profitable cart or kiosk, it's
critical that you have capable people working with you.
***
At the SPREE show for carts and kiosks that was held
during June in San Jose, Linda Johansen, President of
American Kiosk Management spoke on the topic of finding
and training employees.
American Kiosk Management operates 300+ ProActiv carts
in malls, and recently introduced the Sheer Cover mineral
make-up concept.
The seminar session was full of helpful suggestions taken from Linda's experience operating the company.
Here are three key tips she offered, that if put into practice, have the potential to make the hiring and training of your staff easier and more successful:
Tip #1) "Always be Hiring"
Linda suggested to ALWAYS be on the lookout for potential
staffers. Your next top employee could pop up anywhere if
you keep your eyes and ears open.
They might be a friendly cashier at the grocery store down
the street. Or a waiter or waitress at your neighborhood restaurant.
Who knows?
When you run across someone who offers YOU great service,
it can pay to let them know you are looking to hire good
people for your business.
Give them your card and let them know you'd be interested
in talking with them or someone they know who is looking
for a position.
Good people tend to run in packs. Even if THAT person isn't
interested, they may know someone else who is good and who
is looking for a job that they can refer to you.
It costs you very little to reach out in these situations.
At worst, you've paid someone a great compliment about their
performance. At best, you end up with top quality staffer.
***
Tip #2) "Represent Your Expectations"
One of the challenges Linda says she battles is the attitude
from employees, "It's only a cart..." implying that because
they're working at a cart, it's not a 'real' job.
Of course, it's 'only' a cart. But it's one that is in the
middle of the mall, in a location that EVERYONE passes by.
If you don't treat your positions like real jobs, it's
unlikely that your employees will.
Linda suggested one of the ways to improve the quality of
employees you hire is to represent in YOURSELF what you
are looking for in an employee during the hiring process.
For example, one way they represent that every hire is
important is by interviewing each prospective employee
THREE times before they are ever hired.
That sends a clear message to prospective employees that
they are not hiring just 'another cart employee', but are
adding someone who is important to their team and their business.
That representation has paid off. Their average employee
stays with them over a year.
***
Tip #3) "Hire Attitude, Train Skill"
Linda explained that she can train employees on the
technical aspects of the job. But it's more difficult
to train attitude.
Your best success can be to hire employees that have
a great attitude, and train them in the technical aspects
of selling.
For example, she has found a 'bubbly personality' to
be a trait found in many of her best salespeople.
It's difficult to train someone to have a 'bubbly
personality.' Usually you've either got it or you
don't. It's easier to train someone to sell.
So look for people with a great attitude. Then train
them in the particular skill required for them to succeed
at your cart.
***
These three tips don't guarantee that you'll end up with
a top quality staff. But if you follow them, it's more
likely that you'll end up with a high quality staff.
The ultimate payoff for you is a bigger, better staff
that sells more, and makes more money for you.
Best,
Brady
Flower
P.S. There are still some copies left of the 2006
Retail Resource Guide. However the guide is not
being published anymore. Once these copies are gone,
they are gone for good.
Again the price per copy is only $59.00 plus $5
shipping... a $120 savings off the original price
of $179.
Click here to get your copy:
http://www.kioskexpert.com/2006rrg.htm |
