Research shows that employees engaged in their work are more likely to think they can positively impact the bottom line. They also believe they will reduce costs and improve the quality of products.
Here are five things that managers can do to keep their employees focused and engaged:
Customers deserve the best service.
Make your best employees responsible for making other staff members into stars. Please encourage them to mentor and train other employees into high performers. They often do subtle things to provide customer service without being intrusive. These little things make for outstanding service.
Staff education on new products/services
Employees can still achieve a revenue target even with few customers. They can do this by increasing the average price per customer. Consider which services or products bring you the best return, and train staff to promote them to existing customers. Fast food restaurants have adapted this concept by teaching their staff to sell soft drinks, a product with a high return.
Upsell incentives
Combining the two previous ideas with a plan of incentives will result in a powerful combination. Select a high-return product or service for your business, and then have the most successful staff members teach other salespeople how to sell it. Motivate them by offering an incentive plan. It is essential to be careful, as some customers may prefer something different than upselling. Reward your hair stylist or server for selling the most premium margaritas during a given week.
Follow-up with customers
Ask your employees to come up with an outreach plan. Can they invite older customers back to the store by calling them personally (many of whom are not reachable via social media)? They can offer a personalized, complimentary consultation when business is typically slow. They can create and promote social-media promotion. Maybe they can reach out to a client who has yet to return and find out the reason. They could then offer a special deal.
Encourage teamwork
What would your employees do to improve your business if they were co-owners? What are they noticing in your storefront or other stores that could affect sales? Brainstorm with them about promotions. What would they do to cut costs? Owners should take advantage of employees’ ideas and insights because they are in the trenches with customers.
Slow periods are a standard part of doing business. Transparency can keep employee motivation high during slow times. Share your plans and initiatives to improve the situation with them. Your staff should be taught to accept slow periods and focus on the activities that will help to turn things around. Encourage your team to take advantage of the downtime to assess what they can improve and plan for future business spikes. What processes can be improved? What can they do to improve service and delivery during peak periods? What has worked in the past, and what can they do in the future to enhance? You can keep your team and yourself motivated by focusing on positive activities.
