{"id":25999,"date":"2024-07-24T08:58:49","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T13:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/?p=25999"},"modified":"2024-07-24T08:58:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T13:58:50","slug":"three-fundamentals-for-engaging-retail-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/2024\/07\/three-fundamentals-for-engaging-retail-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Fundamentals for Engaging Retail Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cHow\u2019d the store visit go?\u201d my CMO asked. I had a story for him.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Twenty years ago, when I worked at a national retailer, we were welcoming and introducing a new CEO to the company. I followed him on a store visit, shooting video and taking notes. We arrived at the top of an escalator where there was a large, skirted table with nothing on it. The CEO turned to the store manager and said, \u201cWhy do you have an empty table here? This is premium floor space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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The manager quickly pulled out the merchandise floor map from the mess of papers he was carrying around and showed the CEO that the plan, from corporate, showed that table in that location with a specific featured product. The manager lamented that those specific items had not yet arrived, but they expected them from the distribution center in the next day or so.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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The CEO was agape. \u201cCan I please suggest that you put something on this table? Now. While you wait for those.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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This anecdote has always stuck with me because it captures a fundamental disconnect that can happen in retail corporate communications.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Getting Communications Right<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Operations, customer experience and profit all converge on the retail sales floor. Selling is the result of a complex mixture of products, branding and interpersonal skills that come down to a store manager\u2019s empowerment and entrepreneurial drive, perfectly balanced and blended with a sophisticated merchandising and marketing strategy for the brand overall.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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That integration of factors, especially in a regional or national operation, requires highly effective leadership and communications throughout the company. In retail, leadership is communications and communications is leadership. They are one-in-the-same.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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The pace is fast. The thinking and the action happens on your feet. And importantly, communications in the store environment is eye-to-eye. A successful communications strategy must have the managers and supervisors at the center of it to reach the associates on the sales floor who will execute the plans. That strategy has to do three critical things well:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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1.<\/strong> Continually Educate Managers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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A strong learning program for managers and supervisors should include both the mindset and skillset required for the business strategy. They don\u2019t just execute communications, they own it, like they own their store P&L.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Sales associates need to be able to react and respond to a limitless range of scenarios and needs from customers, while embodying the brand. Their managers and supervisors are the coaches who will help them develop that talent. The managers set the culture and set performance expectations, and that requires a deliberate effort from the people in the store who lead others to skillfully observe and listen, assess and understand, and then explain and coach.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Equipping managers with easy-to-use teaching tools, like a simple and memorable three-step selling process, gives them the ability to coach in real time and develop their sales teams efficiently. As we all know, the best-designed, easiest tool still requires a competent operator to be fully effective. That\u2019s why the learning program is so critical and why we recommend not just sharing learning materials with managers, but also creating time and space to understand the resources, practice using them and discuss their questions and ideas. And that education has to be sustained and evolved over time to meet the changing needs of the business and customers.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Selling and service skills are critical, and so is the ownership mindset that empowers team members to notice empty merchandise tables and do something about it. That mindset has to be cultivated with both communications campaigns and the in-person communications only managers can provide.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Beyond talent development, any communications about corporate priorities, values, culture campaigns and the brand narrative must be conveyed through the managers and supervisors. They are the biggest and most important communication channel you have, and a failure to invest in them will impact everything else you try to do.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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2. Build Simple, Customizable Routines<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Daily, weekly and monthly routines, like shift huddles and all-team meetings, are how stores work, and managers have to be skilled and well-equipped with information and messaging to put those routines to optimal use.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Talking points, data dashboards and recognition programs are foundational, but too many times the opportunity for creativity and storytelling is missed. Working in retail is fun. Customer interactions are an endless source of stories and anecdotes that are valuable for a sophisticated communications strategy and store managers who need to engage and align their teams. The routines provide a show-and-tell opportunity.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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The information from corporate must be easy to digest and convey, and also easy to customize for the specific store. The format and context must be predictable and consistent, especially so that you can depart from it when needed for maximum impact in unique circumstances. Good routines make exceptions possible and effective, and give a skilled communications team the ability to break through when really needed.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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In addition to the routines in stores, the corporate communications team needs routines of its own, which include regular and varied in-store experiences themselves. Central HQ teams that communicate with distributed workforces always benefit greatly from seeing and experiencing for themselves the lived reality of that workforce. I\u2019m always surprised by how few teams take the time to do this when the advantages to be gained are so obviously great.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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3. Use Systems for Information<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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When the more challenging communications work aimed at engaging and aligning your sales team across and within stores is handled by a skilled manager, that leaves your other channels free for the critical flow of information that people need on the floor to make the business hum. Supply chain and inventory data, product information, financial networks and now AI-generated target offers and customer data can run through your technology systems. The POS, tablets and phones are channels that should be optimized for data and information, and not cluttered with messaging.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Each retailer\u2019s sales strategy is a little different, and these digital channels are vital in different ways, but it\u2019s important to resist the compulsion to put everything through these digital channels just because they directly connect to the sales team members. Channel and content alignment, used strategically, is the best way to maintain the effectiveness of your communications ecosystem over time and across locations.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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A Sales Force in Full Force<\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Applied to a retailer\u2019s specific market environment and brand, the combination of skilled and prepared managers, effective routines and streamlined, focused information systems provides a powerful structure for reaching, engaging and aligning the sales force. The communications strategy is what holds it all together and ultimately makes the sale.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHow\u2019d the store visit go?\u201d my CMO asked. I had a story for him. Twenty years ago, when I worked at a national retailer, we were welcoming and introducing a new CEO to the company. I followed him on a store visit, shooting video and taking notes. We arrived at the top of an escalator […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expertise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}