For my entire retail career, I have been an advocate for hiring the right people and training them for success. Many years and several jobs ago, I was asked to interview for a District Sales Manager position. It was very exciting to have a new opportunity. I was actually doing many components of the job already as a trainer and on an advisory board as a go-between from retail to Corporate. I had also spent several years as a troubleshooter and was sent to focus stores. The company had fired the District Manager who had posted some terrible losses the past few years. We were losing Managers daily and a change was in order.
On the day of the interview, I felt a calm confidence. My store was posting gains and the focus stores had turned sales around as well. It felt like a natural career path. The first question the group asked me was how I would drive sales as the district needed a big turnaround. This was a great question and I reiterated that my store, as well as, the stores I had in my focus group were posting double-digit gains. I replied that by using a four-point plan I had experienced exceptional results. The plan consisted of:
Hiring the right people with a focus on developing them on the company’s “Get Set To Sell” Managers’ training program.
Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of in store talent. Retrain them as needed as well as performance manage underperforming associates.
Set clear goals with measurable results to increase sales. Set timelines and benchmarks for follow-up and accountability.
Recruit, recruit, and recruit.
This was a proven plan in progress and had produced sales gains. The results of this plan were in the handout in front of each interviewer. The focus was on hiring the right people and developing and promoting in-house talent.
After a long agonizing two weeks, I was back in that same folding chair looking at five people hiding behind file folders and making a point to not look me in the eyes. They said it had been a hard decision but they felt I had not talked strongly about driving sales. It was felt that I had focused on hiring and training too much. Floored doesn’t begin to express how I felt. To me, my whole interview was about how I would drive sales which in fact was happening at that moment in my areas of responsibility.
Surprisingly enough, they gave me more focus stores, a raise and I was a Road Warrior for the next year. While continuing to use my plan I focused on finding good people and giving them the tools to success. Unfortunately, I only had about ten focus stores out of a total of two hundred stores. After about a year I left the company to get my first big box store but that is another story. Within the next year and a half, they closed all two hundred stores from that company which had been around for over a hundred years.
Viewpoint: Sales do not come until you hire good people, train them and retain them. This process has never failed me in my 50 years in retail. I have seen it work time after time in every focus store with which I have been involved. I keep it simple.
Hire good people
Give great customer service
Manage inventory
In the end, it is all about the people you hire, how you train them, and most of all how you treat them.
“Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.”
Larry: Your points are well made and irrefutable. Everyone from those around the board table to the unit managers should understand that. I would add one point that is often overlooked. Those is service should also be considered as being part of the sales effort. Without good service, sales peple can not succeed.
Thank you my friend for your insights and I agree with you 100%
Great share, Larry. It is true that essentially it all comes down to people – either training the right people or finding them – usually both. It is a tough process, but the right team with the right leadership is extremely motivated and dynamic. It is such an empowering feeling for teams to go through a successful transformation and come out the other end with good results.
Thank you Maria. There is nothing more for filling in business and exciting charged Team focused as sharp as a razor
Larry, I don’t know how long ago that happened, but essentially the majority of businesses have not changed their perspective. They still fail to understand that it’s people first and the human element is what propels growth in every area of business, whether it’s Sales or Customer Service. Having the right people and providing the right training and environment where they’re able to flourish is one of the most important steps you can take.
The ultimate results in that company spoke for themselves.
Thank you I am definitely a big advocate for people first. By using that concept it change the whole dynamic of my store in the company had to adjust to what I was doing instead of me adjusting to what they were doing.
When I interview someone, I ask the basic questions to build rapport. But during that conversation, I ask three kinds of questions.
1. Do they understand the basics
2. Do they understand that there are always options and they can determine those options
3. Do they understand and can explain how to connect the big picture to what is being done in the trenches
I don’t ask these questions directly. I just share a few of the typical problems people encounter and dig just a little into their answers.
Thank you Chris those are great questions. I think you could discover a lot with those questions.