Teach Newbies How the Store Team Works

How quickly do your new employees learn the ways in which staff in different parts of your store operation work together? Are your sales staff aware of how the store buyers decide which merchandise to purchase? Do the hourly employees know what the store operator expects of the managers?
     Have staff from the different store functions do presentations about the following:

• The tasks they carry out. For instance, "I count the cash that the cashiers turn in and check that against the cashier's tally."
• The ways in which these tasks help the business achieve its objectives. "What I do helps our store get money into the bank so we can buy the merchandise to always be in stock, and what I do helps keep anybody from cheating our business out of money."
• What they like most about their job and what they find most challenging.
• What they've done and are doing to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their job.
• Some specific ways the new employee—in carrying out their job tasks—could help the presenter carry out their job tasks efficiently and effectively. For instance, "There are some really simple things you could do that would help me out a lot. One of those is to write numbers very clearly. Sometimes, I can't tell a 1 from a 7, the way it's written."

     When experienced staff members give this sort of presentation from time to time, it reminds those experienced staff of the importance of assessing and improving their own performance. From the perspective of the new employees, these presentations welcome them into their roles as members of a profit-making team. It also opens up their eyes as to where on the team they might like to move in the future.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers