Coach Your Staff with Stories

While consulting with a toy store retailer, I asked a manager what she finds to be the best way to sell to children. She smiled, kneeled on the floor, and then looked up at me. "I come down to the child's level. Never talk down to the child."
     After she and I exchanged more ideas, I asked to speak with a salesperson. The manager walked me to the back of the store and introduced me by saying, "Leandro does a superb job for our little customers." I started off by asking Leandro my same question: "What do you find to be the best way to sell to children?" He looked me in the eye for a few seconds, smiled, crouched down, and then stood back up. He said, "Yes, I'm selling to the child, but the one paying the bill is the adult. When the adult sees me get down to give my full attention to their precious child, they like me, so want me to have the sale."
     The two store staff had different explanations for why crouching down is a good idea when selling to a child. But my guess is that if you decide to follow this advice, you've been more influenced by the story than by the specific explanations. We all love a good story every once in a while.
     Use stories to teach and to motivate your staff. The best stories feature your current employees in starring roles, and the plot line centers on how those employees did a great job.

• Keep your stories short.
• Make the point of each story crystal clear.
• If you do talk about an employee in your stories, ask their permission first.
• Keep the important details the same each time you tell the story.