Compensate for Discounts Dispiriting FLEs

Deep price discounts motivate shoppers to buy. But those same deep discounts, if used frequently by a store, demotivate the people who are making those sales. That is, unless management takes corrective action. The reason the frontline employees become dispirited, according to studies at Germany’s WHU, is that these people perceive frequent or deeply-discounted pricing as discounting the value of their work. There is then a tendency to pull back on the quality of their efforts to match what they perceive others as thinking their work is worth.
     Add to this how deep price discounts bring into a store increased numbers of shoppers who are highly price-sensitive. These people feel little reason to form with store staff relationships which enrich the job of selling. Keeping an eye on price, they’ll give their business to another store next time if it has a better discount. Or if they do return because they decide the store often has the best prices, they could join the salespeople themselves in deciding that deep discounts indicate weak frontline service. Consumers who are at a store primarily for a deep discount become more likely to treat employees shabbily.
     The suggested corrective actions consist of supervisors continually acknowledging the importance of their frontline employees’ conscientiousness and providing them ample opportunities to demonstrate their value. As part of this, the WHU researchers recommend that you inform employees about planned price promotions, explain the objectives, and encourage dialogue about how to improve future price promotion campaigns.
     You also could adapt for this purpose techniques found by researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and University of Hong Kong to be effective in curbing job burnout: 

• Encourage feedback from customers. Use a positive frame like, “In what ways might we do even better?” rather than a negative frame like, “What do you dislike about our store?” 
• Remind staff of the importance of the work they do. 
• Rearrange job duties so people have new responsibilities. 
• To the degree that you can, allow each staff member to serve the shopper throughout the purchase process. Empower employees to handle customer complaints.

     The last of these four has special importance. Studies at Ireland’s Waterford Institute of Technology find that a promise of on-the-job autonomy attracts new employees who will excel in customer-facing tasks. Having made that promise, you don’t want to risk losing their contribution to your profitability by allowing the corrosive impacts of price promotions.

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Sharpen Your Price Image 

Discern Differences Deep Discounts Make 

Burn Out Resignation of Skilled Staff 

Promise Autonomy to Promising Front-Liners