How To Guarantee Your Employees Care More About What You Want

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.- Philippians 2:4     

 A FREQUENT ISSUE I HEAR about from retail managers all over the world is some variation of the following:

“I can’t trust my staff”, or

“You can’t find good employees these days”, or

“If I’m not keeping an eye on my employees like a hawk, they will stop working”, or

“My employees – with very few exceptions are lazy and underperform”.

Feel that you have this issue in your business? Start dealing with it immediately! Motivated and enthusiastic employees are an essential part of a highly profitable retail business. There are a number of factors which affect employee performance such as aptitude and quality of training;  we will cover both each at another time. What I want you to focus on today, is how you think about your employees. Do you think of them solely as people who are paid to do a job or as loved members of your extended family?

You see, one mindset is that of a master and servant relationship. The only possible outcome from this kind of thinking is stress, misery and lack of quality production. The other mindset is to think of yourselves as co-workers with different responsibilities who are working together to achieve a common goal. You know what your goal is. I don’t mean having a successful business. Think deeper. What will having a successful business mean to you? Perhaps it’s all about proving that you are capable of creating a successful business. Perhaps it’s about the money and what you can do with the money. Buying the house you’ve always dreamed of owning, the car, travelling around the world . Maybe it’s about the freedom of not worrying about your bills or having time with your family and money for charity. These are your personal goals. How will you feel? You’ll feel happy, won’t you? Happiness is what ultimately we are all in search of. 

Now, think about your employees. Why do they come to work? What will make them happy? What is it, deep down in their spirit that will fill them with joy? Great employers care about the answers to these questions. They take a sincere interest in their people. Most importantly, they care about helping their people achieve happiness. I have personally witnessed great retail managers who have rearranged rosters to allow for study or family needs. I have seen a manager help with personal budgeting and another handling a landlord dispute for one her team. I have seen managers who are confidants and managers who are great mentors. These caring managers deserve the trust of their teams.

As a result of earning their people’s trust, their teams consistently outperformed. Absenteeism and tardiness became negligible. Employees willingly arrived early, left late, enthusiastically did their very best every single day.

I have also witnessed a manager who didn’t know whether one of his team, who had been with him for over two years, was married. I have seen some managers who only ever left their office to publicly criticize or condemn. Managers who insisted that everyone play by the rules which they themselves ignored. Managers who only ever talked shop. Managers who thought the worst of their staff and got what they expected. Managers who only ever thought about themselves.

If you want your employees to care more about what makes you happy, begin to care far more about what makes them happy. Be sincere. Sometimes, earning trust that was never there or lost, takes a long time. Be patient and be persistent. Tell them that you want to get to know them better. Actively listen to them. Ask them to share with you what makes them happy. Think about and then share with your team how working in your business will help them.

In the final analysis, please understand that your happiness is interdependent with your team’s happiness. If you do not care about their happiness, why should they care about yours?

To your abundant success,

Leon Skaliotis – Founder, Retail Fundamentals.

Empowering retail owners to apply the most effective principles ever discovered and create highly profitable businesses.

Take the next step… If you want to know how to attract more customers to buy from you, get on board my individually tailored success programs. If you want to build a  retail business with more loyal customers, now is the time to build momentum and make this year your best ever. You will be ecstatic at how easy it can be to attract and keep more customers.

Discover quickly and easily how to :

• Attract and Keep More Customers
• Substantially Increase Your Profit
• Increase the Value of Your Business
• Free More of Your Time

To receive your complimentary copy of “Retail Secrets Every Owner Should Know” click on: www.retailfundamentals.com.au

You can contact me direct on (+61) 0425 83 3344  or email me at: leon@retailfundamentals.com.au