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While
you want staff who can do the job you're offering and who are interested
in it, the crucial factor in choosing
the right team is personality. You can teach them the job, but you
can't teach them how to be the right person!
Many
retailers are in despair thinking they can no longer find good people
to work in their outlets. They are convinced that the people they
require just do not exist anymore and they lay the blame variously
with education, lack of interest in retailing by young people, and
the existing pay structures. But nothing has really changed. Effective
salespeople do exist as they always have, it's just a matter of recruiting
the right people in the right way. Salespeople are recruited by retailers
for one of three reasons:
- Their
company is expanding and they need salespeople to provide customer
service to an expanding customer base.
- The
company has an incorrect customer-to-staff ratio which is resulting
in a low average sale per customer.
- Someone
has left the business and a vacancy now exists.
Don't automatically
replace someone who has left. The change gives you an opportunity to
review the whole structure of your team. It may be time to rearrange
the team, or their work times and duties, to allow the business to operate
more effectively.
Be Specific
If you
don't already have one for the position, the first task is write a
job description which covers duties and responsibilities. It should
be specific in identifying all the duties you would expect the salesperson
to perform within your business. For example: 'Increase the average
sale to $__by using add-on selling techniques', 'Set out a relay product
category', 'Handle complaints'. With the job description, you can
then draw up a profile of what the successful applicant will be like.
The job specifications will identify where it is essential that the
person is competent and other areas where it is desirable that they
will be. The essential and desirable competencies should be listed
as the following example shows:
Job: Salesperson
Essential
competencies: Well groomed, capable of identifying features and benefits,
able to use effective open conversation, capable of closing a sale,
able to deal with customer complaints. Desirable competencies: Capable
of suggestive selling, able to do relay management, competent in signwriting,
able to build a promotional display.
How To Advertise
Usually
you will recruit through advertisements and the most common vehicles
are: local newspaper or trade press, friends/relatives of existing
team members, word-of-mouth in the local community, and promotion
to school-leavers. Some businesses find recruiting friends and relatives
the most desirable approach as this can quickly build team spirit,
but others are against this as they feel it can cause an increase
in staff pilferage.
Remember,
you are not only advertising for a person, you also have the opportunity
to promote your business to your market. As a guide make sure your
advertisement covers three important areas: details of your business,
details of the job, details of the person you require. By doing this
you are being very specific with your targeting and will reduce the
number of unwanted applicants.
Retailing
is a personality industry. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible,
to improve a personality through training. On the other hand, if the
employee has the personality, it is comparatively easy to train them
in product knowledge. So, your recruitment procedure should be aimed
at selecting people with the right personality for your business.
Consider using such personality checking strategies as:
- A
surprise telephone call (to the candidate) to check their tone of
voice and natural approach on the telephone.
- Passing
a compliment to the candidate in the interview and gauging their
reaction.
- Getting
a fellow team member to show them around the store and report back
on their personality in the more relaxed setting.
To help
you decide whether there is a vacancy, why not seek the views of the
person who is leaving? After all, they know the job better than anyone
else. In an informal interview, ask them.
- Do
we need to recruit, or can we handle the job in some other way?
- Should
we keep the job as it is or can we improve it?
- What
sort of person should we recruit?
- Do
you know anyone for the job?
John
Stanley is an energetic conference speaker and consultant with some
20 years' experience. He is the author of Just About Everything a Retail
Manager Needs to Know, a 'how-to' reference and problem-solver for retailers.
To contact John Stanley or to purchase the book, phone 08 9293 4533,
e-mail jstanley@wantree.com.au
or visit the web site at www.jstanley.com.au
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