Sales Strategy
How to Keep Employees Motivated After the Holidays | February 03, 2016 (0 comments)
Miami, FL—At the end of January I start receiving phone calls from some of my Continental Buying Group and Preferred Jewelers International retailers concerning the question above. The questions or concerns have been about employees: “What can we do to keep our employees ‘pumped?’ We see an extraordinary amount of customers leaving the store, and our employees just haven’t been able or motivated to “close the sale.”
Keeping employees motivated after the holidays is vitally important for businesses. Employees need to take time away from their work to rest, recuperate, spend time with family and friends and recharge before heading back to tackle the next professional challenge.
That being said, the issue still remains a challenging task and one that requires various strategies and planning in order to make the transition a smooth one.
Be Prepared. First establish a plan of attack prior to your employees heading off on their holiday break. It is a good idea to write down busy periods in your calendar and align that with when your employees intend to go on vacation, so you are properly staffed. Have strategies in place so that work or work projects like trunk shows, continue to be done by someone else. This way deadlines are met and targets are reached. A meeting prior to the holidays to discuss what projects are in progress and what needs to be maintained in the employee’s absence will also assist in pre planning and arranging for other members of the team to assume the excess workload as a result of holidays.
Touching Base. Organize a meeting with your employees immediately upon his or her return to the workplace to touch base, regather and provide all important information on the status quo of various projects that were ongoing prior to their holiday. Engaging other employees that worked through that same period will be important to help update and prioritize the pressing matters moving forward, and what should be addressed first. Getting the team together in a formal setting to discuss procedure and protocol as well at the imminent task at hand is also a great way to brush off the post-holiday slowness and get people back into a professional mind set.
Set Targets. Obviously all businesses, however large or small, will have “targets” for the quarter and year, and as such your employees will and should have goals and targets. It is always worthwhile at the commencement of the year or after a period away from the desk to set, re-set and reiterate your business goals and how they are to be achieved by your employees for the coming year. Scaling these targets from macro to micro level—such as outlining or installing weekly targets as opposed to monthly or quarterly ones—will assist in re-engaging your employees, helping them focus on shorter term goals and making targets appear achievable and not insurmountable.
Be Flexible. Flexibility is an integral part in multiple facets of running any business or organization. This is particularly important when employees are coming back from an extended period of time away from the store or office. Flexibility with your employees is key to get them back into the swing of things at work. This can really expedite the process of getting your employees back up to full speed with their work.
Make It Enjoyable. I truly believe that if your employees enjoy their workplace, are engaged with co-workers, like what they are doing and have fun doing it, then productivity increases, team morale is boosted and the business outcomes and results are definitely visible. Simple activities such as a lunch time stretch, or a weekend game of touch football or even a team lunch somewhere allows for your employees to interact outside of the office environment and takes their mind off business targets temporarily in a fun capacity. I know for a fact that one of the Centurion retailers, Smyth Jewelers, is constantly interacting and enjoying working and socializing together. They always buy lunch once a week so everyone can sit around a festive lunchroom and just schmooze. It is a way for their employees to bond, talk about their projects and have fun at the same time.
The post-holiday period is often a tricky time to engage and motivate your employees, but through employing some of the above strategies hopefully you will have your business and employees back in full flight and at their peak performance.
Have a great year, everyone!
Thanks for reading, and for more about creating an outstanding store environment to get employees pumped and give customers a top-notch shopping experience, see the companion video for this article here.
--Andie
Andie Weinman, president and CEO of Preferred Jewelers International / Continental Buying Group Inc., was born with the “Jewelry Gene” working in the jewelry industry since she was only ten years old. Her first job was as a cashier in the opening of a catalog showroom doing a fantastic job even at that tender age. Andie holds a B.A. in musical theatre and a B.S. in marine biology from The University of Tampa. When she realized that seawater and marine biology were not good on her hair and she wasn’t quite good enough to make it on Broadway, the jewelry business beckoned. Andie has picked diamonds, sorted color stones, shot waxes and performed a multitude of jobs in the manufacturing of jewelry. Her negotiating experience and prowess has given her the reputation as being tough but fair in her dealings with vendors. In 2012 the Indian Diamond and Color Association awarded Andie the Prestigious Doyenne Award of the Year.