Sales Strategy

Jimmy DeGroot: Is Negative Nellie Holding Your Business Hostage? May 07, 2025 (0 comments)

Appleton, WI--Too many independent jewelers are allowing their stores to be held hostage by Nellie. She’s constantly bringing everyone down to her world of misery, but she sells a lot Perhaps she’s even the top salesperson. We’ll call her male counterpart Ned.

Yet you continue to let this person “rule the roost” because you fear sales will plummet if he or she leaves and you’re afraid they will cause a scene and create more chaos if you try to address the issue. So you let it go on hoping that someday the issue will miraculously resolve itself and everyone will hold hands and sing Kumbaya. It won’t!

One red flag that there’s a problem is a constant churn of employees. We all know why this is happening and it’s your job to do something about it. After all it is your business. 

Perhaps you think he’s going through stuff at home, and you want to be a good person and help however you can. There are two points to be made: First, it’s his problem, not yours. Second, business is business. This is a place of business and you’re the boss, so you absolutely must have a professional conversation with him. In that conversation you enforce the store culture you strive to create (this should be written in your handbook) and how it is one of your cultural non-negotiables that we come to work with a checked attitude and that we treat our co-workers with respect, dignity and kindness. Then say that if this behavior continues, there will be consequences ultimately leading up to dismissal. Yes, you can fire someone for having a bad attitude if your store has published non-negotiables about professional behavior. If you don’t have this in writing, it’s a great place to start. 

Let’s face it, the chances of someone like that making a 180-degree turnaround in attitude are nil. But the chances of this person slowly destroying your entire business are high.

If you do address this properly, sales will not plummet. In fact, they will rise because your team will be grateful that you have their backs by dismissing Nellie and they can come to work each day with a good attitude. You can still be a good person by offering to help Nellie or Ned in any way you feel appropriate but allowing them to slowly destroy your business is not acceptable. So, removing them from the equation will not only help your business, but it’s often that wakeup call that Ned needs to get himself straightened out.  

The solution is never to allow a negative Ned or Nellie to hold your business hostage. You, as the owner, need to be the hero for the rest of your team to address this issue head on.