Sales Strategy
Staff Negativity Can Impact Sales | February 14, 2018 (1 comment)
Miami, FL—New year, new you! I hope you’ve started fresh and excited about the upcoming year, but if there is negativity in your workplace it can greatly impact sales.
Even if you think customers don’t know the difference, believe me, they do! It reflects in the staff mood which in turn impacts the atmosphere of your store. You want your store to have a happy and inviting vibe that makes shoppers want to stay and buy. So if there is negativity behind the scenes, how are you going to handle the situation before it gets out of hand?
Hopefully retailers are having morning meetings which can help all employees to cope, communicate, and play well together. Happy home, happy boss, happy work environment: we all strive for the balance!
Still, in every workplace there are difficult people. These can be coworkers, bosses, customers, clients, or even friends. Dealing with difficult people is an art: challenging, yet it can be very rewarding.
I recently read an article titled 10 Tips for Dealing With Difficult People At Work, and I was very inspired by the advice. Here’s my take on it:
You can improve the work environment and morale a great deal when you increase your ability to help and inspire people at work. You will make your workplace a better environment for all employees and customers, especially when you address the problems that a difficult coworker is causing for the team.
In retail, we meet all kinds of difficult people. But how difficult a person is for you to deal with also depends a lot on you: your self-esteem, your self-confidence, and how closely you must work with that person every day. They call this “Professional Courage.”
Dealing with difficult people is easier when they are just generally obnoxious or when you’re not the only one affected in the workplace. When there is more than one complaint, not just a personal situation, together you can inform management or the owner to get help in addressing the employee’s behavior before it spirals into a full-blown negative situation.
There is an old saying I am sure we have all heard, “You can’t pick your family.” Much like a dysfunctional family, the workplace can be a feeding ground for chaos. Most of us have about as much control over who our coworkers are as we have over choosing siblings, and some coworkers are just toxic.
Toxic individuals strain work relationships and hinder job performance. They are usually highly self-centered, and likely to make everything a “he said, she said” situation, so when dealing with this type of individual, always have a third party to participate and document your meetings. This is the best way to shield yourself from that kind of drama.
Do not take their behavior personally. Toxic individuals rarely take responsibility for their actions; instead they blame others for the circumstances. They will always have negative comments such as, “my loner coworker refuses to work with the team because I have done something to upset her and so she refuses to work with us.” The best way to deal with this is to hold them responsible for their own actions. Do not justify their behavior and especially don’t take personal responsibility for their behavior.
It is important to set boundaries. Define what is acceptable behavior and what is not. A toxic coworker may be late in getting his or her task completed, and that makes responsible employees nervous. (I get it!) So, they pitch in to help or their work may have a lot of mistakes, which makes everyone look bad. There is always one person, usually a team leader, who will spend time correcting all the mistakes for the sake of the team.
At some point the individuals picking up the slack have to decide how much extra work are they willing to take on. This is where the team must set boundaries and communicate these boundaries and state what actions or tasks they are willing to do and what they are not willing to do.
This will prevent burnout from the rest of your team who are already doing their fair share of the work. This will also help alleviate resentment, and force the toxic or negative individual to change their behavior—or risk being outed for their poor performance.
Focusing on the negative aspects of a toxic coworker’s behavior when confronting them is unlikely to result in change, and usually will only increase tension. As owner-operators who may have this type of employee, try to help by advising a more positive alternative to their behavior.
Here is a line I have used before that may help you, “I appreciate that you gave me all the reasons why this prospect or promotion will not work, but now let’s try finding five positive reasons why it will work.”
Negativity is toxic to your workplace, so here’s to clearing it out and having your most positive year yet! --Andie
Andie Weinman, president and CEO of Preferred Jewelers International / Continental Buying Group Inc., has worked in the jewelry industry since age 10. Though she holds a B.A. in musical theatre and a B.S. in marine biology from The University of Tampa, the jewelry business beckoned and she has performed a multitude of jobs in the manufacturing of jewelry. As a negotiator, she has earned a reputation as being tough but fair with vendors. In 2012 the Indian Diamond and Color Association awarded Andie the Prestigious Doyenne Award of the Year.