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    Employee Management

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    What's the Best Way to Break Employees Bad Customer Service Habits ?

    Q: What's the best way of getting your team out of the habit of saying, ‘Are you finding everything okay? I teach my crew to ask open-ended questions but they always default to, "Are you finding everything okay?"

    A: It's called SalesRX, my online retail sales training program. That said, while I love that you've been training on asking questions, you lost me at, "they default to."

    Their brain, like a computer has gone into sleep mode and that's why it is just functioning in lowest part of the mind, the dinosaur brain, is saying the same thing.

    Check out my primer on retail customer service here

    The learner has not been taught how to stay engaged in their mind. It hasn't tried to say, "Is there a new way we can do this, or a new way we can say that?" 

    Your crew's brains will continue to do that until you get off your butt and train them. Really train them. That's what employee management means - to hold accountable.

    Sorry, but that's really it; it comes down to you. You're settling for bad employee performance, for a bad customer experience, and you're saying that it drives you nuts. I totally get that.

    But only you can change that, right? 

    I can't change that. I mean, I can certainly rant right now and you might already think, "I hate Bob."

    But, at the end of the day, only you can control how you train your employee and hold them accountable. And that's the beauty of retail. You can control it.

    I don't care what Trump's doing. I don't care what's going on in Congress. I don't care about Mueller or sunspots or a million other things. It's your four walls.

    That's all your bank cares about, your four walls. What the hell are you doing with it? How are you enabling people to come back more often? How are they buying more? How are they feeling so good, that they have to tell their friends?

    Those are the three markers. If that happens, you're probably pretty successful and you're watching this because you're like, "Yes, I want to keep doing more of that." Just like when I was training at Alpin Haus yesterday, incredible brand with three RV stores, a boating store, and a ski shop. And they've been around for 55 years. They told me they have seen changes in their rural environment up here in Upstate New York. And they're doing great. They're one of the leaders in the industry. 

    Why is that? Because the owner has a passion to train, has a whole training room, has a whole training schedule to make sure that they are always doing better for their employees, not better for the merchandise, better for the employees.

    Frustrated with bad employee habits, you're known more for your compromises than your successes. Hold yourself accountable to for training so well, your employees can't do it wrong. 

    If you're not willing to do that most basic of employee management jobs, you'll settle for less and less as your competitors up their game and provide an exceptional experience. One without excuses.

    See also, How to Approach A Customer in a Good Way

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