Education

Holistically Speaking

November 5, 2002 | By: deaneparkes

To me the greatest benefit of being part of the HFI is living the lifestyle. If you work in the health industry and you are not yet living the lifestyle you are missing out big time. Living the lifestyle may take on a variety of forms however the key is to realize the nutritional and fitness choices we make have a positive effect on us physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

The other great benefit is the spirit of our industry. What a wonderful way to give service and make a living. Once you have caught the spirit of our industry I think it would be tough to go back to another type of business.

Recently I have been noticing many new young people coming to our business. I get charged up when I hear the passion and excitement they bring. They are the leaders of the future and the vision they have goes beyond my own business DNA.  With an unlimited future for health products and services ahead of us it is nice to know there are many choosing to build a career.

A common concern many retailer managers have is getting bogged down in the endless stream of questions from their staff. Usually the reason for this is two-fold, one the staff is not trained properly and/or two the manager/owner does not trust anyone but themselves to do anything right.

As far as # 1 training goes I have a solution however I have no solution for # 2 as I am not a psychologist…..from my experience I found hiring people better than me at what I am poor at always looked better on me and the company.

So what to do about training:

First – Buy a clip board.

Second – Create a form. Across the top create columns for – Question, who asked [name], valid, not valid, date.

Third – When staff ask a question, ‘every question’, write down the question, their name and whether it is valid or not. This means should they be asking you? If it is not valid then they have either not been trained properly or need some retraining.

Four – Each week review the questions you have been asked and go over training the person. In a very short time you will uncover where training is required and if you follow this over time you will free up 75% more time, this is the time estimated managers spend answering questions their staff should be trained to do.

How often do the same people ask, where should I put this, should I take the sale signs down, how do I do a return, where does this go, can I go to lunch, should I go on cash, do we sell whatever, can I go to the bathroom, etc. Every question needs to be written!!!!

Five – So the training sinks in use the ‘SHOW ME” method. This is where you show the person how to do a job, then they show you how to do the job [with no help] and then they show someone else how to do the job. This helps it sink in!!

Now you have a better idea of who and what needs to be trained to free you up to focus on creating new customers and satisfying the needs of your current customers.

I think retail management guru Harry Friedman of the Friedman Group [303-278-7403] has the best method to train staff. He points out a key differentiation between a job description and job behavior. [He has great retail courses and his book ‘No Thanks I am Just Looking’ is a classic for retail salespeople].

A job description is the general job duty ie: take out trash, put out stock, serve customers, cash out, open the store, etc..

The job behavior is a point by point how to do the job.

Example: Open the Store:

• Park in the designated area
• Come in no later than specific time
• Specify door to come in
• Turn off the alarm – instructions how to do this
• Turn on lights – say where all switches are
• Turn on computer – explain how to
• Etc, etc until the store is open.

I realize this may sound like a lot to do but think about it, once you have made the list of behaviors you never have to do it again and it becomes your training manual.

Start with a list of all the jobs in the store and make a goal of writing out a complete point by point job description for one job each week. By the end of one year you could have 52 job behaviors done.

To add power to the behaviors have them sign the list once trained and they have shown you how to do the job.

A challenge many retailers will face is how to step back from the day to day burden of running their stores. Retail can burn a person out. By creating a clear job description and job behavior you will begin to free yourself up from having to feel responsible for everything.

The systems you put in place will ensure you can deliver on great service to your community for years to come…..and also have time for other things in your life for if you want to live holistically your job should be in balance with the rest of your life.

Along with Harry Friedman’s book I suggest ‘The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber. An excellent read to help business people understand how to free themselves up from the business running their life.