Wednesday, June 30, 2004
It Pays to be Nice
Last night I was trying to pull together a training book for one of the stores here in Orlando. I really want to knock this one out of the park - for several reasons. Mainly because the sales people in this store ROCK. I spend most of my days driving around to different stores, building relationships, answering questions and dealing with issues. Most of the time it's pleasant, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it makes my day. This store made my day.
I arrived late in the afternoon to do a new hire training. Even though I'll be in that store again Saturday morning (yes, on the Holiday weekend) I still needed some one on one time with this new hire. He has never sold furniture before and NEVER thought about mattresses in any way other than to sleep on.
When I get in the door the sales reps are all grouped around the front desk. The guy assigned to the next "up" starts forward with a smile. I immediately announce "I'm not an UP. Don't count me." I do this so that no one misses a sales opportunity with a real customer. These guys, instead of groaning over another sales rep, start giving me a rough time. I like that! And this isn't even one of my stores - I'm just filling in.
So we stand around making introductions and laughing. I then separate the new hire from the pack and start moving towards the mattress section. As we cover the nominal meet and greet portion several of the "old hands" wander back to listen in. They share some of their success stories and let me know how much they love selling my product. It turned out to be a great session all around and they are all looking forward to Saturday morning.
I get the opportunity to meet the District Manager and we hit it off immediately. What a great guy. He makes sure everyone knows to be in early on Saturday since I'm taking time out of my life to help them sell more. (It's my job, even though it's not my store, it's my job.)
What a delightful change from getting beat up. So now I want to make sure we all have an entertaining and educational time Saturday morning. I'll put a little extra into it. Even though it has no impact on my paycheck, or my job after that meeting, I want to leave them laughing and glad that they knew me.
Isn't it amazing how just being nice to someone makes a difference. If they had been standoffish or rude, I'd still do a good training class - but I sure as hell wouldn't be putting all this extra into it.
Hmmmm...seems to me there's a lesson here. Don't ya think?
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I arrived late in the afternoon to do a new hire training. Even though I'll be in that store again Saturday morning (yes, on the Holiday weekend) I still needed some one on one time with this new hire. He has never sold furniture before and NEVER thought about mattresses in any way other than to sleep on.
When I get in the door the sales reps are all grouped around the front desk. The guy assigned to the next "up" starts forward with a smile. I immediately announce "I'm not an UP. Don't count me." I do this so that no one misses a sales opportunity with a real customer. These guys, instead of groaning over another sales rep, start giving me a rough time. I like that! And this isn't even one of my stores - I'm just filling in.
So we stand around making introductions and laughing. I then separate the new hire from the pack and start moving towards the mattress section. As we cover the nominal meet and greet portion several of the "old hands" wander back to listen in. They share some of their success stories and let me know how much they love selling my product. It turned out to be a great session all around and they are all looking forward to Saturday morning.
I get the opportunity to meet the District Manager and we hit it off immediately. What a great guy. He makes sure everyone knows to be in early on Saturday since I'm taking time out of my life to help them sell more. (It's my job, even though it's not my store, it's my job.)
What a delightful change from getting beat up. So now I want to make sure we all have an entertaining and educational time Saturday morning. I'll put a little extra into it. Even though it has no impact on my paycheck, or my job after that meeting, I want to leave them laughing and glad that they knew me.
Isn't it amazing how just being nice to someone makes a difference. If they had been standoffish or rude, I'd still do a good training class - but I sure as hell wouldn't be putting all this extra into it.
Hmmmm...seems to me there's a lesson here. Don't ya think?
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