This document provides guidance to independent retailers on hiring, training, and retaining employees. It discusses attracting candidates, screening applicants, conducting interviews, and onboarding new hires. It emphasizes the importance of ongoing training, engaging employees through meetings, and evaluating performance based on both quantitative metrics and soft skills. Regular communication and showing employees they are valued are cited as important for maintaining a positive workplace culture and reducing turnover.
Yeezy taught me: What the world’s most divisive icon taught me about running ...Moving Targets
Most highly successful people, in life and in business, are extremely confident, entitled, and potentially jerks. There's an extremely thin line between confidence and delusions of grandeur. The reality is if you want that level of success, you may have to flirt with that very same line. Here are a few cogent lessons you can learn from Kanye West for your business. And ladies if you follow these instructions exactly, you might be able to pull you a rapper, a NBA player, man, at least a dude wit' a car.
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Sales is in many ways a mental game instead of a product presentation. My thoughts on how one can view sales in a bit different perspective.
May the Sales Force be with you.
Read more at: http://uncustomeryexperience.com/2014/06/03/whats-your-sales-brain/
If sales are part of your job, you have to ask yourself “Can I be better at this?”. The answer is YES, and the secret to success is in your brain. Studies show each of us have natural skills that we use in our sales conversations, but we may not be using them to our advantage. Find out how you think, what your strengths are, how those hurt and how they can help.
15 Tips for Creating an Incredible Startup PitchExperts Exchange
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Yeezy taught me: What the world’s most divisive icon taught me about running ...Moving Targets
Most highly successful people, in life and in business, are extremely confident, entitled, and potentially jerks. There's an extremely thin line between confidence and delusions of grandeur. The reality is if you want that level of success, you may have to flirt with that very same line. Here are a few cogent lessons you can learn from Kanye West for your business. And ladies if you follow these instructions exactly, you might be able to pull you a rapper, a NBA player, man, at least a dude wit' a car.
The Mental side of Sales - How to become a Sales JediSani Leino
Sales is in many ways a mental game instead of a product presentation. My thoughts on how one can view sales in a bit different perspective.
May the Sales Force be with you.
Read more at: http://uncustomeryexperience.com/2014/06/03/whats-your-sales-brain/
If sales are part of your job, you have to ask yourself “Can I be better at this?”. The answer is YES, and the secret to success is in your brain. Studies show each of us have natural skills that we use in our sales conversations, but we may not be using them to our advantage. Find out how you think, what your strengths are, how those hurt and how they can help.
15 Tips for Creating an Incredible Startup PitchExperts Exchange
Delivery means everything. But in the competitive world of tech startups, your pitch is the difference between getting funded or going home empty-handed. Follow Leslie Bloom's 15 tips to make sure you walk away with the backing you need.
Looking to improve your Email Marketing subject lines? Here are the 16 proven-to-work subject lines that will help in increasing more opens and conversions.
9 ways your auto shop can attract customers on social mediaMoving Targets
Social media for the auto industry changes and evolves daily ─ making it hard to stay current, let alone relevant. Your automotive business deserves an exceptional digital presence. Reach thousands, create fans, captivate your audience, broadcast your brand, engage your community and define your competitive advantage. It's not about how much you're sharing, it's about WHAT you're sharing. Your fans’ expectations are getting higher & higher. And the quality of content your competitors are sharing is getting better & better. Here are 9 ideas of what to share.
The Art and Science of Lead Generation - Ken Krogue & Amanda HolmesInsideSales.com
Featuring Ken Krogue, President, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at InsideSales.com and Amanda Holmes, CEO of The Chet Holmes Institute
Is your marketing being heard through the noise of your competitors? Does your sales team maximize the leads marketing generates? Learn the art and science of lead generation and management strategies that leverage your marketing spend and increase response rates.
After listening to this webinar you will be able to:
Get 9x the response from your marketing spend and Increase Response 342%
Learn 7 proven ways to increase your response rates
Understand 5 reasons your marketing isn't working like it should (and know how to fix it)
Read our top 10 email marketing tips for financial advisors! Learn how to improve your communication and efficiency with both current clients and potential prospects.
For more financial advisor tips, visit: http://access.backporchvista.com/socialmedia
The Marketer's Guide To Customer InterviewsGood Funnel
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Stuck with the usual PowerPoint Slides? Here are 5 Creative Presentation Ideas you can use in Your next business presentation. Brought to you from Presentation-Process.
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In support of this blog post: http://blog.listenloop.com/10-questions-for-your-customers
Your customers are a great source of information. They can help you improve your business and product, gain a better understanding of your market and even bring you referrals. But you're wondering, "what questions to ask in customer feedback session?"
Asking the right questions can be game-changing for your business. Here are 10 game-changing questions you should be asking your customers right now.
Successful selling in a new market or new business is a blend of art and science, creativity and discipline. But no matter what you’re selling, and to whom, a certain foundation of core strategies can get you off on the right track and accelerate your path to customer and revenue growth.
Sales for Startups gives entrepreneurs, business owners and startup leaders a set of fundamental sales tools, processes and best practices to begin selling and producing results fast, with a foundation in place that can facilitate rapid scalability. Whether you’re building a sales effort from scratch or looking to improve an existing team, this book will give you specific new ideas and insights to hit and exceed your number.
Email Marketing: Seven tips for writing (really) effective subject linesClose.io
According to MailChimp, the average open rate for marketing emails is 22%. At Close.io, we know that a good email marketing campaign has open rates up to 50%! If you want numbers like that, then you need to learn to write exceptional subject lines. Here's how.
Executives are the Simon Cowell of the business world: impatient, critical, often caustic. But they're also desperately searching for talent. How do you make the right impression? These 5 tips will get you started
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Is your marketing being heard through the noise of your competitors? Does your sales team maximize the leads marketing generates? Learn the art and science of lead generation and management strategies that leverage your marketing spend and increase response rates.
After listening to this webinar you will be able to:
Get 9x the response from your marketing spend and Increase Response 342%
Learn 7 proven ways to increase your response rates
Understand 5 reasons your marketing isn't working like it should (and know how to fix it)
Read our top 10 email marketing tips for financial advisors! Learn how to improve your communication and efficiency with both current clients and potential prospects.
For more financial advisor tips, visit: http://access.backporchvista.com/socialmedia
The Marketer's Guide To Customer InterviewsGood Funnel
A step-by-step guide on how to doing customer interviews that reveal revenue-boosting insights. This deck is made exclusively for marketers & copywriters.
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Your customers are a great source of information. They can help you improve your business and product, gain a better understanding of your market and even bring you referrals. But you're wondering, "what questions to ask in customer feedback session?"
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Successful selling in a new market or new business is a blend of art and science, creativity and discipline. But no matter what you’re selling, and to whom, a certain foundation of core strategies can get you off on the right track and accelerate your path to customer and revenue growth.
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According to MailChimp, the average open rate for marketing emails is 22%. At Close.io, we know that a good email marketing campaign has open rates up to 50%! If you want numbers like that, then you need to learn to write exceptional subject lines. Here's how.
Executives are the Simon Cowell of the business world: impatient, critical, often caustic. But they're also desperately searching for talent. How do you make the right impression? These 5 tips will get you started
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With practical examples, you'll find out where to focus, what to test and how to avoid common mistakes.
Hiring Insights is a free report for companies interested in the inner-workings of their hiring process as reported by participants themselves. Whether you are looking for opportunities for optimization within your process or measuring the impact of ongoing initiatives, Hiring Insights provides objective metrics that empower decision-making.
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This presentation will provide a number of real-world examples of various incredible programs and their founders who served as the basis for the presenter’s bookset “The New Humanitarians.” Examples and statistical data will then give way to a number of stories about various humanitarian organizations that are as innovative in their approach as they are successful in their outcomes. Inspirational stories as well as practical tools will round out this rich and engaging presentation.
Cloud – der nächste Schritt der Diagnose (German)KPIT
Immer kürzere Modellzykluszeiten mit immer komplexeren Systemen erfordern
innovative
Lösungen sowohl bei der Erstellung der Diagnosesysteme als auch
zur effizienten und zielgerichteten Diagnose in der Werkstatt. Die Cloud bietet
viele Vorteile hinsichtlich eines skalierbaren Systems, einer aktuellen Diagnoseapplikation
ohne komplexen Updateprozess, sowie einer Reduzierung der benötigten
Hardware im Feld. Die in diesem Artikel beschriebene Plattform verbindet eine
Offline-, sowie eine Cloud-basierte Diagnoselösung ohne Bedarf an zusätzlichen
Änderungen am Code der Applikation oder der Daten. Mithilfe unterschiedlicher
Lizenzen können spezifische Anforderungen aus den Bereichen Entwicklung und
Aftersales bis hin zum Endkunden abgedeckt werden.
There are a lot of well-known questions and stereotypes what everybody knows and everybody has an own voice about. Brunettes or blondes? Is money really that important? What about look and appearance? How many of us are up for an adventure as an undercover lover?
Worldpay reveals "why do travelers pay that way?"tnooz
Personalising your online customer experience is key – but are you personalising the payment types you offer?
Booking holiday packages online is fast becoming the norm around the world, but the way people choose to pay for their trip varies greatly.
What are these differences? And what influences them? Is it culture, age, frequency of travel or habit? And why are these considerations important for travel companies?
This free webinar, sponsored by Worldpay, can help you...
Understand the payment preferences of your target market for vacations
Find out how payment preferences and booking behaviour vary depending on country and demographics
Discover insights from Worldpay’s new research covering six countries and 12,000 travellers and learn how to apply the lessons to improve the payment experience on your travel website
Panelists are:
Thomas Helldorff, VP Travel & Airlines, Global eCommerce Worldpay
Sean O'Neill, Moderator & Editor in Chief, Tnooz
Gene Quinn, Producer & CEO, Tnooz
This webinar took place on Thursday, 29th of September 2016.
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If you bring this down to the salesperson’s level, those that tend to succeed are skillful at catching their prospect’s attention. They offer information. They send a ‘thank you’ note. They think ahead. On the flip side, the average low-performing salesperson requests information and time from their prospect (rather than offering it), avoids sending a handwritten thank you note (because that would “take too long”), and thinks on the fly (rather than thinking ahead).
Successful salespeople seek to be different, not just ‘better’. Because being different makes them better (i.e. more successful) in the long run.
We were curious about how our fellow sales pros thought about differentiation at the salesperson’s level, so we asked a few experts this question:
“What is ONE way a salesperson can differentiate him or herself from their competition?”
http://www.salesengine.com/sales/differentiate-yourself-from-the-competition-15-sales-experts-share-how/
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Have you ever felt uneasy or inarticulate when speaking to a prospect? You recognize the moment of truth is upon you . . .
it's time to recruit this fresh prospect -- but how?
What if I can offer you a solution that will help you to attain greatness, to become a success in your prospecting and realize your potential?
With practice this procedure will be easy. For now, abide by these steps to making headway in conversations with prospects.
Entrepreneurs are those whom capable to identify problem and works on a solution for it either on profit or non-profitable basis. Entrepreneurs knew that in order to succeed with their undertaking and continuously be in in the industry they need poses certain essential traits. We researched and summarized five essential traits are often developed or cultivated by entrepreneurs to grow a profitable business.
2. INTRODUCTION
RECRUITING
Attracting the best candidates
Getting to know your candidates
Hiring
BUILDING AND MAINTAINING WORKPLACE CULTURE
Training
Employee engagement
EVALUATION
Salaries and benefits
Promotions
Performance reviews
CONCLUSION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
03
04
11
16
20
2
3. Finding the right employees can make or break an independent retailer.
Good employees drive more sales. They attract more customers. And they
help keep your work environment positive and productive.
Keeping good employees is essential to your success. Studies have found
that on average it takes $3,328 to find, hire, and train a replacement
employee for a $10/hour retail position.1
But keeping retail employees can be a challenge. The median turnover
rates for part-time retail workers is an eye-watering 75 percent, according
to Hay Group, a management consulting firm.2
That means you can expect
to lose three out of four of your part-time employees every year in a typical
retail store.
Even with these challenges, independent retailers have distinct advan-
tages. This white paper explores those advantages and how to use them to
attract and keep the best talent for your store. We will also look at industry
best practices for recruiting the most common retail employees — millen-
nials, the most efficient screening and interviewing techniques, tips on
employee training and engagement, and proven methods for evaluating
employees.
INTRODUCTION
3
4. As an independent retailer, you have something that large retailers don’t:
you can give your employees the opportunity to be an essential part of
your business. You may be surprised how much this matters to people.
While it may be tempting to hire the first person who walks in with a
resume and availability on the days you need them, take the time to
thoughtfully recruit your employees — it will pay off and save you time
in the long run.
RECRUITING
4
5. Attracting the best candidates
To identify the right employees for your store, you first need to think about your customer. What are his or
her shopping preferences? Lots of assistance or more hands-off? What neighborhood do they live in? What
music do they like? How old are they? Do they have kids in tow? What occupies their time outside of their
jobs?
Expertise in your store’s specialty is valuable, but not as valuable as an aptitude for customer service. It
doesn’t help to hire an electronics expert if she’s hopeless with people.
As most stores must manage part-time shifts, they frequently end up hiring younger employees — the
“millennial” generation, born between the early 1980s and early 2000s — whose schedules often fit with a
retailer’s busiest hours. Clothing and specialty retailers in the US especially rely on younger employees, with
shoe store employees being the youngest at a median age of 24.3
In Europe, 15 to 24 year-olds make up 16
percent of total retail employment.4
RECRUITING
“Employees at small retailers have fantastic opportunities to learn and do things that
would take years to work up to at a big retail store — that will attract a lot of good candi-
dates.”
- Karim Kanji,
Retail Business Consultant
former Store Manager and Retail Operations Manager for H&M, G-Star, and Diesel
5
6. Attracting millennials
To find and attract candidates, especially the younger crowd, you should head to where they are: online or
on campus.
• Popular local online classified ads, like Craigslist, Kijiji in North America, or Gumtree in the UK, are free.
You can also use social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
• A sign in the window can be useful, but be cautious about attracting a stream of applicants while you’re
busy in the store.
• College/university career events are great places to showcase your unique qualities and recruit top
talent.
Selling the advantages of an independent store
Compete with bigger retailers by emphasizing the wide range of responsibilities that employees will be
able to take on in your store. Candidates coming from larger organizations will definitely appreciate the
opportunity.
• Cool technology and powerful retail tools are a definite attraction for smart young employees. New
affordable POS systems using iPads and iPhones will garner interest from sharp candidates by keeping
you ahead of the larger retailers often stuck with frustrating, aging systems.
• Creating a social media strategy (and sticking to it!) will do the same. Getting candidates
involved with your store’s Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest pages will let them further
develop these skills.
• Hiring students with several university years still ahead of them is a smart move
as well; career-oriented students love the chance to build up their resumes and
gain a wide range of experiences before they hit the job-market full-time.
RECRUITING 6
7. Finding the right candidates for your store
It all starts with the right job description. Often underestimated by retailers, a good job description weeds
out the candidates you don’t want, and helps you get applications from the ones you do.
• A good example is comedian-turned-streetwear designer and chef-restaurateur Eddie Huang, who
sprinkles his job descriptions with references to hip-hop music, like: “People Who Like Pyrex and Cavalli
Furs”. Huang knows that any candidate who gets the reference will be the right cultural fit for his estab-
lishments.5
• Hot retailer Bonobos’ jobs webpage says, “You’re smart and driven and pretty damn cool. We’re rein-
venting retail. Could this be love?” Candidates already know they’ll be stepping into a different kind of
store — in this case, one that relies heavily on eCommerce — before they’ve even applied.
• Make sure your job description includes:
• Who you are
• What it’s like to work at your company
• Your expectations of employees
• What employees can expect of you
Referrals — are they worth it?
When it comes to referrals, the answer is “it depends.” Referrals are valuable for finding
great managerial talent or potential future managers; they provide more assurance
that the candidate is trustworthy.
On the other hand, for sales associates, you may want to think twice. You
don’t want two best friends to be more engaged with each other
than with the customers.
RECRUITING 7
8. Getting to know your candidates
Screening
Screening applicants is a long and tedious process. You have a stack of resumes to get through, and little
time. But this process is important; careful screening will save you headaches and wasted time later on.
• Focus on the applications showing creativity and attention to detail. These are valuable characteristics
in retail.
• Poor spelling or sloppy presentation? Ditch them.
• Cover letters where candidates focus on the needs of your store demonstrate the right attitude.
• If you’re dealing with an abundance of applications, consider an application form with a few screening
questions, such as those outlined here by HR expert Dr. John Sullivan. Some examples include:
• What job responsibilities do you excel at?
• What do you know about electronics/children’s toys/bikes/etc.?
• What people, team, and leadership skills are your strongest?
• Do you have any supplemental skills, knowledge areas or experiences that we
should know about?
• Always check local regulatory requirements to avoid discriminatory hiring
practices.
RECRUITING 8
9. The interview
After you’ve selected the candidates that you want to interview, you’ll need to meet with them. Most
independent retailers don’t have much time to spare, so skip to the questions that give you a true picture of
the candidate.
For managerial positions, behavioral interview techniques work best. Start questions with, “tell me about a
time…” For example, “tell me about a time when you had to deal with sales associates not showing up for
work.” Or, “tell me about a time you received negative feedback from a customer.”
• Find out who was there, where they were, how they behaved and what was the final result.
• Look for a demonstration of leadership: Ask specific questions about team dynamics. Get examples of
the roles they played within a team.
• These types of questions help get away from rehearsed answers, and give a better sense of how your
candidate handles different situations and personalities. In many cases, someone who shows excellent
judgment may trump someone with more experience.
RECRUITING
“I have a genuine curiosity for what people do and how they do it. When people aren’t
being truthful, probing questions become very difficult to answer.”
— Ade Akin-Aina
HR specialist and former recruiter for Target
9
10. For store associates, store-specific, scenario-based questions work best. These should be sales-focused,
since this will be their primary responsibility.
• Start questions with, “tell me what steps you might take to…” For example, “tell me what steps you
might take to sell a suit to someone who has stated he’ll be attending a wedding.” Or, “our store sells
five different styles of denim. What steps would you take to upsell or cross sell other items in our store?”
• Observe how well they:
• Respond to being given sales targets
• Think through tasks
• Respond truthfully about what they don’t know or understand
• Ask questions. They likely have not heard the term “upsell” before — see if they ask about it.
Hiring
Every employer wants to hire the best candidates. To capture top talent, don’t be shy about selling your
business. Tell them why they will be perfect for the job, and how you see them fitting in. Paint a picture of
their life in your store.
Be careful not to shortcut the process either: resist the urge to hire on the spot and always check references
first.
RECRUITING
“Hire with your customer in mind, and then train people . . . In many cases, a passion for
the product will be more valuable than experience.”
— Ade Akin-Aina
10
11. Now that you have hired great employees, you need to keep them.
You may be surprised to hear that it’s not all about the cash. A recent study
showed 74 percent left their retail jobs “in pursuit of better opportunities,”
while only 44 percent said they left for a better salary.6
Challenging and engaging employees, coupled with good training, helps
you hold onto the good ones.
BUILDING AND
MAINTAINING
WORKPLACE CULTURE
11
12. BUILDING AND MAINTAINING
WORKPLACE CULTURE
Training
A clear training plan is your foundation. Sales associates report two times higher job satisfaction if they can
meet a customer’s needs.7
The right training ensures they can answer all your customers’ questions, and
more.
The right training also helps your staff sell more. A recent study conducted in conjunction with a Wharton
professor found that sales by knowledgeable, engaged store associates brought in 69 percent more money
on average than sales by those who weren’t.8
A clear training plan helps you:
• Set the right foundation for all employees to ensure that they understand your store’s vision and values.
• Establish accountability for employees.
• Ensure proper documentation, so that a store manager or assistant manager can conduct training, if
you can’t.
In a recent analysis of what went wrong at Borders, business analysts discovered the top
store outperformed the worst store by 43 times.
Part of this variation could be explained by labor practices. Stores in which employees
had less training, greater workloads, and higher turnover performed worse.
— Harvard Business Review
12
13. Your training plan should include:
• A clear statement of your core values. Nordstrom’s core value is the basis of their legendary service:
“Use good judgement in all situations.”
• A structure based on the needs and habits of your core customer. For example, if your pet store
provides personalized service, employee training should include instruction on how to access customer
information in your computer or filing systems. Alternatively, if your customers generally prefer to be
left alone while they shop, employee training should teach staff how to serve unobtrusively.
• Training guidelines for the different employee roles in your store, such as new hires, current employees,
managers or associates. Don’t forget about employees who have been with you for a while — they need
regular training too.
Product training
Product training is essential to any retail store. As new products are brought in, staff members need to know
and understand their features, so they can explain the benefits to customers.
The nice thing about product training is that you don’t have to do it all yourself. More often than not,
vendors are happy to come to your store in order to educate your team on their products.
• Schedule product presentations over breakfast, or over drinks or a meal after store closing.
• These are fun for everyone, and usually double-up as team bonding exercises.
BUILDING AND MAINTAINING WORKPLACE CULTURE 13
14. Employee engagement
As a manager you need to communicate regularly with your staff, so that small issues are dealt with before
they become major concerns. To keep employees interested, stay open to feedback — feeling heard and
valued is a key part of employee engagement.
One of the best ways to get employees involved is through regular meetings. Managers should stay in touch
with staff by meeting with them one-on-one and as a group. These discussions should play a big role in your
life as a manager and a leader.
One-on-one meetings
• Check in regularly with each staff member — as sales performance issues arise or just to touch base.
One-on-one meetings should happen every two weeks, or at least once a month.
• Meetings don’t have to be a formal affair in the back office — an informal coffee or quick break works
just as well, if not better.
• Ask what you can do to help them do their job better. Do they need more training on your products?
Where are they experiencing difficulties? Perhaps their talents could be better used in another depart-
ment, such as visual merchandising at the front of the store or reports for the back office? Make this a
two-way conversation.
“The value of the team meeting cannot be overstated. Start every day with a team meet-
ing, even if it’s just two minutes. It keeps your employees engaged, on target, and in touch
with you.”
— Karim Kanji
BUILDING AND MAINTAINING WORKPLACE CULTURE 14
15. Team meetings
• Even if you are a small store with just one or two employees, start the day with a team meeting. It
establishes the day’s objectives, and sets the right tone for the rest of the day.
• Whether your meeting is two minutes or 15, have a clear objective.
• Team meetings are great venues for ongoing training. Use the opportunity to highlight individual and
store goals. Keep it brief: issues you’ve noticed, a new collection coming out, trends, new products or a
new sale.
• This is also your opportunity to get employee feedback. Is there a better way to organize the storage
space? Are certain customers causing problems for staff? Make sure they know that their ideas matter.
• The team meeting is the ideal place to recognize people for outstanding performance, in any area. Em-
ployees that feel valued are more likely to give more, and less likely to look for jobs elsewhere.
• Finally, team meetings let your staff know that, quite simply, you’re there for them.
BUILDING AND MAINTAINING WORKPLACE CULTURE
For more information on how top retailers are enhancing
customer service with engaged sales staff, download the
white paper “8 Secrets to Steal from the World’s Best
Retailers” from www.lightspeedpos.com
15
16. EVALUATION
Managing employees is about managing expectations. You’ll keep your
best staff around for longer if you are clear about what you expect and
regularly let them know how they’re doing.
Hard data is essential to establishing and following-up on expectations —
sales figures don’t lie. On the other hand, retail requires a wide skill set, so
numbers shouldn’t be the only thing you consider. Evaluate soft skills, on
top of data, when assessing your employee’s performance.
16
17. Numbers you should monitor weekly, monthly, and yearly include:
Metrics on individual performance
• Total sales: This is the most important figure and lets you know how well employees are doing on the
sales floor
• Sales per transaction: Shows how well they’re cross-selling/up-selling to customers
• Sales per hour: Indicates how efficient they are with their time
• Presence/absences or tardiness: An important sign of their commitment — high absenteeism in your
store is cause for concern and should be investigated
Storewide metrics
• Employee turnover: For accurate assessments of training costs
• Length of employment period: Knowing the average employee tenure will help you define your HR
strategy
Salaries and benefits
Salaries and benefits should be in line with or higher than industry standards in your region.
You need to be aware of wide variations, however. While most big box retailers start at the minimum wage,
the average employee wage at Costco is US$21 per hour, with 88 percent of employees receiving compa-
ny-sponsored health insurance10
— typically double the national retail average.11
The average cost of labor
was €19,400 per employee in the EU, but wages across the Union vary widely from country to country.
EVALUATION
17
18. When thinking about wages, consider them as part of a larger plan. High wages will attract good candidates,
but other factors are extremely important as well. A survey of over 17,000 employees ranked “fair pay”
as the fourth most important reason for staying at their jobs. The top ranked reason was “exciting work/
challenge”. 12
Rewards and commission-based compensation
Most sales organizations pay their sales force on a commission basis, to incentivize them to sell more.
Commissions allow you to control your labor costs. Employees receive a base salary, and their income
grows depending on how much they sell.
Some retailers prefer not to pay commissions. It’s a lot of work to accurately track sales for every employee
for every hour they work. Retailers that make mistakes here can find themselves caught up in ongoing
employee or legal disputes.13
Store owners should think very carefully about paying commissions on an individual basis. This can create
an environment that is too competitive and negatively affects the employees’ sense of teamwork, lowers
employee engagement, and turns off customers. One option would be to tie commissions to the overall
performance of your store, instead of individual performance.
• In a recent survey of employees on employer review site Glassdoor.com, “America’s worst places to
work for,” seven of the 11 companies listed were retailers. Half of those retailers had sales associates
who complained about commission-based compensation.14
“Like many retailers with unhappy employ-
ees, Books-A-Million [in the number one spot] institutes commission-based pay structures. Perhaps as a
result, high stress and low pay were common complaints,” says the survey.
EVALUATION 18
19. Other possibilities
There are many ways you can make employees feel valued other than cash bonuses.
• Ask your vendors for free products to give to your staff for an exceptional period. This is free advertising
for your vendors and a welcome employee reward.
• A few simple words of praise for outstanding performance at team meetings goes a long way.
Promotions
Promoting a top performer may mean you lose a good salesperson. It also, however, shows other em-
ployees that hard work is rewarded and may encourage them.
Be careful with who you promote. Good salespeople don’t automatically make good managers. Leadership
abilities are incredibly important, as are initiative, good communication skills, and how much pride and
ownership they show in the store. Trust is another major factor. If the promotion means they’ll handle the
keys to your store, be sure that you trust them — a slipup on their part could spell disaster.
EVALUATION 19
“When thinking about promotions, consider leadership and people management skills in
addition to other talents.
Good leaders know how to find other talented individuals and attract them to your orga-
nization. They can make your organization stronger in all aspects.”
— Anne Mezei
HR Executive and Former VP HR at Aldo Group
20. EVALUATION 20
Performance reviews
Regular meetings and good communication throughout the year mean that official performance
reviews should not hold any surprises for your employees.
It is always recommended that you document the review. Address all training points, expectations,
and employee performance comments. This is a great time to think about milestones.
• Were targets met?
• What concrete steps can be taken for future improvement?
21. A high staff turnover rate is challenging — challenging for you, challenging
for your staff, and challenging for your bottom line. While turnover is an
inevitable part of retail, it doesn’t have to be a major burden. Use these
best practices to ensure that you hire the right employees, and keep them
engaged and motivated. Not only will you free up more time for yourself,
you’ll also see bigger profits.
CONCLUSION
21
22. At Lightspeed, we build end-to-end commerce solutions that retailers
can use to build, manage and grow their businesses by creating better
shopping experiences. We do it by unifying point of sale, inventory
management, customer management, and analytics across all channels,
in-store and online.
More than 21,000 businesses use Lightspeed’s tools to sell over
$9 billion a year.
ABOUT LIGHTSPEED
Start your free trial.
Questions? Call us at 1-866-932-1801 or +32 9 221 22 20
22
23. 1. Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn. “There are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees.”
Center for American Progress. Nov. 16, 2012.
2. Krystina Gustafson, “Retail’s Turnover a Plus for Economy but Challenge for Stores,” CNBC. Sep. 23, 2014.
3. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. “Employed persons by detailed industry and age,
2013 annual averages,” on the internet at http://www.bls.gov/cps/industry_age.htm
4. Jonathan Reynolds and Richard Cuthbertson. Retail & Wholesale: Key Sectors For The European
Economy. Institute of Retail Management — Said Business School. University of Oxford: 22.
5. Jasmine Sun. “How to Hire an Awesome Restaurant Staff, by Eddie Huang,” Food & Wine. January 28,
2013.
6. Bob Phibbs. “How to Hire Great Retail Employees.” MasterCard Biz. Sep. 11, 2013.
7. Press Release. “Hay Group study finds employee turnover in Retail industry is slowly increasing.” Hay
Group. May 7, 2012.
8. 2013 Experticity Retail Buying Experience Survey. ReRez Research.
9. Krystina Gustafson, “Retail’s Turnover a Plus for Economy but Challenge for Stores,” CNBC. Sep. 23, 2014
10 Zeynep Ton. “Why “Good Jobs” Are Good for Retailers,” Harvard Business Review. January 2012.
11. Kevin Short. “11 Reasons to Love Costco That Have Nothing To Do With Shopping,” Huffington Post. Nov.
19, 2013.
12. Jonathan Reynolds and Richard Cuthbertson. Retail & Wholesale: Key Sectors For The European
Economy. Institute of Retail Management — Said Business School. University of Oxford: 25.
13. Kira Lerner. “Macy’s Sales Associate Sues Over Commission Pay Policy,” Law360. August 19, 2014.
14. Thomas C. Frohlich and Douglas A. McIntyre. “America’s Worst Companies to Work For,” 24/7 Wall St.
Accessed on Yahoo! Finance. June 23, 2014.
SOURCES 23
24. OTHER RETAIL RESOURCES
The Inventory Guide
Best practices for inventory management. Increase profits, keep the
right goods in stock, and run a better business.
Download the PDF >
Retail Tech Forecast
Find out what technology independent retailres are using in their stores
– and how they’re using it to sell more.
Download the PDF >
The Independent Retailer’s Guide to Buying Inventory
Intuition meets data in this free guide to making the best buying deci-
sions for your business.
Download the PDF >
8 Secrets to Steal from the World’s Most Innovative Retailers
Learn the secrets that are fueling success at some of the world’s top
retailers, and how you can apply them to your store.
Download the PDF >
POS Buyer’s Guide
Shopping for a new POS? Here are 9 questions to ask to be sure you
choose the best one for you and your business.
Download the PDF >