Empowered Employees
You strategized. You advertised. You search-engine-optimized. You managed to get a few tire-kickers through your doors, and now they’re mulling about quietly. Now what!?
Give them an experience to remember! So much attention is paid and money spent to get them into your shop, why would you let that sleepy teenage salesclerk be their first in-person interaction? Lackluster employees are cheap, until you consider the opportunity costs of not “wow”ing your customers.
Every person that walks out of your doors without a story to tell is (at least) 3 potential new customers that aren’t warmed up for you! That means reaching out to them down the road is a cold call at best, when they should’ve been hot to trot.
Employees need to be educated, inspired and empowered. After all, what good is a savvy, fired-up clerk if he feels his hands are tied when it comes to offering above-and-beyond service? Running back to the manager to authorize every extra sucks the satisfaction right out of the process. (I should know, I used to be that teenage clerk) Authorize them ahead of time to a set degree, and watch them work their magic on their own!
Famed-for-service retailer Nordstrom is said to have given new hires a one-page, 75-word employee reference manual containing a bit of info about the company, along with the Nordstrom Rules:
Rule #1: Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.
That’s employee empowerment!
