How can I find millennials who will take the job seriously?
It is possible to shape millennial hires into serious salespeople, but, as Joshua Pruschen, manager of Maxon Fine Jewelry in Springfield, MO, notes, you’ve got to take hiring seriously yourself, first. That means no shortcuts made to quickly fill a staff gap. Figure out who the job candidate is before he or she shows up for the first interview. Before the interview, ask each candidate to take a personality and skills assessment; then, interview them two or three times. Make sure they’re interested in and capable of committing to a career.
An employee keeps telling me she is frustrated with different aspects of her sales job. How do I respond?
Start with her. Ask her what she thinks the answer is. If that doesn’t yield anything helpful or realistic, ask her to come up with three lists made up of:
The good stuff. The part of the job that makes her feel worthy, satisfied or accomplished.
The everyday parts of the job — those things that don’t suck and are part of pulling a pay check.
The “Ugh, I hate this!” stuff that is frustrating her. Put these into three buckets and then find ways, together, to spend 10 percent less time on the “ugh” stuff in Bucket C and increase by 10 percent time spent on the engaging activities in Bucket A. Of course, sometimes she’s just going to have to suck it up and do the ugh jobs but at least you’ve gone the extra yard. The point of this exercise isn’t to pander to your staff. People do better jobs when they’re doing what energizes them. And you may be surprised what excites an individual: some people get a kick out of filling in spreadsheets. Others enjoy the challenge of a cold call.
I have a small store. What’s the protocol when you’re busy and the phone rings? Answer the call and put it on hold, or let it go to voicemail?
This is really about personal preference. But Pauline Blachford of Pauline Blachford Consulting prefers the latter for two reasons: the customer you are serving at the time the phone rings (or even the job you are working on at the bench) deserves your undivided attention. And often, the caller who just has a “quick” question usually takes time. This can be frustrating for both you and the customer in the store. “This also breaks the train of thought of the service provider and causes a disconnect between the two,” she adds.
However, Blachford says that if you do choose to always pick up and put the caller on hold, then be sure to ask their permission to be put on hold. When it comes to voicemail, the greatest fear for incoming callers is that they never know when their call will be returned. For this reason, Blachford recommends the recording say something like: “Thank you for calling ABC Jewelers. We are presently taking care of another client. Your call is important to us. Please leave your name and number, and we will get back to you within the hour.” In committing to the hour, it sets the precedent that every team member knows that accessing those messages and responding ASAP is the top priority. Lastly, she offers this bit of advice: “The phone should always be answered by the third ring whether picked up in person or the answering service.”
The banker who has always handled our account and knows our business is moving to a larger lender. Should we follow him or stay with our existing bank?
It’s never just about the bank or just about the banker. Smaller banks are usually set up to allow you to develop more personal relationships with their officers, while a larger bank will have a wider range of products, be more secure (in theory) and will be able to offer nationwide or even international services should you need them. The most important thing is that your banker has influence within his or her institution. He or she needs to be able to get things done, either through his professional credibility, knowledge or connections. Talk to the banker. Ask him if he feels his new bank will be the right fit for you.
Is it absolutely necessary to reconcile our books to the last penny?
There are some areas where you can disregard small discrepancies, but when it comes to reconciling the bank account to the general ledger, you need to be “bang on all the time,” says David Brown of the Edge Retail Academy. It primarily has to do with security: a common embezzlement technique is to skim small, seemingly random amounts of cash from revenue. Over the years, these mysterious discrepancies can add up to tens of thousands of dollars. Keeping everything in order shouldn’t be that hard if you’ve computerized your accounting and your checking account reconciliation.