Dave Richardson

Sales Truths: Gossip Can Severely Injure Your Business

Published

10 years ago

March 30, 2011

WHY IT’S TRUE Harmful rumors, whispers and gossip can reduce trust among your employees, adversely affect overall morale and ultimately impact their productivity and your business.

PLAN OF ACTION Set an example and don’t get caught up in it yourself. When staff members are about to spread gossip, tell them “Let me get my pen and paper, I want to make sure I get this right.” Or perhaps say something like “Gee, and they always say such nice things about you.” Address it firmly, frankly and fairly in your store meetings. Gossip and rumors can quickly get out of control. Put the brakes on now, before the real damage spreads to your customers.

[span class=note]This story is from the April 2011 edition of INSTORE[/span]

Wilkerson Testimonials

Downsizing? Wilkerson Is Here to Help

Orin Mazzoni, Jr., the owner of Orin Jewelers in Garden City and Northville, Michigan, decided it was time to downsize. With two locations and an eye on the future, Mazzoni asked Wilkerson to take the lead on closing the Garden City store. Mazzoni met Wilkerson’s Rick Hayes some years back, he says, and once he made up his mind to consolidate, he and Hayes “set up a timeline” for the sale. Despite the pandemic, Mazzoni says the everything went smoothly. “Many days, we had lines of people waiting to get in,” he says, adding that Wilkerson’s professionalism made it all worthwhile. “Whenever you do an event like this, you think, ‘I’ve been doing this my whole life. Do I really need to pay someone to do it for me?’ But then I realized, these guys are the pros and we need to move forward with them.”