Tip #445 - Get It Done While Having Fun
Dear Tip of the Weeker,
There's no denying that much of what we do every day in the store is just plain work. Sweeping the stockroom, unpacking and tagging merchandise, cleaning the windows, managing your staff...
Which is why we love it when "must-do" tasks like staff training get a big injection of FUN.
Here's a great example sent in this week by Caroline Peterson of Plum's Cooking Co. in Sioux Falls, SD...
"When I called a staff meeting to watch the "selling" video from the Retail Mastery System there was some good natured groaning about the 8 AM time slot I had chosen. They showed up in their pajamas with smiles on their faces. (Picture attached). Fun is what we sell!!"
Cool.
Staff training has to get done. It's one of the three basic parts of good employee coaching (1. give continuous training 2. reward good performance 3. hold staff accountable). A pajama party training makes the work FUN, the employees happy, and the store owner more money.
Here are three more ideas to make staff training FUN.
- Turn your product training into a scavenger hunt where teams have to rush around the store gathering products that match a list of specific features and benefits. Give prizes for the winning team.
- Have a Jeopardy-style training game... and you play Alex Trebek. Five categories, five questions for each category. "I'll take 'Dress Code Policies' for $300, Alex!"
- Create your own advanced training course, "Your Store University". Award employees prizes donated by your vendors as they complete each of their "college classes" and finally "graduate". Hold a graduation ceremony and make it a big deal.
There are lots of other ways to make training fun. Use your imagination!
Who knows, you might even come up with a way to make sweeping the stockroom fun...
