Employee engagement is a critical area that all businesses need to focus on as the benefits of having a group of engaged team members are huge. Research reveals the following powerful statistics.
Highly engaged team members are:
• Twice as likely to remain with your company
• Twice as likely to help a co-worker even if they do not ask for help
• Three times as likely to do something good for the company that was not expected of them
• Five times as likely to recommend a friend or relative to apply for a job at your company
These statistics make it very clear that spending time on improving the engagement of your team is well worth the effort. Who doesn’t want the benefits highlighted above to be taking place every day your team is working together. Imagine the increase in productivity, the increased morale and for retailers, the massive impact positive and motivated team have on customers.
Not only do highly engaged team members stick around longer and help other colleagues they are better salespeople and produce much more income per hour. From my own experiences and the feedback from friends and colleagues, there is a massive opportunity for a large number of sales teams to improve.
Of course, the question is – how do I engage my team so they become more loyal and better at what they do? Here are some thoughts that you can implement quite easily and quickly:
• Spend some time finding out what motivates and de-motivates each team member. Find out more about them and try to match their needs and wants within reason.
• Offer diversity in their job role as well as opportunities. Give them a chance to try other things so they find out what they like and don’t like.
• Develop and communicate a clear vision so the team knows what they are there for. Link this to a social outcome so they also know how they are making a difference and for whom.
• Provide both positive and improvement feedback regularly so they know how they are going. Praise what they are doing well and help them to improve in the areas they need help with.
• Be consistent with the above four steps across the entire team. In my experience, that’s what most team members want, a leader who is consistent so they know where they stand.
There is so much upside of spending the time to implement these steps. I know dealing with team members is time-consuming but if you need them more than they need you (that means you can’t run the business on your own), it’s in your best interest to have them highly engaged and being the best they can be at all times.
Roger Simpson – CEO, The Retail Solution and Author of “The Ultimate Retail Sales Experience” With over 35 years’ industry experience, Roger Simpson is recognized as Australia’s #1 Authority on customer ROI in the retail industry and as a global expert on staff coaching, customer service, and selling skills.
