By D’Arcy Rahming
Harry Friedman, one of the world’s foremost authorities on retail training, conducted an experiment that made quite an impression on me. He trained some cashiers to always ask for an additional sale when selling an item. They were to keep asking for an additional sale until the person said no.
For example, the customer would buy a shirt and the cashier was supposed to sell him a tie. Then, after that, some tie clips, then some shoes, etc. Then he had some mystery shoppers come in to test the training by always buying as long as the cashier kept asking for the sale.
The results were amazing. Many persons did not ask even once for an additional sale, and if I am remembering correctly, the best guy asked and got about seven additional sales. I guess after that he just gave up, not wanting to press his luck any further.
The point of this story, which I want to reflect on today, is the persons who refused to comply with the training and did not even ask for one sale. I suspect that people like these are one of the primary reasons companies do not want to invest in training.
“The only thing worse than a trained employee who leaves is an untrained employee who stays.” I first heard these words from Harry at a training course many years ago, and have used them as one of my mantras since in trying to develop models of excellence for businesses. I have long stopped hiring people based solely on competence, instead doing so based on competency and attitude.
Training begins with attitude. In my humble opinion there are many persons who are not trainable. Not because they lack intelligence, but simply because they lack the will to put in the effort. Unfortunately, training can be expensive, and the earlier you can weed out the persons who are not going to play along the better for you and your organisation. The question therefore is: Is there any way to test an applicant for attitude before hiring?
I believe one good way is to question a person you are considering hiring about their extra-curricular activities. If you have someone involved in a civic, religious or sporting group, and they played a role in achieving some objective that involved teamwork, chances are you have a winner. Teamwork is a good indication that not only can a person get along with others, but also that they are trainable and will comply with the objectives of the company. That’s why athletes and former athletes always have an edge if I’m doing the hiring.
In my next article I am going to talk more about training and the West Point model of excellence. You don’t want to miss that one.
NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds a Masters of Management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. To receive his marketing newsletter FREE go to http://DArcyRahming.com or contact him directly at darcyrahmingsr@gmail.com
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