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High Performance Retail Culture

Published January 23, 2024 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: business, leadership, management, productivity, workplace-culture

Is your organization struggling to foster a high-performance culture?

Are your employees lacking motivation and failing to meet expectations?

There is a solution to this problem that can transform your ordinary employees into superstars.

The problem lies in the absence of a performance culture within your organization.

Without clear expectations and accountability, employees may feel lost and unmotivated.

This leads to a decline in overall performance and hinders the success of your organization.

However, there is a plausible solution to this problem.

By implementing a performance culture, you can ignite a spark of inspiration within your employees and propel them to excel.

This solution involves clearly communicating the organization’s goals and each individual’s role in achieving those goals.

When employees understand what is expected of them and how their work contributes to the success of the organization, they become more motivated to perform at their best.

Furthermore, continuous feedback plays a crucial role in improving performance.

By regularly providing feedback, both positive and constructive, employees can enhance their skills and address areas of improvement.

This creates a growth-oriented environment where employees are constantly learning and developing.

In addition, recognizing and rewarding high performance is essential in sustaining a performance culture.

Whether it be through bonuses, promotions, or other forms of recognition, acknowledging exceptional performance reinforces the desired behavior and motivates employees to strive for excellence.

Open communication is also pivotal in fostering a performance culture.

When employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns, and leaders are transparent about the organization’s performance and plans, a collaborative and innovative atmosphere is created.

By implementing a performance culture, you can unlock the full potential of your employees and improve the overall performance of your organization.

Motivated and equipped to perform at their best, your employees will become superstars, driving your organization towards success.

All the Success!
DMSRetail
PS. We have a tool to make that “Performance Culture” happen in your organization. It is called “The 33% Increase Formula” and can be found HERE

Motivate Customers and Staff During Holidays

Published December 4, 2023 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Motivate Customers

Music to Your Customers’ Ears

Particularly during busy times, when you see increased customer traffic in the store, you will need to come up with a short and sweet message to give to your staff heading out onto the sales floor every day.

We recommend that, on most days, you provide staff with a ‘line of the day’.

You’ll pick an item, or topic that you want to promote, and you’ll come up with a short line that your staff can use to introduce the subject, or break the ice.

Write this ‘line of the day’ on your communication board in the backroom which, usually, is positioned to ensure all staff see it every time they go out on the sales floor. (This is critical so if it’s not positioned there, move it.)

On days that you don’t have a particular item or topic to promote, you can use some motivational phrases.

This is a perfect opportunity to remind everyone that customers love to hear words that make them feel good…particularly if they are parting with their money.

Here’s a list of phrases that your staff can use throughout their busy days. They’ll sound like music to your customer’s ears.

Pass them on.

Let me help you with that.
I’ll take care of that for you right away.
Consider it done.
We’re always pleased to be of service.
Let us know what we can do to help you.
If you need help, you’ve come to the right place.
We’re at your service.
We’ll make that happen.
We aim to please.
Certainly, we can do that for you.

Hint: Sincerity is everything. Each staff member should say what comes naturally to them.

That’s why we’re sharing examples…to give them ideas that will help them develop their own.

No customer wants to hear words that come across as a recorded message.

Motivation Tips for You

Retailers are crazy busy right now. And that’s exactly how you want it, right?

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy, so we thought we’d share some tips on self motivation to help you through this time of year and, even more importantly, to help you get off to a great start in the new year.

These motivational tips apply regardless of your position or rank; whether you own the business or manage within it.

Here they are…

Beware of Hanging on to Past Failures

To create a better future, you must let go of problems and bad experiences in your past.

Learn from your failures but understand that a few failures do not mean you are doomed to fail forever.

Whatever you do, whatever position you’re in, don’t let past failures be obstacles on the path toward your dreams.

All kinds of circumstances could have contributed to past failures. Perhaps many of them were not of your own making. So, let them go.

Focus on Past Successes

It is extremely important to remember, and focus on, your past successes.

Whether it was a person you developed to become a great leader; or a time when your stores were ranked at the top of the company; or just a really great trend you had going for a while, you have succeeded at something in the past and you need to hang onto those successes as a reminder that you can definitely achieve your goals.

Realize the Possibilities

You must believe, with certainty, that what you want is possible.

Do you want to get the promotion to a higher volume store which will mean more money for you and your family?

Or do you want to be the top regional manager and receive the recognition that comes along with that?

Do you want the store(s) you own to be ‘off the charts’ successful? Whatever dreams you have are within your reach.

You must fully accept that you can create what it is you are dreaming of. This firm belief will help you to realize the dream; make it real.

Dream the Big Dream

For dreams and desires to inspire you to action and great achievements, they need to be big enough to get you really excited about what you have planned for the future.

If the dream is not big enough, you may never find the inspiration you need to change your life.

Powerful dreams can move the soul and drive you to make your dream become a reality.

5. Take Action to Make Change Happen

Change always requires that you take action. You cannot just want something really badly, or hope for something really badly.

You must find out what it will take to get to that next position, or make your store(s) number one, or whatever it is that you want.

No change will ever result from thinking alone.

Thinking positively is certainly a great place to start but, without action, your desires to achieve remarkable results will remain as dreams.

Take Time to Review and Plan

You’ll need to take 30 minutes each night to review your day – what worked, what didn’t, where could your time have been better spent working toward your long term goals – and, also, plan for the next day.

This is one way to control your life and to set you on the right path as you work toward your goals.

Change your Routines Regularly

If you are in a routine that does not propel you in the direction of your goals, you must make a point of changing the routine.

Try adding at least one new step to your daily routine, each day, to start you on a more productive path.

Changing routines regularly will help you avoid monotony, leaving you open to explore new and different routines that support your goals.

Achieving Goals requires Teamwork

You don’t have to go after your dreams and goals alone. Achieving a goal or dream sometimes requires a team effort – a team of like minded people.

When you have team support you will be less likely to feel like giving up when times get tough.

You will easily overcome small setbacks when you have team support and guidance.

Don’t Wait to Get Excited – Start Now

Everything you are dreaming about, and have established goals for, should excite you now. You must imagine that you have already achieved what you want.

Doing so helps you visualize yourself in your new situation. When you visualize the future and living the life you want, you will get even more excited and inspired.

That, in turn, drives you even harder toward your goals.

Raise Your Standards

Creating the life you are dreaming of – personal or professional – requires that you give your very best.

You cannot expect to achieve what you want if you are not giving your very best in everything you do.

This means that you must hold yourself to a much higher standard than you hold anyone else to.

This is not to say that your teammates should not be held to high standards. Of course, they should. But your own standards must be even higher.

Get the Book

Top Performance from Store Managers

Published June 13, 2022 Uncategorized 2 Comments

Airplane and words about Retail District Mgmt.

When all things are equal, people make the big difference

Published March 19, 2022 Uncategorized 1 Comment

Follow Up or Foul Up

Published October 30, 2021 Uncategorized 1 Comment

It takes a lot of effort and energy to follow up on all of the tasks and directives that we, as leaders, assign to our subordinates on a daily basis.

If we fail to follow up, then much of what we expected to be taken care of will not be. We may insist this should not be the case…but it is.

And, there are reasons for this. We can’t just call it human nature and forget about it, or accept it.

Perhaps our subordinates……….Don’t agree with what is being asked of them.

Don’t think it’s very important and will have no impact one way or the other.

Don’t think their boss really cares whether it gets done or not.

See that there are no consequences for not getting it done.

Are too busy completing other, seemingly more important, tasks.

Don’t take directions from the boss seriously.

As a leader, you should give this a few moments thought.

Here are some questions to guide you.

1) Are most of my instructions actually followed?

2) If my instructions are not being followed, why?

3) Do my people take me seriously? Or do they think I’ll change my mind anyway so why bother?

4) Am I often frustrated and angry when I discover that something has not been done?

5) Am I often embarrassed because something important has not been done?

6) Are my instructions being ignored due to lack of respect for me?

7) How much more effective and successful would I be if my subordinates were to do what I ask with little or no follow up?

In our experience, we find that leaders who fail to follow up don’t usually excel in their position. At least, it’s incredibly difficult.

We’ve told you about a study by Bain & Co., which pointed out that while 80% of CEO’s involved in the study declared that their companies provided a superb level of service, only 8% of their customers felt the same.

This is very likely because the CEO’s gave, or approved, directives that were never properly carried out.

And, of course, there was no follow up to ensure the directives had been properly executed.

Too many assumptions were made.

In retail organizations, where you have several levels of individuals issuing directives and assigning tasks which have to filter down through the ranks and into the field to get to the customer facing personnel, you have to have top notch follow up mechanisms in place.

Follow up does not, and should not, equal micro management.

Of course, at times it does become micro management, but that’s only due to the leader’s inability to communicate clearly and put a strong follow up program in place.

It should be noted that follow up will be much more successful if the leader has communicated clearly in the first place.

This means defining the task/directive, conveying the importance of getting it done and, usually, explaining the benefits (or the ‘why’) of completing the task.

Issuing directives that are difficult to understand, or appear to have no benefit to the store or company, will undoubtedly make any follow up process more difficult.

Making sure your directives are executed properly:

First of all, the leader must have made it known that there will, indeed, be follow up in some form or another, and that there will be consequences for lack of execution. It’s called accountability.

This is not something that should have to be verbalized – like some sort of threat – it should be something that is understood; something that has become apparent through the leaders actions in the past.

When a leader finds that there are subordinates who consistently fail to execute properly, then that becomes a performance concern and should be dealt with as such.

And, when a leader finds that there are subordinates who consistently execute properly and do not require follow up because they always get the job done, they should take note and let those people know how their performance is being noticed.

No employee, regardless of performance in other areas, is above following the instructions of his/her superior.

A superstar sales person does not get to ignore directives.

Of course, there should be open communication which allows subordinates to be heard; to present ideas; to push back for certain reasons; to provide the leader with information that he may not have been aware of, but, in general the chain of command exists for good reason.

As seen in many organizations where everyone does whatever they see fit – following some instructions and ignoring others – chaos ensues.

In cases like these, there can be no uniformity, no standard image and, very likely, no serious brand recognition.

Don’t leave anything to chance…follow up.

Until Next Time…All the Success!DMSRetail
PS: Remember to add @dmsretail.com to your Safe Senders list.
PPS: Reply and tell us what you think. We love to get your feedback.

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Press Release

Published October 18, 2021 Uncategorized 1 Comment

In-Person Professional Retail Management Training Resumes in Dubai, UAE

In December 2021, following a 21 month hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic, DMSRetail is set to re-introduce four of its revised and updated professional retail management workshops in Dubai, UAE.

DMSRetail Inc. was founded in 1991 and has supplied professional retail management training programs to the retail sector in the Middle East since 2008.

Many prominent Middle Eastern retailers sent management team members to DMSRetail workshops between 2008 and early 2020, when safety precautions and travel restrictions presented barriers to in-person training.

Now, with Expo 2021 Dubai underway, we’ve seen a lot of interest in our workshops.

Our programs – The Retail Operations Management Workshop – Brand, Category Management & Inventory Control – Loss Prevention & Profit Protection and others – continue to be offered online but do not replace the in-person learning experience.

Matt Parmaks, MSc., EVP said “The online version of the workshops are excellent, and we’ve had a lot of success with them. Of course, the need for training remained and we met that need. We’ve had participants join online from all over the world since mid-2020 when it became clear that face-to-face meetings were not ideal.”

We have chosen to limit class size to 20 people to meet the strictest, safest social distancing guidelines. The venues, also, are following Covid protocols to ensure the safety of their guests.

DMSRetail Inc. has scheduled the following workshops in Dubai, UAE after UAE National Day:

The Retail Operations Management Workshop – December 5-6-7, 2021

Retail Loss Prevention & Profit Protection Workshop – December 8 & 9, 2021

Brand, Category Management & Inventory Control Workshop – December 12-13-14, 2021

Multi-Unit Management & Store Visits for Maximum ROI – December 15 & 16, 2021

For an interview with Mr. Parmaks, or to inquire about anything in this press release, please contact Gwen Mitchell, Client Services: gmitchell@dmsretail.org or Josephine Hill, Events Manager: jhill@retailmanagementworkshop.com

Inventory Management Workshop

Published October 1, 2021 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

In this new Inventory Management Workshop ONLINE, you’ll get the benefit of a comprehensive program which covers all aspects of the Buying, Inventory Control and Category Management functions as well as Online and Digital Marketing, and much more.

We explain all of the steps and processes involved in Inventory Management from A to Z. Practice exercises and quizzes reinforce the content.

(Learn more about your Expert Instructor for the Inventory Management Workshop ONLINE, below.)

Here are the specific areas covered in the workshop:

Sourcing

Sourcing is an important and very time sensitive task in buying management. This module looks at the steps and the process of sourcing as well as the vendor analysis aspect of this work. (Retail Sourcing Primer, Vendor Analysis, Sourcing Challenges, Best Practices)

Negotiation

Once the sourcing is done, the next step is negotiation. In this module, important aspects of building negotiation skills are discussed. Introduction to Negotiation, Negotiation Process, Planning, Targets & Aspirations, Common Mistakes in Negotiations)

Category Design

The crux of category management is category design or, as sometimes called, the category plan. This module covers the steps involved in creating a successful category design. (What is a Category?, Category Definition, Category Roles, Category Assessment)

Pricing

Correct pricing directly improves profitability. Different pricing models and strategies are revealed to improve understanding of this crucial activity. (Factors to Consider, Price Elasticity, General Pricing Approaches, Pricing Strategies)

Assortment Planning

Assortment planning carries a lot of weight in successful inventory management. This module discusses the important aspects and requirements of successful assortment planning. (What is Assortment Planning?, Key Deliverables, Impact on Company Operations, Assortment Planning and Customer Perspective, Key Factors and Assortment Process, Item Selection Considerations, Assortment Decision Making Considerations, Summary)

Allocation Planning

The other side of the coin to assortment planning is allocation planning, making it equally important. This module covers the techniques and considerations required to effectively plan allocation. (Good & Bad Ideas, Rules for Success, Allocation Principles, Key Allocation Capabilities)

Save time and save $46 per person when you register your inventory teams

to attend this workshop together ONLINE.

Register Individuals and Teams Below.

Space Planning

In this module we demonstrate the difference in approaching space planning at Macro and Micro levels to facilitate optimum store layouts. (What is Space Planning?, Rationale and Constraints, Types of Merchandise, Space Planning Considerations, Macro Space Planning, Micro Space Planning)

Implementation Management

Merchandise and Category plans come to life when implemented at store level. The steps and approval process are discussed in detail. (Overview, Approval, Scheduling, Best Practices)

Analytics & Reporting

This module deals with Key Performance Indicators in retail business, discussed within the framework of the “Pillars of Retail”. Other key formulas are also detailed. (Why Measure & 6 Pillars, Product KPI’s, GMROII & GMROF, KPI’s for Reporting/Merchandising, Online KPI’s)

Inventory Control

This module addresses the functions and processes involved in acquiring and controlling inventory. A very important tool used in inventory management is Open-to-Buy, and it is discussed and illustrated in detail. (Inventory Turns, Applied: Gross Margin Return on Inventory Investment, Buyer’s Goals, Merchandise Hierarchy, Merchandise Planning, Forecasting, Open-to-Buy or OTB)

Distribution Strategies

To make assortments and allocations work properly, one must have a clear understanding of how distribution and logistics work. This module explains it all. (Distribution Channels, Function & Role of Distribution Channels, Logistics, Warehousing, Distribution Strategies)

Vendor Management

The crux of category management is category design or, as sometimes called, category plan. This module covers the steps involved in creating a successful category design. (What is Vendor Management?, Benefits, Challenges, Vendor Management Process, Best Practices, Vendor Management vs Vendor Relationship Management)

Internal Communications & Relationships

This module explains internal communications and focuses on the importance of internal communications with colleagues and other interested parties outside the company. (Internal Communications, Common Types of Internal Communications Pieces (aka “Comms”), Business Relationships, Building Quality Relationships)

Cost Management

Before we can manage costs involved in buying, we must understand what kind of costs and expenses we are dealing with. There is plenty of information on those subjects covered in this module. (Components of the Income Statement, Operating Expenses, Operating Statement, Inventory Systems, Purchasing Transactions, Cost of Holding Inventory)

Competitive Strategies

The buying organization has to be perfectly in-line with the company’s go-to-market strategy. This module discusses go-to-market, or competitive strategies, in detail. (Overview, Cost Leadership, Niche or Focus, Differentiation)

Promotions

In addition to promotional choices and sales promotion types, tactics at the category strategic level are also discussed in this module. (Tactical Choices, Sales Promotions, Tactics Examples, Considerations)

Category Marketing Strategies

A critical part of any marketing effort is to be able to define the characteristics of the target market. This module goes into detail on customer profiling. (Who Are My Customers?, Marketing Channels, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategies, Product Type vs Strategy)

Online Marketing Fundamentals

Because there is increasing momentum in online retail, in this module we discuss how to position the company properly online, by utilizing social media effectively. (Why Engage in Online Marketing?, Goal Setting, Who is Your Audience?, Where is Your Audience? Part 1 and Part 2)

Digital Marketing

In this module, the concepts and tools required to do effective Digital Marketing are discussed in detail. The step by step process is also illustrated. (Return on Investment or ROI, Maximizing Your Exposure, Social Media Strategy, Social Media Automation Tools, Putting it All Together)

Operational Policies & Procedures

Provides understanding as to why we need and use policies and procedures in general, and as they relate to the buying function. (General Policies & Procedures, Inventory Management & Procurement – Internal Controls, Physical and Document Controls)

Make room on your calendar….new sessions just scheduled:

Monday, October 18

Wednesday, October 20

Friday, October 22, 2021

Total of 9 Hours – Conveniently separated into 3 sessions.

3 Hours each Day – From 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern

Registration fee covers all 3 sessions.

Presentation and Recordings will be sent to Registrants – attend or not.

Only $495/Person

Save time and save $46/person when you have your

inventory teams attend this workshop together ONLINE.

Team Rate: Only $449/Person

(Edit Qty on Order Page)

Email: solutions @ dmsretail . com

Your Expert Instructor for the Inventory Management Workshop ONLINE:

Matt Parmaks, MSc.

Matt Parmaks has extensive knowledge about the retail industry, gained through formal education, executive level retail work experience and a keen interest in business and world affairs. He has worked at the executive level in Merchandise Management for prominent North American retailers.

Matt received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Engineering from the University of Birmingham in the UK.

Until next time,

All the Success!

PS: If you have questions about the workshop or if you’d like to inquire about exclusive sessions, other time zones and/or larger group rates, please send an email to: solutions @ dmsretail . com . Thank you.

Monday, Monday…Standards, Execution & Benchmarks

Published August 31, 2021 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Monday’s always test us, but it’s much worse when multi-unit Managers miss target due to subpar execution at store level!

Retail Standards, Benchmarks & Execution…Critical!

Don’t you just hate it when you don’t make target? Honestly, no one wants to be the biggest loser of the week.

Sure, we know there are reasons and we search for all of the possible explanations and declare we will do better and make it next week!

And, that’s what is expected because, as multi-unit Managers we are on a never ending quest to achieve target in every store…day after day, week after week, and so on and so on.

So, give it the old Rah! Rah! and go at it again.

Ok, maybe we’re having a little bit of fun…making light of the situation.

But that’s because we know the life of an Operations, Regional, District Manager and all of the other retail management positions that are getting their numbers together, their phone calls made and their charts printed so they can go into their meetings – Zoom or otherwise – and sound like they know what they’re talking about; they’ve identified the issues.

We don’t doubt that the vast majority do, indeed, know what they’re talking about.

On Mondays, they absorb all kinds of new information…plans and challenges for the week ahead are discussed and strategies formulated and off they go.

Mondays are usually very long days.

Most multi-unit Managers – Ops, RMs & DM’s – are happy when Monday is over.

Win or lose last week, another week in retail is already underway and they’re ready for it.

Every single hour of every day we are pushing to make our stores and our people successful.

We try to give them everything they need.

We call and text and visit and generally do whatever we can to motivate and encourage…to coach and guide.

But, at the end of the day, it’s all in the hands of store personnel.

Most significantly, the Store Manager…because the DM cannot be in every store all day every day, nor should there be reason to.

That’s not the job. The idea is to manage through others.

We’re supposed to build strong teams and develop great people and communicate well and generally do everything possible to ensure they execute as expected.

Many RM’s and DM’s can’t be in every store once a week or even once a month.

Imagine the opportunity for negative things to take root when visits are few and far between.

Of course, you might say things like “oh, Store Manager’s don’t need that much attention...they can be trusted…they know what they’re doing…” and, of course, you may very well be right.

But you have to be sure and you have to know the capabilities of each person before treating them like ‘seasoned treasures’ who don’t need you so much anymore.

We know that most Store Managers are great, hard working dedicated professionals but that doesn’t mean they don’t need proper management.

Running a business unit in a far flung geographic location that is seldom visited is tough.

Right from the start, those managers need even more help than managers closer to home.

You can’t just swoop in, give someone the keys and leave for an extended period…hoping for the best.

If you do that, that’s all that will happen – you will continually hope for the best and not necessarily achieve it.

Perhaps, the biggest challenge for multi-unit managers is managing remotely. We address the challenge.

If you want to have better sales results and better Mondays…

You have to put a success formula in place that keeps working even when you’re not there.

Now accepting registrations for the mid-September. Retail Standards, Benchmarks & Execution Seminar ONLINE

Total of 6 Hours conveniently separated into two sessions.

Wednesday, Sept. 15 & Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Eastern each day

Case Study, Exercises, Follow-up Program LIVE & INTERACTIVE – Registration covers both sessions. Full presentation sent to email of every registrant whether you attend or not.

Until Next Time…

PS: For inquiries, contact:

jhill at retailmanagementworkshop . com

PPS: BONUS added for Early Bird Registration: Study Course – 7 Step Process to get Maximum ROI on Store Visits ($147 Value)

Planning on Staying in Business? Stop Cutting!

Published August 24, 2021 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Know How to Interview, Hire and Train

Published August 19, 2021 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
Tags: Hire and Train, Know How to Interview

The Highly Successful Retail Manager (HSRM) knows the ‘cause’** is maximizing revenue and profit and that he must hire people who will further that cause.

The HSRM interviews with the purpose of hiring competent – potentially great – individuals who show indications of being able to move up in the organization.

In retail, a competent associate must have the ability to sell, whether completely developed or not.

The HSRM can spot potential and goes out of his way to hire candidates who have it.

Throughout the recruiting, hiring, on-boarding and training process, the HSRM keeps the Store Management Process in mind.

Before the HSRM even considers starting the interviewing process a Successful Associate Profile is developed based on successful people who are already in the role.

A Successful Associate Profile is not difficult to create.

Developing your own Successful Associate Profile

Make a list of all of the important functions required in the position.
Make a list of the competencies that a candidate would have to have in order to perform those functions.
Make a list of associates who possess these competencies and are very successful in the same position who are already in your organization.
Observe those associates performing each of the functions.
Make a list of the traits and characteristics exhibited by those associates while performing the functions.

Your Successful Associate Profile should not be lengthy; you cannot include so many requirements that you eliminate every candidate.

Choose the most important ones; the ones that contribute to the ‘cause’ and, as mentioned above, the ‘cause’ is to maximize revenue and profit.

**An important note here – revenue and profit obviously cannot be maximized simply by putting a high powered sales associate on the sales floor.

The associate must possess many more skills and qualities than just being able to sell merchandise.

If he does not, return rates will sky rocket and customer retention will suffer leading to the eventual demise of the business.

So, when we say the ‘cause’ is to maximize revenue and profit, it must be understood that a well rounded approach is required.

Contrary to what many believe, HSRM’s say that the very best time to lay out expectations of the position, is during the interview.

It’s true that interviews are for the purpose of determining if a candidate is the right fit for the employer and vice versa.

However, there is a lot to be gained by discussing expectations in the interview, particularly in retail.

There are many preconceived notions out there about what a position in retail involves.

Many retailers do not have high quality individuals working for them and that has to make you question their hiring practices.

But back to the point, the candidate sitting in front of you during the interview may have some incorrect information strictly based on what s/he has experienced in retail stores and may have the idea that a retail job is no big deal.

The HSRM cannot take that chance and that is why it is so important to let the candidate know what the real story is.

The interviewer, or HSRM, does not leave room for misunderstandings when it comes to expectations.

The interview is also a good time to discuss rewards, consequences of poor performance and possible growth opportunities.

That is not to say any promises are made or wage rates are discussed.

This should be a general discussion which is useful in letting the candidate know what you are looking for and what you expect to give in return.

In retail stores, we often encounter employees who, clearly, would rather not be doing the job they were hired for.

It is obvious from their attitude towards customers and in their overall performance.

A major benefit of making expectations – high expectations – clear during the interview is that it allows candidates to think seriously about whether they really do want the position you have available.

If they are just looking for any old job to make a few bucks until something better comes along, then they would quickly realize they are talking to the wrong person.

While HSRM’s make expectations clear during the interview, they cannot dominate the conversation as this would defeat the main purpose of the interview.

The HSRM is skilled at having these conversations in order to get all of the information they want and need from the candidate while making their expectations known at the same time.

For example, an HSRM may ask the candidate ‘what do you believe would be your number one responsibility as a sales associate for x company?’

The candidate will respond and the interviewer will find out if the candidate knows that the number one responsibility will be selling.

If the candidate responds with something other than that, then the interviewer phrases the next question to probe a little deeper into the response.

During this exercise, at some point, the interviewer can make it clear that selling while delivering exemplary customer service is the number one responsibility of the position.

Plenty of time should be spent with this type of question in order to ensure understanding.

The HSRM has developed a level of intuition, or gut feel, to know whether a candidate has potential to do well in the role and to work well with the HSRM.

While intuition cannot be relied upon 100%, it certainly should be taken into consideration.

In fact, HSRM’s say they rely on intuition more often than most Human Resources personnel would recommend.

But, they find they are so often right that they just cannot ignore it.

HSRM’s know that one of the best ways to be successful is to surround themselves with competent people.

They have that in mind when they are interviewing and hiring and they have that in mind when they are training or setting out the training plan for the new hire.

They take training very seriously.

During the training process the HSRM can take advantage of many opportunities to clarify expectations until they are crystal clear to the new hire.

A solid training plan that is workable within time and budget constraints is what the HSRM relies on to ensure new hires are brought on board properly.

Having high expectations of an individual and then failing to provide them with the tools and knowledge they require to do a good job is counter productive.

It will lead to confusion and high employee turnover.

HSRM’s often rely on their more seasoned employees to handle most of the training of new hires. This accomplishes a couple of very positive things.

First, the more seasoned employee is hand picked specifically by the HSRM and there would be a good reason for that.

The HSRM can have confidence that the training will be up to the standard expected.

Second, the seasoned employee would feel rewarded and, therefore, motivated for having attained the status of ‘trainer’ even if unofficially.

It is a pat on the back for the seasoned employee and it also recognizes him within the workplace as the person, chosen by the superior, to perform this important function.

The HSRM does not delegate training without following proper delegation techniques.

There will be check points and follow up conversations to ensure everything is progressing as planned.

The HSRM will take time to discuss the progress of the training with the new hire as well as with the trainer.

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