Retail is retail. It exists when you are there or not. And when you are there, what makes it a better day? Is it a big sale? Is it that everyone actually showed up today? Is it that a customer did not come in and yell at you? Is it that it is not the 64th day of 90 degrees plus weather?
Today it was daughter who reminded me of something incredibly important. Sarah, as I was walking away, shared a quick comment “See you later daddy, have a good day.” I saw her eyes, her face and she was just smiling. This was a wake-up call today about something of great importance. Joy. Let this into your business.
Store managers and leaders will often walk into their store and interact with their team and just not feel like today will be a good one. Maybe you didn’t enough sleep or there was traffic (cuz the president was in town and they shut down every road in town) or the numbers aren’t where they should be. And it is still a brand new day. It has every opportunity of be the best day of your life…if you choose to make it so. I not a tree hugger. I do have a pair of Birkenstocks; although I have not worn them in a while. I am not new age and I might very well sing Kumbaya at the next possible moment. I have recently forgot the power of being given a new day to do something fun and to have joy.
How does a manager make this tactical in any given day? Fair enough, let’s be real. I will not request you to smile more. I will ask you to be, as I have said time and time again, authentic. Be genuine. Be OK having a bad day and then looking at making one person’s day. Be supportive. Lift someone else up. Make their day. John C. Maxwell, amazing author and speaker, asks people to look at engaging people who are “firelighters” in our life. It may seem counter-intuitive since we celebrate “firefighters”. In this concept Maxwell is qualifying anyone who sucks your will to live (my words, by the way, not his) as a firefighter. We need firelighters surrounding us all the time. I have them, do you? Are you someone else’s firelighter? Have you even thought about this before?
“Yeah, Kurt, this is all good and nice, but I have to hit numbers this September and my Q3 is not where I need it to be and you are asking me to joy-ful? They should be selling more and I am not their so-called firelighter. I pay ‘em to hit their numbers, dadnabit.” Stop. Is that what you are thinking? Authors from Dan Pink to Tim Sanders to the Heath Brothers have all in various ways suggested if you elevate the business environment, create a happy work space, you impact productivity. Celebrate people. Give them praise. Tell them how what they do matters and they are a valued member of the team. How about this statement, “I appreciate you and thank you for being part of our team.” When is the last time you said this to Skippy, Todd or Mary? I know I haven’t done this recently. I have let joy be absent in my day. And I can feel it. I am smiling right now thanks to my daughter. I have committed to making joy today in any way possible and see how it can impact what happens.
Life is too short, right?
Think praise. Make a goal today to recognize 10 or more things your team does well or did well. Don’t forget the thank you and the specific behavior associated with the moment.
No matter what, let the customer win. Let them have something or experience something they might even share with someone else.
Tell someone you know you believe in them. And that they are appreciated.
Let error be a possibility for learning and support how another can grow.
Allow someone else to win. Care more about them and let their voice be heard.
Easy? Not always. And yet it is still always a possibility. You choose. You let joy in or not. My core statement in life is “do what you love with a passion for growing others and the reward will follow.” Sarah, thank you. You reminded me I actually have a core statement. Just haven’t lived up to it. How do you define your core, your joy in life? I dare you to bring joy into your business. While I will not ask you to smile more, I bet you will. Betcha…I am.
Cheers