Well, most of the Sales Associates are striving for "parity"...

Well how does that change? Boomer Esiason was at Sears in September speaking about leadership and he talked about fighting tooth and nail to win. I really like that!

fighting tooth and nail is an act of despiration

AdamO said…

Well, most of the Sales Associates are striving for "parity"...

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party time?

is that mr bean in your picture? and you cant make people care, you should just hire people who do....

If there was ONE front to fight on - that would be fantastic.

With all of the metrics being tallied daily, parity is a lofty enough goal...

yea, you have to multi-task but in general you have to have a positive mindset.

:)

I agree AdamO. We must be very determined to focus on a positive mindset, multitask, and product knowledge to be successful in this business. Customers come to us because they want the opportunity to spend their money. Most times there are products that are easily accessible, fully stocked, and priced correctly that may not require as much of our attention to sell.

But what defines us and sets us apart is our ability to handle customers that are interested in non common items, where they are located, or any out of stocks. How do we help them? Do we look for comparable items to suggest in the same price range, refer them to our website for online purchases, or issue rainchecks? That's where  we earn our paycheck right there by going the extra mile to ensure that we have another happy and fully satisfied customer.

Well said HaSalesKing! it's all about going outside our 4 walls to serve customers. :)

Victory is NOT an expectation.

It is the result of hard work, and not giving up, as well as knowing when to surrender.

Dying in vain is no sacrifice at all.  Nor is there honor in it.

What school did you go to?

You have soft hands, with no scars, don't you?

you know i think just aobut every "victory" ive ever had was the result of the fact that somewhere in the back of my mind im always thinking about every possible thing that can go wrong and ways to over come them.

forget who said it but i recall reading a quote "hope for the best but prepare for the worst" always seemed like pretty good words to live by

Sounds like that saying knew about Murphy's Law...

maybe it was murphys quote

"Hope is nature's veil for hiding truth's nakedness."

-Alfred Nobel

I think the former is a USMC mantra...

thought theirs was pray for peace but prepare for war

tho they are pretty similar sayings

Agreed that victory is not an expectation. "expect victory" is a mindset and like you said the result of hard work. It started for me when I did chores around the house when I was a kid, working in factories during summers in high school, and working hard academically to earn scholarship money. Experience is a hard teacher and all of us have scar tissue from that. :)

Good.

My genuine hope is that you remember how you came up, and appreciate where you are.

Trust me, all your hard work can evaporate very quickly.

@worldweary2 Not sure I have a fave, but my wife and I volunteer our time at girls' elementary school (every yr) and soccer and swim teams (every season) and we've collected several hundreds lbs of food and made cash donations to our local food pantry (every Thanksgiving) and donated tons of books to our local library. And, we always try to pay it forward. You get the idea. :)

Keep it local, and the butterfly will flap it's wings global...

Remember Nov 11th is " Veterans Day "

quitbanningmenow said…

is that mr bean in your picture? and you cant make people care, you should just hire people who do....

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How do you know 100% if someone cares before you hire them? That's like saying you should only order food you already know is good. How did you know it was good before you ordered it the first time?

I think if "caring" is rewarded, then that extra-mile deal will come.

Most people who work in retail already have a built-in inclination toward service.

All that is really needed is a good set of Service "tools".

And, authorities that help, rather than burden.

Y'know AdamO, I think that's the most cohesive, lucid, intelligible post you've ever written!

Keep up the good work!

: - )

Location, location, location.

Dimensions, dimensions, dimensions.

Service, service, SERVICE!!!!!!!!!

I agree worlweary2! Great summation of the concept many of us retail workers struggle with everyday AdamO.

I think that if you come to the table with a skillset to genuinely help your customers by providing A+ service it does need to be nurtured, cultivated, and recognized by management. Failure to do so results in low morale that precipitates low sales, missed goals, and unhappy service. All of which are things that contribute to businesses closing shop everyday!

Victory?

OK.

That would be the coffee - at about the middle of the mall...

I win!

Does "getting a credit ap" count?