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5 Ways to Motivate Your Retail Team

In a recent Get Managing live session, I discussed the importance of motivating your staff. When I reflect on what we’ve been through with COVID-19 and people now back at work, there isn’t a more important topic than this.

Motivation simply refers to the ‘behaviours one chooses’. If staff choose the behaviours we like, we’ll say they are motivated.  So, as the manager, your goal is to give them good reasons to choose the behaviours you want them to exhibit.

Here are 5 ways retail managers can build a proven blueprint to give your team the reasons they need to choose your desired behaviours … and as a result, build their morale.

 

5 Principles of Motivation

 

1. Meaningful Work

You have to answer this question for each of your employees: What do they want from work? The answer to this will be different for everyone. You need to know why your staff comes to work and what’s important for them. As a manager, take the time out and have conversations with your employees to get to know them better and discover their strengths and weaknesses.

2. Great Store Environment

Customers can feel a store’s energy right when they walk in. In great store environments, staff have positive energy, which is reflected in their interactions with customers. Managers need to be diligent about creating the environment they want. Think about what steps you should take and constantly communicate these to your staff throughout the day.

3. Employee Progress & Success

People really want to win, and wins have been really hard to come by for most people. Because of the pandemic, traffic counts at stores were down drastically. I know how frustrating this has been. However, what we should continue to do is make employees feel like they are winning. If they feel like they are losing, your turnover rate will go up as no one wants to come to an environment like this. Retailers that perform well have a low employee turnover rate! So how can you make your employees feel like they are winning? Start thinking about the game within the game. Instead of just being concerned with the big sales number, also factor in quality of sales metrics, basket size, conversion rates, unit of sales, and so on.  You can also focus on the completion of employee training, customer feedback, and execution of in-store initiatives. Always find the opportunity to share with your staff that while it might not be perfect out there, there is stuff that they are winning it and you recognize that progress.

4. Reward and Recognition

We run our stores 360 days a year. You need a chest full of ideas on how you can recognize and reward your staff.

5. Focus on Fun

Retail is supposed to be fun, so please make it fun for your staff. It doesn’t have to be complicated to do. You can come up with monthly contests and run them with your staff. While you need to have a payout for these contests, remember that this is about the opportunity to have fun! Just remember, the shorter the contest, the better. Keep them simple, and the payout has to be meaningful.

 

Do you know our Get Managing online retail management program can increase the competency level of managers by 25%? If you want to learn more about this amazing program or book a free demo, get in touch with me today!


At Graff Retail, we create leading-edge retail training programs specifically designed and customized to increase staff knowledge and performance with innovative teaching methods to drive sales and revenue for businesses.

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