How to keep salespeople focused in 4 steps
December 5, 2014

How do you keep your salespeople focused?
This time of year is always difficult for keeping salespeople focused. Between busy family schedules, fun holiday activities and personal shopping needs, employees can easily be distracted. It’s your job to keep them focused and committed. But how?
1.) Communicate clearly
This is not the season for planning meetings, but a quick stand-up meeting a couple of times a week that touches base with staff is very important. They need to know your expectations and you need to know their frustrations. As Bplans says,”You don’t have to micromanage; simply make everyone aware that you’re serious about keeping the work flow going.” Make sure everyone’s duties are clearly spelled out.
2.) Encourage your employee’s well-being
Recently, RetailWire put out a list of things that employees should take care of as they go into this busy sales season. The list includes everything from wearing the right shoes to paying attention to their personal relationships. As you show your workers kindness, they will do the same for you. Make sure you’ve scheduled time during the holidays to celebrate your staff. They need to know they are as important to you as your customers are.
3.) Flexible scheduling
When employees know the business owner is willing to be flexible with work hours, they’re more likely to be on task for the hours they’ve chosen. Although a flexible time clock can be a scheduling nightmare, offering your employees the opportunity to switch up their work hours has been shown to increase productivity. Millennials and Generation Z in particular respond to flex time. In fact, according to a University of Minnesota study, flexible hours actually reduced stress and work-family conflicts for most employees.
Get my Free Trial of SimpleConsign4.) Don’t forget to have fun!
It is the season for joy after all. Be creative! Buy all of your employees Santa hats or elf ears. Treat your employees to a Christmas lunch or surprise them with morning doughnuts and coffee. Perhaps choose a local charity and work together to gather canned goods for a food bank or towels and animal toys for your humane society. Building a team mentality makes employees much more conscious of their work.
If you’re getting ready to add some seasonal part-time employees, take a look at “5 Traits of Highly Effective Resale Salespeople” first.

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