This is the time of year when many retailers will be hiring additional staff for the upcoming Holiday Season. Some retailers are hiring because of growth and others due to natural attrition. No matter why, or when, you hire new sales staff. Don't let the new salespeople kill your sales and profits. It costs a fortune to recruit, interview, test, check references, hire and train new people, not to mention how much new employees may cost in lost sales revenue.

I was recently in a store that had just hired a couple of new salespeople. Both had been with the company for about three months. One of the new salespeople had sold about $40,000 during the current month. The other new employee had sold about $4,000 during the same period. A gigantic $36,000 difference between the two new employees. The gap was even more substantial between the new salespeople and the experienced sales staff. Both of the above mentioned new salespeople were working about the same number of hours and helping about the same number of potential customers.

Should the new salesperson that was only producing about $4000 in sales be terminated? I don't think so. When a new employee is hired you are telling them that you are going to give them the opportunity to succeed, make a living, support their families and/or lifestyle, reach their goals, and to be successful, in a fair and equitable environment. My first question would be have we given both of the new employees the training that they need in order to be successful. Training is the responsibility of management. My next question would be what specific sales strategies have the new employees been trained to perform. The first thing a new employee should be trained on, other than time clock, schedule, restrooms and the basics etc. is how to effectively turnover a sale. Too often, how to turnover a sale that is going no where, is one of the last strategies that salespeople are taught. It should be one of the first things.

It doesn't matter if the new people have experience in your industry or not, all new people need to know how to turnover a sale. New people, in many cases, don't know all the product knowledge needed, all the opertional knowledge needed, not to mention sales and customer service skills for the new company. Don't let new employees kill your business just because they are new and don't know how to maximize sales and profits . They need training and experience in order to grow to be successful within the organization. An effective turnover program will protect the company and allow new employees the time needed to gain the knowledge and experience to be successful.

FINAO Failure Is Not Option!

Brad Huisken - President, IAS Training