BS Nagesh, Founder of TRRAIN & Vice Chairman, Shoppers Stop, says that one of the most important things in retail industry is the way an organisation treats its own sales people and how it talks about the role they perform.
Rohan was just like any other 18-year-old boy graduating to become a ‘man,’ with a job which would make him proud of himself. Since he belonged to a lower middle class family, his father was not able to support his education. Still Rohan had friends who belonged to the conventionally well-to-do families. Besides, his command over English was quite good. No doubt, Rohan had, in a way, mentally prepared himself to get a decent job where respect would naturally follow. But his father’s sudden retirement compelled him to take a job that was readily available. About a week into his job hunt, Rohan managed to clear off an interview as a ‘sales-man’ at one of the department stores near his house. This store was a part of a big national chain. Hence, in no way was the job anything to feel ashamed about, yet Rohan was not too happy.
You may ask, why? Well, simply because Rohan’s offer letter read that he was appointed as a ‘sales-man’ at the store from January 03, 2012, at a salary of `7,000 per month. The first thought that came to Rohan’s mind after reading the letter was: “What will I tell my friends? What will I say to my girl friend – that I am a ‘sales-man’?! How will they react?” Even before he had begun work, Rohan’s attitude was far from positive. Despite being associated with a large chain of stores, the word ‘sales-man’ had hit his psychology so hard, he was feeling ashamed of himself.
This brings us to a very important point of discussion and debate – the negative perception that a layman has towards being a part of the entrylevel shop-floor team in a retail store. A little attention from us as retailers to the silent aspirations of our ‘sales people’ – in terms of having more respect to the job that they do – can have a long-term positive effect on their morale and in a way help us with a far more robust ROI.
When I look back to gauge my experience in retail, I can confidently say that retail is all about perception and reality. Am I contradicting my own statement? Well, allow me to explain. Reality is what you see on the ground, day-to-day and transactional floor. Perception on the other hand is what you see, perceive and believe. For any industry to grow, it is important that perception is created in the way that the industry wants to project itself.
The perception also depends on how the society views the industry and the roles within it. Unfortunately in India, retail garners respect from its patrons only when the product or service is not insignificant. In other words, the mentality of customers regarding the sales staff changes considerably when the product or service is premium or luxurious.
Sales people sell everything, from grocery in a kirana shop to vacuum cleaners door-to-door. They also sell high-end jewellery and even business jets. Though all these people are in the business of selling, it is seen that the lower the value of the product or brand they sell, the less is the respect they are given by the society. Conversely, the more the requirement of skills for selling, the more respect a sales person gets.
If we dig deeper, we shall find that the root cause of the problem rests with us. We as retailers or heads of organisations tend to compartmentalise the roles and responsibilities of each employee in such a way that people up the line invariably show little empathy to those down the line. This is because they are never given an opportunity to step into the shoes of those below them and feel what it is like to be a ‘sales personnel’ on the floor, serving the customer face-to-face. Many a times I have noticed salesmen being fired by the owner/manager in front of customers. If we do not respect our own sales people, how can we ever expect the society to do so?
Without any doubt, I can say that one of the most important things in the equation is the way an organisation treats its own sales people and how it talks about the role they perform.
Let us look at an employee working at McDonald’s who begins his career on the shop floor. In this fastfood global giant, every employee in operations, irrespective of the role, starts at the front-end. He is expected to perform all the roles, from sweeping and swabbing to serving the customers. Then, over a period, he graduates to become a crew member, supervisor or manager. In this case, cleaning the tables and swabbing the floor is seen as a function of the role and is not type-cast as a menial job.
At McDonald’s, they have created dignity for each function in the role. Employees get respected as ‘employees’ and not as someone who is cleaning or serving. With no offense meant to anyone, we (in India) have stereotyped certain jobs as ‘menial.’ This is ingrained in us as part of our habitual thought process. Hence, when we see someone performing this type of activity without any effort, we immediately tend to look down upon that individual. This example is to drive home the point that if we build respect for a job, the designation would automatically get respect, even if it is that of a ‘salesman.’
It is time for us to strive and make retail an industry where managers respect their employees by appreciating their contribution. Secondly, we need to project the importance of employees to the customers and society at large by showing respect to them as individuals. Once we create pride and respect for a role, even the designation will get its due respect and become more acceptable.
Let us look at some of the things retailers can do to make the frontend retail associate job and title more respectable:
•• Clearly define what the job role, the key responsibility areas and tasks for the associates are, as well as the expected output and measures forthe same. Very often we find that a job description specifies ‘sales’ but does not elaborate on ‘store opening and closing,’ folding and stacking of clothes, etc. Given the Indian psyche, some of the tasks an associate is expected to perform may be perceived as ‘menial’ and ‘beneath my dignity’ by him/her.
•• Celebrate when objectives set are achieved. Communicate to everybody in the store and the organisation the importance of the achievement, even if it is a small one. This may seem too puerile, but in reality it is a definite morale booster for the employee as it helps him to be recognized in the organisation as a part of its growth story rather than just an employee who is expected to perform a job.
•• There are also physical manifestations of the role: decent uniform, proper badge, a good and neat place to have two meals, and clean and hygienic washroom facilities.
Again, this may seem obvious but these four things have a considerable impact on the psychology of employees. A prominent and proper badge shall perhaps save an employee from being addressed as ‘bhaiya, excuse me’ by customers who may get encouraged to call him by his real name. A decent uniform instills a sense of self-pride in employees who normally tend to feel inferior in front of customers who are well-dressed from head-to-toe.
Likewise, it is of utmost importance and only human to provide a decent dining space for the employees. Expecting them to eat their meals in a dark and dingy place only goes to show how we value our fellow human-beings. The cloak rooms for employees also have to be given some attention. We can only expect them to treat our customers with the same respect and behaviour that we treat them with. Ritz Carlton’s motto captures this very well: “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” All their employee policies are built around this.
Each day, we are moving into something new and we do accept it completely. Why else would we strive so hard to enhance our customerservice and product portfolio? If only we can also pay some attention to likewise enhance and upgrade our employee satisfaction quotient, I am sure our future employees like Rohan would not feel ashamed or embarrassed to be a part of the retail industry where, after all, we all are selling something, but at different levels. Instead, Rohan would step out with pride and state that it is he who is the face of our brand/service before the customer!
*This article was originally published in March 2012 issue of Images Retail.
