It occurred to me the other day that employee engagement may be at the heart of the malaise that is destroying the retail businesses on the British high street. I may be in my fifties and seen as old-fashioned by some people, but the truth is that there are more people of my age and older than there have ever been before and that trend is expected to continue.
I know that I would far rather shop in person at a store where the people are knowledgeable, professional, welcoming and understanding than I would shop online, yet even I have found myself drawn to online retail recently because of the ‘no-fuss’ service and the ease of doing business with online retailers.
Walking along my local high street recently I was dismayed by the number of young people working in the stores who seemed completely dis-engaged with what they were doing. Far from creating a welcoming atmosphere where people would want to spend time, they mostly looked as if they didn’t really want to be there, and that a customer was really an interruption to their day rather than their reason for being there.
So, are the people who go into customer service jobs in retail at fault? Are they all bad people who should learn how to behave and be grateful that they have a job at all in the current economic climate? That is what some people would have you believe, but I don’t agree with them.
Some companies get it spectacularly right too, such as John Lewis and MetroBank. They tend to hire people for attitude rather than skill and recognise and reward their people for great customer service rather than just achieving financial targets. They make their people feel welcomed and valued as internal customers, and in turn, their people make their customers feel welcomed and valued too, thus making sure that they return again, and spread the word to their friends and acquaintances.
As it costs five times as much to find a new customer as it does to retain an existing one this also makes economic sense. Why else would John Lewis’s sales continue to grow during a recession, and MetroBank be expanding their branch network at a time when other banks are always in the news for the wrong reasons?
Employees at both of these companies would know exactly where the company has come from, where it is today, and where it is going in the future, and their part in that. There would be engaging managers in the business who know how to make their people feel valued, while not tolerating poor customer service. There would be strong communication links at all levels of the business, and everyone would ‘walk the talk’.
Just imagine if every company on your local High Street adopted values like that – what a change we would see in their fortunes!