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Do Yourself Out of A Job
May 7, 2007
Hello Retailers. I’ve just been shopping. And I mean SHOPPING.
At a large department store.
I know, I’m sorry. I tried the smaller store, honest!
While the smaller store had a nice selection of product, I just couldn’t get the service I needed to help me make sense of all those choices. The salespeople, as eager as they were to help, just didn’t have either the product knowledge or the customer service skills to keep me from walking out of the store. I had to wait while they “checked with the manager” about the differences between the 3 beds, whether it was available in King. and how much the delivery charge would be. In short, they didn’t really have a clue what they were doing, and the manager had either just hired “warm bodies” or had failed in his or her responsibility to train them in product knowledge and the basics of selling and customer service.
Which is a shame, because being the founder of a boutique firm myself, I love to support other small businesses in every way I can. It’s an even bigger shame because with the help of Barbara at the department store, I not only left with the King sized mattress I’d originally gone in for, but also a Queen sized bed, a Twin bed AND a sectional sofa! Barbara had clearly been on the receiving end of exceptional on the job training.
Part of the challenge of running your own business is how to make the business self sustainable. That’s right – YOU need to be doing yourself out of a job! The only way to do that is to stop doing and start teaching.
“But it’s so much quicker and easier to do it myself” many would say.
No it isn’t. Stop kidding yourself.
How easy is it to be the “only one that knows how to do it”?How easy is it to be “the only one that can fix it”? How easy is it to be “the only person this customer will deal with”?
Answer: it isn’t. You just secretly like it. Go on, admit it. It’s what you know how to do well, right?It’s where you’re comfortable.
Well, if you’re serious about growing your business, it’s time to get uncomfortable. I throw you all a challenge : Write down 3 things that only you can do for your business and that you think someone else has the potential to do – with training.
And then get to work training them. Go on, do yourself out of a job. I dare you.
You’ll end up with a bigger one, I promise.
Posted by Alan Ibbotson on May 7, 2007 | Comments (0)
