Mum needed replenishments of her pain relievers etc. so I went to the usual pharmacy, but didn’t see what I wanted on the shelf where the brand was displayed.  Hmmmm. This is where I’d bought it before – perhaps it’s stocked under a different category?

Do you have brand X gel?  I asked. The cheerful, smiling new hire said “No we don’t have that”. Me: But I bought it here before – please check with the pharmacist? “Oh he’s not coming in today”  “Is there anyone else who knows your stock?” shuffle shuffle and another smiling face appears.

“Do you have brand X gel?  I bought it here before.  We all trooped to the shelf displaying brand X and both just looked at me, puzzled.  Me, explaining:  these are pills and capsules which you swallow, the gel is the same but is applied to the skin. Aha! The light bulbs came on and Voila! a tube of the gel was retrieved from a different counter. WHO was going to profit from the sales?

Just recently I was at a forum showcasing new business opportunities where someone from the floor asked the investor why salaries were low.  The investors reply?

Because the staff want more from their jobs than they are willing to give to employees and that is not profitable to investors. Silence.  Then applause from business owners.  Do staff expect to be paid for just showing up?

So WHAT can be done to ensure staff are doing what they ought and getting rewarded for their efforts? Firstly train them in conversational skills as well as in product knowledge – with role-plays I mean!

Then have a pay for performance system in place which rewards them for the effort they put in, INCLUDING the ideas they bring. Result = business owners increase their customers, and staff increase their pay checks!