How to Manage Your Staff

Team Members Need to Understand Their
“Role in the Show”
And managing them will be infinitely easier  

I recently sat down to watch Tom Peters DVD “In Search of Excellence” for about the 500 th time (Literally, no exaggeration). In the Disney portion of the DVD, they say that Disney is exceptional at making sure that everyone understands their role in the show. It is critically important that everyone in your business understands their role in the show in your business based on the Make-You-Happy Management System.

Here is each team member’s “role in the show” at American Retail Supply. Whether your team member’s “role in the show” includes #1 below or not, is up to you. It’s not critical. In the Make-You-Happy Management System their role in the show must include #2 below:

Your role in the show:

1. Illegal or unethical

2. Use your best judgment to take care of clients and customers and give them the best customer service possible.

While their role in the show is to use their best judgment to take care of clients and customers, the Make-You-Happy Management System doesn’t just turn them loose to do anything that they want. In fact eventually, everything you do should be addressed in a MJR

Here is what needs to be included on the bottom of each Make-You- Happy Job Requirement.

“This Make-You-Happy Job Requirement is designed to insure we meet or exceed client and customer expectations. Perform exactly like the requirement unless you find it does not meet or exceed client and customer expectations. If you find it no longer meets or exceeds expectations you are responsible for helping to change it to what we and our clients and customers need.”

They need to understand that their role in the show is to follow the Make-You Happy-Job Requirements and they need to understand that they are not to just follow the Make-You Happy-Job Requirements blindly without thinking if it is taking care of clients and customers.

They need to understand that in your business, they need to follow the MJR unless it doesn’t meet the needs of clients and customers. If it doesn’t meet their needs, they need to think, and meet the needs of the client or customer and then help change the MJR.

Be sure they understand that you hired both their body and their brain. You will know longer need to hear, “I didn’t think I......”  

Here are five easy steps in helping your team know their role in the show.

1. Lay the Ground Work! Be sure your first day of training has huge emphasis on customer service expectations. What is the most important asset to your company?? Your customers of course! Now, let me ask you something. When you hire someone, what’s the first thing to do when it comes to training? In most businesses after you’ve had them fill out all the forms that you need for the government, and all that kind of stuff,what do you work on first? Maybe product knowledge. Maybe how to ring up an order, how to stock product? The first thing should be customer service!

2. Your core values, your vision, your mission statement, whatever it is that is at the heart of your company, needs to put a huge emphasis on the customer.  Your core values, your vision, your mission statement, whatever it is that is at the heart of your company needs to put a huge emphasis on the customer.  If it doesn’t, it’s going to be apparent in what you do on a daily basis and your team members are simply not going to believe you when you tell them that customer service is important and it’s going to be reflected in the service they give your customers.  If they know the company’s expectations, they’re role become much clearer.
   
3. Everyone in your company needs to know your customer service expectations.  Your customer service expectations need to be extraordinary.”  So this becomes, “Everyone in you company needs to know your extraordinary customer service expectations.”  You need to be sure that everyone in your business understands your Make-You-Happy Customer Service Expectations, and when you implement the 55 Secrets to Make-You-Happy Customer service everyone will know your expectations.
   
4. Your customers need to know your customer service expectations.  Your customer service expectations need to be extraordinary.”  So this becomes, “Your customers need to know your extraordinary customer service expectations.”  If your team members know that the clients know the expectation,  they will do everthing they can for the client, becuase the precedent and expectation has been established.
   
5. Ongoing Training.  The best thing you can do when it comes to ongoing training is all the things that you do to be consistent each and every day reinforcing the top priority in the show, the  Use your best judgment to take care of clients and customers and give them the best customer service possible.