1. Special Bulletin for the Retail Industry
Employee Motivation,
Engagement & Performance
Strategies for Retail Companies
Proven strategies to keep your employees motivated — and your
customers coming back to buy from you for years to come…
T
here’s no doubt about it, these
are challenging times in the
retail sector — especially if
you are a traditional bricks and
mortar retailer.
Competition is up, fixed overheads are
up, employee costs are up, cost-of-sales
are up, just about everything has in-
creased… including your customers’
expectations and the buying choices avail-
able to them.
Vying for share of wallet has never
been more difficult — as consumers
now have an endless array of choice with
off-line, on-line and multi-channel retail-
ers.
If attracting a new customer or prising
them away from your competitors was-
n’t difficult and expensive enough in the Employee motivation, engagement and retention have a direct
first place, keeping customers so you can impact on the performance and profitability of retail companies
maximise their life-time value carries its
own challenges too. However executives have their work no wonder that executives in the retail
One bad experience, or one indifferent cut out as issues such as employee moti- sector are constantly seeking out new
encounter with your sales or customer vation, retention and overall engagement ways to motivate, engage and retain
service staff and that could pretty much are an ongoing challenge in the retail their employees.
be it! The marketing money you spent sector. One such strategy which is universally
on acquiring that customer is wasted, as Unmotivated or unengaged staff, and recognised to deliver results, is mentor-
they’re off to your competitor, telling high levels of staff turnover make it more ing.
others about their disappointing experi- and more difficult for retailers to deliver Managers as Mentors
ence and damaging your carefully crafted a consistent world-class experience to
brand image in the process. their customers. Mentoring has long been the tool of
choice for developing senior retail ex-
Employee Motivation, When employees are disengaged, this
ecutives, but the high cost of bringing in
Engagement and Retention reflects on the level of service customers external mentors into a company means
receive and reduces the likelihood of that mentoring is prohibitively expensive
CEOs, HR directors and executives them repeat buying or referring.
responsible for growth know only too for front-line employees.
well the importance of employees in Given that the link between happy However, there is a way for your
keeping customers loyal, repeat buying motivated staff, and higher revenues and
employees to receive the benefits of
and referring. profits has conclusively been proven, it’s mentoring, and that is for your managers
www.enterpriseleaders.com

2. to become mentors to your employees. 3 — Inspire: Given that your people Enterprise MentorTM brings the think-
In fact, mentoring is exactly what your are the critical key to the success of your ing and inspiration of some of the UK’s
managers should be doing to create a company, it’s vital that every day, you get most successful business leaders directly
workforce which is engaged, motivated, the best out of each and every one of to your front-line employees and manag-
passionate and driven. them. ers. Business leaders who contributed to
Your managers (both store managers the development of the programme in-
When you give your managers the
and area managers) are role-models in clude consumer champions Duncan Ban-
tools to become mentors to your staff you
your business who need to set a higher natyne and Simon Woodroffe from
quickly create an environment where
standard and inspire your team to achieve Dragons’ Den, Lord Bilimoria (founder
your employees feel connected and en-
more than they ever thought possible. of Cobra Beer), Lord Harris (founder of
gaged with your company, and committed
CarpetRight) and Nick Wheeler
to serving your customers at the highest The greatest retailers in the world aim
(founder of Charles Tyrwhitt) plus many
level — making your company stand out high and set impeccable standards of ex-
more leading names from UK industry.
as the ‘retailer of choice’ in your sector. cellence. They constantly thrill, wow and
dazzle their customers. Your managers The Enterprise MentorTM programme
The ‘5i’ Approach is designed to be used collaboratively by
(as mentors) need to inspire your employ-
To Mentoring your managers and employees, who em-
ees to reach the same high standards of
Underpinning the ‘managers as mentors’ excellence, not settling for anything less. bark together on a journey of personal,
approach are the principles of 5i. professional and business development,
4 — Ignite: Your workforce is awash
5i works whether your staff are cus- and where your managers take the lead
with ideas which could be worth millions
tomer-facing on the shop floor, or work and facilitate the mentoring and develop-
to your business. You simply need to ig-
behind the scenes in fulfilment, inventory nite a new level of creativity in your staff ment of your employees.
or buying. These proven five steps to to tap into their ideas. Using the 5i approach (involve, instil,
mentoring are guaranteed to deliver the inspire, ignite and infuse), Enterprise
When your managers become mentors
strongest results for your business. MentorTM helps create a bond and rela-
to your employees, one of their key roles
Here’s the 5i approach: tionship between your managers and em-
must be to find the winning ideas which
ployees.
1 — Involve: The key to creating are buried deep in your workforce, and
higher levels of motivation, engagement help turn those ideas into new revenue, It gives a framework for your employ-
and ultimately retaining more key staff is profit or cost savings. ees to learn more about themselves,
to involve your employees in your busi- about your business and your customers.
It’s your employees who day-to-day
ness. are closest to your customers, and it’s It also helps your managers understand
It’s to make them aware of your busi- your employees who invariably know more about the employees they manage.
ness at a deeper and wider commercial more than anybody about what needs By getting your managers to mentor
level, so they understand the importance changing or what ideas will work best in your employees through the programme,
of your customer, and why customers your shops or concessions. With the help you involve your employees at a deeper
choose to buy from you, and what brings of your managers as mentors, you should level in your company, and create an envi-
them back each week, month or even tap into this valuable potential. ronment which engages and motivates
year. 5 — Infuse: Developing and mentor- them, and which is proven to lead directly
The more your employees understand ing your employees is not a one-off activ- to higher revenues and profits.
about your business, the more they feel ity, it’s an ongoing process. It’s about in- The Enterprise MentorTM programme
part of it, and the more they want to take fusing a new way of thinking into every is available to license at a company-wide
responsibility for it, and serve your cus- employee, so that every action they take, level (through a site-licence) so that every
tomers at a higher level. When your cus- and every decision they make is done at a employee and manager in your organisa-
tomers feel that extra level of service and higher standard, and for the benefit of tion can receive a world-class business
attention, it’s much easier for them to your customers. education and personal and professional
decide to come back and buy from you, Only by constantly developing your staff, mentoring experience.
or positively refer you to their friends, and involving them in your business will The programme is also available for
family and business associates. you get the very best from them, and give ‘named users only’ so that you can specify
2 — Instil: You need to instil a new way your customers the greatest level of ser- precisely who will benefit from the men-
of thinking into your employees which vice and value. toring experience.
gets them to see your business through a Enterprise Mentor To learn more about the Enterprise
different set of eyes— the eyes of a busi- MentorTM programme, what it can do for
To help your managers become men-
ness owner (i.e. a retailer). your retail company, and how you can
tors to your employees, we have created
When your managers mentor your em- the Enterprise MentorTM programme. licence it — simply call us on +44 (0)207
ployees, and teach them the fundamentals 558-801, or send us an email at
of business (which all successful business Enterprise MentorTM is a set of digital info@enterpriseleaders.com.
owners know about), you create a work- mentoring tools and strategies which you
force which is motivated, takes extra re- can licence to improve the motivation,
engagement, productivity and perform-
sponsibility, and is willing to do whatever
ance of your employees — and at the
it takes to make your customers come
same time, increase the revenue and prof-
back and buy from you time and time
again. its of your company.
www.enterpriseleaders.com