When staff are concerned about the future of the business, feeling desperation about business being slow, expected to work shifts far too long, or work too many days in a row, they are unhappy. That unhappiness gets transferred to customers. It doesn’t need to be spoken either. When I walk into a place with happy, warm, enthusiastic staff I feel good. When I walk into a tense, unhappy environment I don’t.
People buy to satisfy emotional needs so the way they feel when in contact with your business can influence whether they return.
For example we returned to the restaurant of my last post tonight because a friend wanted to go there. Our waiter was tired and unhappy and shared it with us. It was his sole focus, so he missed putting the bread through, missed putting a dish through, in fact missed doing his job well. We decided to go across the road for coffee because we didn’t want to hear anymore. It was draining. Our first meal there together left us with a buzz, great food, exciting atmosphere with keen and enthusiastic staff. This time we left feeling tired, drained and down
This is the opposite of me realizing once my coffee addiction was not actually to the coffee but the bright, bubbly person making it. She was a beacon of feel good brightness in my mornings that I missed if I didn’t buy coffee! She was better than any stimulant.
If business is slumping look at what you are doing well and what you are doing poorly. There will always be a combination of things you can do to boost business and things you will need to address internally. In that consider your team. They really are your business – are they serving your customers and therefore you well. Are they happy, are conditions conducive to them being happy. It is important because happy staff make for happy customers and happy customers come back.
If your team is unhappy efforts to generate new customers risk being wasted because new customers having a bad experience are generally lost to you. Remember happy staff make for happy customers.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for putting both aspects there. Unhappy staff can be unhappy because their working conditions suck. Value your people and they value your business.
Thanks Julie.
It is never a one-sided thing. Work is a job not your life so workers should be able to have a life. Many businesses forget that work should be fun. The more staff enjoy working the harder they work and the more they achieve. Conversely some staff forget they work for someone and when they are at work they actually need to be at work doing their best in their role. If they don’t want to be they have a choice.