Firstly, especially given the time of the year, remember that you should only ever take on a new puppy/employee with the intent for that relationship to be for the rest of your life and not just for Xmas.
Even if you’re not an animal lover, you’ll understand the message of this blog.
It’s about rewarding the right behaviours and reinforcing good habits.
You get a new puppy and you should be already dedicated to loving, nurturing and playing with it. Get it right and you’ve got their loyalty for life.
You hire an employee and ok you might not be dedicated to loving and playing with them (cos, you know….that’s just weird and likely to get you into trouble) but you should definitely be committed to nurturing them. Get it right and you’ve got their loyalty for life.
The puppy starts off as clumsy, they can’t understand you so they don’t follow your instructions and you absolutely need to be patient and persistent with helping them.
Not really much difference with employees.
So what do all dog owners do? They persist, remain consistent with their instructions (and especially the tone they’re delivered in) and, crucially, they reward repetition of the right behaviours which leads onto good habits forming.
‘Come’
‘Here boy’
‘Sit’
‘Fetch’
‘Heel’
‘Find’
Simple instructions which, when followed, the puppy will get a treat. This soon sinks into their mind that them following what’s being asked of them = treat and, if they’re really lucky, a tummy rub!
And that’s the analogy of this blog…for sales staff to stand any chance of being successful, they need the right leader who’s patient, consistent in their communication, issues simple instructions and is equipped with an incentive plan that genuinely rewards the right behaviours and reinforces good habits.
Sadly this can also work in a bad way. Like people, the large majority of dogs are not born evil, aggressive or dangerous and only become that way because of how they’ve been raised. Same goes for slimy, cheating and aggressive salespeople…they’ve only become that way because of having the misfortune of being raised badly. The BIG difference though is that people do have a choice!
So, if you’re a person reading this, you work in sales and you know your boss is no good – find another asap.
If you’re a sales leader who keeps losing staff, be honest with yourself about whether you’re really focused on nurturing them, rewarding the right behaviours and helping reinforce good habits.
If you’re a dog reading this, contact me urgently…I have an offer for you 😁
